28 U.S.C. § 158 — Appeals

(a) District court appeals. District courts have the power to hear appeals from bankruptcy judges' decisions in cases and proceedings referred to them under section 157. This covers final judgments, orders, and decrees; certain interlocutory, meaning not-yet-final, orders and decrees about changing the time periods under section 1121(d) of title 11; and other interlocutory orders and decrees, but only if the district court grants permission. This kind of appeal must go to the district court for the judicial district where the bankruptcy judge serves. (b) Bankruptcy appellate panels. Each circuit's judicial council must set up a bankruptcy appellate panel service — made up of bankruptcy judges from districts in that circuit, appointed under paragraph (3) — to hear and decide appeals under subsection (a), but only if all parties agree to use this panel. The council can skip creating this service if it finds either that the circuit lacks enough judicial resources, or that having the service would cause undue delay or extra cost for the parties. If the council makes either finding, it must send Congress a report explaining the factual basis within 90 days. The council can reconsider that finding at any time. After the panel service has existed for at least a year, a majority of the circuit's district judges can ask the council to re-examine whether either problem still exists. After three years, the council can also check this on its own. If the council decides either problem now exists, it can wind down the panel service, while letting pending appeals finish. Bankruptcy judges appointed to the panel service can be reappointed later. With the Judicial Conference's authorization, two or more circuits can join together to create one shared bankruptcy appellate panel, using judges from all the participating circuits, if all parties in a case agree to use it. Each appeal heard this way goes before a 3-judge panel from the panel service, except a judge cannot hear an appeal that comes from their own home district. The panel service cannot hear appeals from a district unless a majority of that district's judges have voted to let it. (c) Choosing between the appellate panel and the district court. Normally, each appeal goes to the 3-judge panel service set up under subsection (b), unless the person appealing chooses, when filing, to have the district court hear it instead, or another party makes that same choice within 30 days after being notified of the appeal. Appeals under subsections (a) and (b) follow the same procedures as regular civil appeals from district courts to courts of appeals, within the time set by Bankruptcy Rule 8002. (d) Court of appeals review. Courts of appeals can hear appeals from all final decisions, judgments, orders, and decrees issued under subsections (a) and (b). There is also a path for immediate appeal. The right court of appeals can take a case straight from the bankruptcy or district court, or from the appellate panel, if that court, on its own or at a party's request, or all the parties together, certify that: the decision involves a legal question with no controlling ruling from that circuit's court of appeals or the Supreme Court, or is otherwise a matter of major public importance; the decision involves a legal question where existing rulings conflict; or an immediate appeal could significantly speed up the case — and the court of appeals then agrees to allow the direct appeal. If the bankruptcy court, district court, or appellate panel — on its own, at a party's request, or after receiving a joint request from a majority of the parties on each side — determines one of those three situations applies, it must issue the certification. The parties can add a short written explanation to support the certification. This kind of direct appeal does not automatically pause the underlying case; a stay only happens if the court below or the court of appeals specifically issues one. Any request for this certification must be made within 60 days after the judgment, order, or decree is entered.