Bank of Montreal v. Frederick Salyer

MEMORANDUM

Appellant Frederick Scott Salyer (Sal-yer) challenges the district court’s denial of a request to transfer the action to bankruptcy court, denial of a stay, and amendment of a judgment to add Salyer and his trust as judgment debtors.

The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Salyer’s request to transfer the action to bankruptcy court. The district court properly held that the fírst-to-ñle rule did not preclude amendment of the judgment because the consolidated bankruptcy action did not directly involve SK Foods, LLC. Given the difference in parties, it was not clear whether amending the judgment would affect the debtor, so the district court was justified-in questioning the bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction. See Cedars-Sinai Med. Ctr. v. Shalala, 125 F.3d 765, 769 (9th Cir.1997) (declining to apply the first-to-file rule where the “issues [were] distinct, [and] the requirement of identity of the issues [was] not met”).

The district court acted within its discretion in denying a stay premised on Salyer’s parallel criminal proceedings because Sal-yer failed to demonstrate that his Fifth Amendment rights would be implicated by amendment of the judgment.…