DENISE COTE, District Judge.
Appellant Diane Currier, as executor of the estate of Richard Floor ("Currier"), brings this motion for leave to appeal an interlocutory order entered by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in the above-captioned bankruptcy proceeding. The order permitted substitution of the executor of an estate following the death of defendant Richard Floor ("Floor"). For the reasons stated below, the motion for leave to appeal is denied.
The background of this dispute is as follows. Lyondell Chemical Corporation ("Lyondell") filed for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code in January 2009. Edward S. Weisnefell (the "Trustee") is the trustee of the LB Litigation Trust, one of two trusts formed to prosecute Lyondell's and other debtors' claims against shareholder recipients of a $12.5 billion payout issued by Lyondell. The Trustee filed his original complaint on July 22, 2009 against Floor, among other defendants. Floor died on February 18, 2010, and counsel representing both Floor and Currier filed a Suggestion of Death notifying the parties of Floor's death on March 8. Currier was appointed executor of Floor's estate on April 9 by order of a Massachusetts Probate Court. That order was not docketed publicly until July 23.
On September 24, 2010, Currier filed a motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint in part on the ground that the Trustee had not timely substituted Currier as a defendant within the 90-day deadline specified in Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a). This 90-day period for substitution had closed on June 7. On November 16, the Trustee filed a motion pursuant to Rule 25(a) to amend the case caption to substitute Currier or, in the alternative, extend the time for substitution pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b). On January 4, 2016, the Bankruptcy Court denied Currier's motion to dismiss and granted the Trustee's motion to amend the caption (the "January 4 Order"). Currier filed a motion for leave to appeal the January 4 Order pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3) on February 1.
Section 158(a)(3) grants a United States District Court jurisdiction over appeals from interlocutory orders and decrees "with leave of the court." 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3). The parties agree that in determining whether to grant leave to appeal under § 158(a)(3), courts apply the standard described in 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), which governs appeals from interlocutory district court orders to the courts of appeals.
Under § 1292(b), an interlocutory appeal is permissible when it involves "a controlling question of law as to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion and . . . an immediate appeal from the order may materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation." Even if an interlocutory order "qualifi[es] for certification under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), the certification decision is entirely a matter of discretion for the district court."
Currier seeks a reversal of the Bankruptcy Court's ruling on the grounds that a party cannot establish "excusable neglect" under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9006(b) based on events occurring after the 90-day deadline of Rule 25(a). Rule 25(a)(1) provides that
(emphasis added). Rule 25 "establishes a time limit," which starts running at the "time information of the death is provided by means of a suggestion of death upon the record."
Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9006 provides that the "excusable neglect" standard "governs the enlargement of time for deadlines in bankruptcy proceedings."
Excusable neglect is a "somewhat elastic concept."
Having reviewed the January 4 Order, there are no circumstances to warrant granting Currier's motion for leave to appeal an interlocutory order. Accordingly, within the Court's discretion, Currier's February 1, 2016 motion for leave to appeal is denied.
SO ORDERED.