Williams v. Levi

G. Gregory Williams appeals pro se from the published decision of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (BAP), which affirmed the bankruptcy court’s retroactive annulment of the automatic stay in his bankruptcy case. See Williams v. Levi (In re Williams), 323 B.R. 691 (9th Cir. BAP 2005). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158 (d), and we affirm the BAP.

We review the BAP decision de novo, and independently review the bankruptcy court’s decision. See Carillo v. Su (In re Su), 290 F.3d 1140, 1142 (9th Cir.2002).

A bankruptcy court retains jurisdiction after dismissal in some circumstances to “ ‘interpret’ and ‘effectuate’ its orders,” including retroactive annulment of the automatic stay as occurred in this case. See Aheong v. Mellon Mortgage Co. (In re Aheong), 276 B.R. 233 , 239-40 & n. 8 (9th Cir. BAP 2002) (quoting Tsafaroff v. Taylor (In re Taylor), 884 F.2d 478, 481 (9th Cir.1989)). Further, 11 U.S.C. § 362 (d) *584 authorizes the court to annul “the stay provided under [§ 362(a) ].” The stay in Williams’ second bankruptcy case arose under § 362(a), and the statute does not limit annulment to stays arising in pending cases. We agree with the BAP that the bankruptcy court had…