Hedges

We decide certain issues arising under section 524(a)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code and also clarify the source of a district court’s authority to impose sanctions on appeal from a bankruptcy court.

I

On August 19,1985, Patricia Hedges Beckett (“Beckett”) executed a promissory note for $96,000, secured by a deed to residential property (“the property”). Supp. ER, doc. 1, at ¶ 3. But Beckett defaulted, sometime after the original payee assigned the note to Cathedral Mortgage Corporation (“Cathedral”), id. at ¶¶ 5, 7 — the predecessor in interest to appellee Resolution Trust Corporation (“RTC”). Then, through a series of conveyances, Beckett sought to convey a life interest in the property to her father, Clarence Lee Hedges (“Hedges” or “the debtor”). Id. at ¶¶ 8, 9-10. Shortly thereafter, Cathedral purchased the property at a trustee’s sale, getting a deed that, it says, “vested all right, title and interest in the Property in Cathedral.” Id. at ¶12.

Hedges filed for bankruptcy, and Cathedral filed a proof of claim seeking to establish ownership of the property and to get post-petition rent for Hedges’ occupancy of it, along with costs and fees. See Supp. ER, doc. 1, at ¶ 2. Hedges…