Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach v. Valley Business Center

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach (“Farmers”) appeals the district court’s dismissal of its appeal from the bankruptcy court’s order reopening Valley Business Center’s (“VBC”) Chapter 11 Bankruptcy case, which had been dis *609 missed in 1998. The district court held that Farmers lacked standing to appeal the bankruptcy court’s reopening order because such order was ministerial in nature and did not affect Bank’s substantive rights. The district court also held that even if Farmers had standing to contest the reopening order, that order is interlocutory and therefore not appealable as of right. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 158 (d)(1) and affirm.

As the parties are familiar with the facts, procedural history, and arguments, we will not recount them here. A party has appellate standing in the context of bankruptcy appeals if that party is a “person aggrieved” by the bankruptcy court’s order. See Fondiller v. Robertson (In re Fondiller), 707 F.2d 441, 443 (9th Cir.1983). A “person aggrieved” is one who is “directly and adversely affected pecuniarily by an order of the bankruptcy court.” Id. at 442 . The order “must diminish the appellant’s property, increase its…