Opinion
23-1062-DDC-TJJ
05-10-2023
EQUITY BANK, f/k/a ALMENA STATE BANK, Plaintiff, v. W-W DAIRY CATTLE, LLC, et al., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
DANIEL D. CRABTREE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
Defendants W-W Dairy Cattle, LLC, Delbert Walt, and the Delbert Walt Living Trust (“Removing Defendants”) removed this action from the District Court of Trego County, Kansas on April 19, 2023. Doc. 1. The Notice of Removal invokes this court's jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1452, and Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9027. Doc. 1 at 1. The Removing Defendants assert that one of them-Delbert Walt-is a debtor in a Chapter 12 bankruptcy proceeding pending in the Northern District of Texas. Id. at 2. And, the Removing Defendants assert, this removed case “is a case related to the Bankruptcy Case.” Id. at 3. The Removing Defendants seek removal to the District of Kansas “first; (then to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas as a matter of course, if procedurally necessary), and then ultimately to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division, where the bankruptcy case In re: Delbert Joseph Walt, the Case No. 23-50043 (‘Bankruptcy Case') is pending[.]” Id. at 1.
Section 157 of Title 28 of the United States Code permits district courts to refer “to the bankruptcy judges for the district” “any and all cases under title 11 and any or all proceedings arising under title 11 or arising in or related to a case under title 11[.]” 28 U.S.C. § 157(a). And our court's local rule specifically “refers to the bankruptcy judges for this district, all cases under Title 11 and any or all proceedings arising under Title 11 or arising in or related to a case under Title 11.” D. Kan. Rule 83.8.5; see also Amended Standing Order of Reference, Standing Order No. 13-1 (D. Kan. June 24, 2013), https://ksd.uscourts.gov/no-13-1-%E2%80%93-amended-standing-order-reference.
Consistent with D. Kan. Rule 83.8.5 and the Amended Standing Order of Reference, the court refers this action to the bankruptcy judges for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED BY THE COURT THAT this case is referred to the bankruptcy judges for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas under D. Kan. Rule 83.8.5 and the Amended Standing Order of Reference (Standing Order No. 13-1).
The court also directs the Clerk of our Court to notify the Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas of this referral and request future handling of this matter consistent with that court's rules and procedures.
IT IS SO ORDERED.