Adel Yamout v. Jeffry Scapa

DISCUSSION

A. “Related to” Jurisdiction District courts (and bankruptcy courts by reference) have “original but not exclusive jurisdiction of all civil proceedings arising under title 11,” the Bankruptcy Code, “or arising in or related to cases under title 11.” 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b); see also Stern v. Marshall, 564 US. 462, 473 (2011). A case is “related to” title for this purpose if its outcome could have any convincible effect on the estate being administered in bankruptcy. McGuire v. United States, 550 F.3d 903, 911-12 (9th Cir. 2008) (emphasis added) (citing Jn re Fietz, 852 F.2d 455, 457 (9th Cir. 1988)). This basis of jurisdiction is “very broad, including nearly every matter directly or indirectly related to the bankruptcy.” Jn re Wilshire Courtyard, 729 F.3d 1279, 1287 (9th Cir. 2013) (quoting Sasson v. Sokoloff (In re Sasson), 424 F.3d 864, 868 (9th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks omitted)); see also Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP v. Countrywide Fin. Corp., 447 B.R. 302, 308 (C.D. Cal. 2010) (“In Jn re Fietz, the Ninth Circuit made clear it was adopting an expansive view of relatedness; even a remote relationship confers ‘related to’…