Miles

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

In re: RODNEY CASSIMER MILES,  aka Rodney C. Miles, Rod Miles, Debtor,

ANN R. MILES,

Appellant, v.

DAVID B. OKUN; SHEILA REISER-

OKUN; DAVID B. OKUN, M.D.,

F.A.C.P., a California Medical Corporation, aka Okun No. 03-55963 Corporation; DAVID B. OKUN, M.D., F.A.C.P., a Medical  BAP No.

CC-02-01528-KJP

Corporation Money Purchase Plan, aka Okun Pension Plan; OKUN

FAMILY TRUST U/D/T/ MARCH 10,

1988; EMMANUEL & ANN S.N. REISER REVOCABLE TRUST, aka Reiser Trust; ANDREW K. MAUTHE;

M. STEPHEN COONTZ; MILBURN A.

MATTHEWS; COONTZ & MATTHEWS

LLP; LAUREN ELIZABETH MURPHY;

SUSAN A. SPITZO; VERA J.

FERGUSON; NANCY M. VOLD,

Appellees. 

16175 16176 IN RE: MILES

In re: RODNEY CASSIMER MILES,  aka Rodney C. Miles, Rod Miles, Debtor,

MELINDA MILES,

Appellant, v.

DAVID B. OKUN; SHEILA REISER-

OKUN; DAVID B. OKUN, M.D.,

F.A.C.P., a California Medical Corporation, aka Okun No. 03-55964 Corporation; DAVID B. OKUN, M.D., F.A.C.P., a Medical  BAP No.

CC-02-01529-KJP

Corporation Money Purchase Plan, aka Okun Pension Plan;…

Ann Miles, Melinda Miles, and Kelly Cunningham (collectively “Appellants”) appeal from a decision of the United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit (“BAP”) affirming the removal and dismissal of their state law causes of action for damages resulting from the filing of involuntary bankruptcy petitions against their relatives. We hold that because 11 U.S.C. § 303 (i) completely preempts state law tort causes of action for damages predicated upon the filing of an involuntary bankruptcy petition, the bankruptcy court had “arising under” jurisdiction over the proceedings, and thus did not err in denying Appellants’ motions to remand. Further, because Appellants lack standing to seek damages .under § 303(i), the bankruptcy court properly dismissed their complaints.

I.

BACKGROUND

David Okun,' Sheila Reiser-Okun, and several entities owned by or affiliated with the Okuns filed ten involuntary bankruptcy petitions against Rodney Miles, Ann Miles, and related businesses owned , by or affiliated with the Miles’s. , The bankruptcy court dismissed Rodney’s case on the ground that he was generally paying his undisputed debts as they became due. It dismissed the remaining…

concurring in part and concurring in the result:

I concur in Parts I and III of the majority opinion, except for footnote 6, and I concur in the result reached by the majority in Part II.

I agree that there was removal jurisdiction in the present case. I write separately because my reason for so concluding differs from that of the majority.

Gonzales v. Parks held that all actions, such as the present one, that collaterally attack bankruptcy petitions are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts under 28 U.S.C. § 1334 (a). See 830 F.2d 1033 , 1035 & n. 6 (9th Cir.1987) (stating that “[failings of bankruptcy petitions are a matter of exclusive federal jurisdiction” and that “[s]tate courts are not authorized to determine whether a person’s claim for relief under a federal law, in a federal court, and within that court’s exclusive jurisdiction, is an appropriate one” because “[sjuch an exercise of authority would be inconsistent with and subvert the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts”); id. at 1036 (“A Congressional grant of exclusive jurisdiction to the federal courts includes the implied power to protect that grant.”); *1095 id- (stating that “[a] state…