ARGUMENT ANALYSIS
on Dec 7, 2022
at 11:57 pm
Unless they find another case in the next few weeks, the argument Tuesday in Bartenwerfer v. Buckley will bring a close to this term’s encounters with the Bankruptcy Code. As I explained in my preview of the argument, Bartenwerfer presents a statutory puzzle: whether the language of the code permits a person in bankruptcy to discharge a debt incurred through the fraud of her husband.
The question comes from the language of Section 523(a)(2)(A) of the Bankruptcy Code, which protects – and thus preserves from the discharge – any creditor’s claim for “money … obtained by … actual fraud.” The claim in the case was incurred through the fraud of David Bartenwerfer; Kate Bartenwerfer, who did not herself commit fraud, is nevertheless liable for that fraud because David was acting as her partner (in selling the house that