IN RE: GEORGES MARCIANO, Debtor. GEORGES MARCIANO, Appellant, v. STEVEN CHAPNICK; JOSEPH FAHS; ELIZABETH TAGLE, Appellees, and DAVID K. GOTTLIEB, Chapter 11 Trustee, Intervenor., 708 F.3d 1123

Summary

Petitioning creditors obtained state court judgments against the debtor. The debtor appealed the judgments but did not post a bond to stay them during appeal. The debtor contended that, because the judgments obtained by the petitioning creditors were on appeal when the involuntary petition was filed, the bankruptcy court should have dismissed the petition as not meeting the requirements of 11 U.S.C.S. § 303(b)(1). The court held that an unstayed non-default state judgment on appeal was not subject to a bona fide dispute for purposes of § 303(b)(1).