When Congress boosted bankruptcy fees but exempted filers in Alabama and North Carolina from the higher fees, it violated a uniformity requirement in the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on June 6.
The 19-page court opinion (pdf) in Siegel v. Fitzgerald, court file 21-441, was written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Oral arguments in the case were heard on April 18.
The petitioner is Alfred H. Siegel, trustee of the Circuit City Stores Inc. Liquidating Trust. The respondent is John P. Fitzgerald III, the acting United States trustee for Region 4.
Circuit City, a now-defunct technology retail chain, filed in 2008 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Eastern District of Virginia, and its trustee argued the company wasn’t treated fairly in the process, as compared with bankruptcy filers in Alabama and North Carolina….