No Easy Getaway: State Court Litigation and the Bankruptcy Discharge

The panel will examine the intersection of state court litigation and bankruptcy proceedings, with a focus on enforcing judgments and debts in light of a bankruptcy filing. The panel will address the scope and operation of the automatic stay, key exceptions (including state court contempt proceedings and actions that merely maintain the status quo, such as status hearings), and strategies for seeking or opposing relief from the stay to commence or continue state court actions or obtain judgments. The program will also explore how bankruptcy courts apply claim and issue preclusion doctrines to state court judgments (particularly in the context of nondischargeable debts), strategic considerations surrounding particular findings and special verdicts that may support nondischargeability claims, and defenses available to parties opposing the preclusive use of those findings in subsequent adversary proceedings. The panel will be moderated by a law clerk.