Thomas

Thomas v. Namba

Good Law
154 F. App'x 673
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitNovember 23, 2005Nos. 04-55302California585 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Shari L. Thomas, M.D., appeals a Bankruptcy Appellate Panel (“BAP”) order dismissing her prior consolidated appeal as moot pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 363 (m), which bars reversing on appeal sales of bankruptcy estate property to good-faith purchasers. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158 (d) and affirm.

We review decisions of the BAP de novo. In re Price, 353 F.3d 1135, 1138 (9th Cir.2004). We independently review bankruptcy court rulings on appeal from the BAP. In re DeVille, 361 F.3d 539, 547 (9th Cir.2004). In doing so, we review “the bankruptcy court’s conclusions of law de novo and its factual findings for clear error.” In re BCE West, L.P., 319 F.3d 1166, 1170 (9th Cir.2003).

Thomas did not obtain a stay pending appeal of the bankruptcy court order authorizing Chapter 7 trustee Jerry Namba to sell Thomas’s real property to Robert Woolf. Consequently, her only avenue for unwinding the sale under § 363(m) is to establish that Woolf is not a good-faith purchaser. We agree with the BAP that *675 the bankruptcy court’s finding that Woolf was a good-faith purchaser is not clearly erroneous.

Thomas first challenges Woolfs good faith because of a “conflict…

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