Bankruptcy Fee Feud’s Circuit Split Needs Justices’ Review: DOJ

A dispute over fees that Chapter 11 debtors must pay to the federal government has created a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court should resolve, the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog said.

The DOJ’s U.S. Trustee’s Office filed a brief with the Supreme Court Wednesday, joining the call for the justices to decide whether the Trustee’s 2018 fee increase was unconstitutional because it didn’t apply uniformly throughout the country.

Although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit correctly upheld the increase, that decision conflicts with rulings from two other federal appeals courts, the U.S. Trustee said.

The brief ...