Opinion
CIVIL ACTION H-22-2471 BANKRUPTCY 21-30545
09-13-2022
In re JAGANNATHAN MAHADEVAN, Debtor v. JANET NORTHRUP, CHAPTER 7 Trustee, Appellee. JAGANNATHAN MAHADEVAN, Appellant,
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER OF DISMISSAL
Lee H. Rosenthal Chief United States District Judge
Janet Northrup, the Chapter 7 Trustee, moves to dismiss as untimely filed Jagannathan Mahadevan's appeal from the bankruptcy court's order, entered July 7, 2022, approving a settlement agreement between Mahadevan's bankruptcy estate and Prem Bikkina, Mohan Kelkar, Winona Tanaka, and the University of Tulsa. (Bankr. Docket Entry No. 39).
A notice of appeal from a bankruptcy court order or ruling must be filed “within 14 days after entry of the judgment, order, or decree being appealed.” Fed.R.Bankr.P. 8002(a)(1). A timely notice of appeal under Rule 8002 is not only mandatory, as the Trustee suggests, but jurisdictional. In re Berman-Smith, 737 F.3d 997, 1003 (5th Cir. 2013). The jurisdictional nature of the rule means that the period is not subject to equitable modification by the court.
“When the period is stated in days,” the period “exclude[s] the day of the event that triggers the period.” Fed.R.Bankr.P. 9006(a)(1); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(a)(1) (same). Mahadevan appeals the bankruptcy court's order entered July 7, 2022. Fourteen days from July 7 is July 21, 2022. Although Mahadevan points to a receipt showing that he mailed his notice of appeal on July 20, 2022, (Docket Entry No. 5 at 2), the mailbox rule applies in this context only to appellants confined to an institution. Fed.R.Bankr.P. 8002(c)(1). What matters is the date the notice was filed. That date was July 22, 2022. (Bankr. Docket Entry No. 45). The notice of appeal was untimely.
The Trustee's calculations of time, (Docket Entry No. 4 at 2), appear to incorrectly include the “day of the event,” and as a result are one day short.
The appeal is dismissed.