Skip to content
National Association of Attorneys General
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Anticorruption
      • Antitrust
      • Bankruptcy
      • Charities
      • Civil Law
    • Issues
      • Consumer Protection
      • Criminal Law
      • Cyber and Technology
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Elder Justice
    • Issues
      • Ethics
      • Human Trafficking
      • Medicaid Fraud
      • Opioids
      • Powers & Duties
    • Issues
      • Public Health
      • The U.S. Supreme Court
      • Tobacco
      • Veterans & Military
  • Our Work
    • Training & Research
    • Centers
      • Center for Consumer Protection
      • Center for Supreme Court Advocacy
      • Center for Tobacco & Public Health
    • Committees
    • Initiatives
      • Presidential Initiative
      • Strategic Partnerships
      • International Fellows
      • COVID-19
    • Bankruptcy
    • Policy & Advocacy
  • Events & Training
    • Event Calendar
    • Attorney General Symposium
    • Presidential Summit
    • Capital Forum
    • Region Meetings
    • CLE Credit
    • NAAG Trainings
    • Online Learning
    • NAMFCU Trainings
    • NAAG Faculty
  • News & Resources
    • Attorney General Journal
    • Reports & Publications
    • Newsroom
    • NAAG Policy Letters
    • Podcasts
    • Online Learning
    • Research & Data
    • Member Directory
  • Attorneys General
    • What Attorneys General Do
    • Who is my Attorney General?
    • Attorneys General Office 101
    • Research & Data
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Careers in Attorney General Offices
    • Careers in Medicaid Fraud Control Units
  • About NAAG
    • NAAG Staff
    • NAAG Leadership
    • NAAG Member Services
    • NAAG Regions
    • NAAG FAQs
    • SAGE
    • NAMFCU
    • Newsroom
    • Careers at NAAG
  • Find my AG
  • About NAMFCU
    • About the Medicaid Fraud Control Units
    • Reporting Fraud and Abuse
    • MFCU Member Hub
    • Careers with a MFCU
  • Contact Us
National Association of Attorneys General
  • Find My AG
  • Consumer Complaints
  • Member Benefits
  • Contact Us
Log In
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Anticorruption
      • Antitrust
      • Bankruptcy
      • Charities
      • Civil Law
    • Issues
      • Consumer Protection
      • Criminal Law
      • Cyber and Technology
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Elder Justice
    • Issues
      • Ethics
      • Human Trafficking
      • Medicaid Fraud
      • Opioids
      • Powers & Duties
    • Issues
      • Public Health
      • The U.S. Supreme Court
      • Tobacco
      • Veterans & Military
  • Our Work
    • Training & Research
    • Centers
      • Center for Consumer Protection
      • Center for Supreme Court Advocacy
      • Center for Tobacco & Public Health
    • Committees
    • Initiatives
      • Presidential Initiative
      • Strategic Partnerships
      • International Fellows
      • COVID-19
    • Bankruptcy
    • Policy & Advocacy
  • Events & Training
    • Event Calendar
    • Attorney General Symposium
    • Presidential Summit
    • Capital Forum
    • Region Meetings
    • CLE Credit
    • NAAG Trainings
    • Online Learning
    • NAMFCU Trainings
    • NAAG Faculty
  • News & Resources
    • Attorney General Journal
    • Reports & Publications
    • Newsroom
    • NAAG Policy Letters
    • Podcasts
    • Online Learning
    • Research & Data
    • Member Directory
  • Attorneys General
    • What Attorneys General Do
    • Who is my Attorney General?
    • Attorneys General Office 101
    • Research & Data
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Careers in Attorney General Offices
    • Careers in Medicaid Fraud Control Units
  • About NAAG
    • NAAG Staff
    • NAAG Leadership
    • NAAG Member Services
    • NAAG Regions
    • NAAG FAQs
    • SAGE
    • NAMFCU
    • Newsroom
    • Careers at NAAG
  • Find my AG
  • About NAMFCU
    • About the Medicaid Fraud Control Units
    • Reporting Fraud and Abuse
    • MFCU Member Hub
    • Careers with a MFCU
  • Contact Us

Supreme Court Report: Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, 21-908

Home / Supreme Court / Supreme Court Report: Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, 21-908
March 13, 2023 Supreme Court
Share this

  • Dan Schweitzer
    Director, Center for Supreme Court Advocacy
    National Association of Attorneys General

Volume 30, Issue 6: This Report summarizes opinions issued on February 22 and 28, 2023 (Part I); and cases granted review on February 27 and March 6, 2023 (Part II).

Opinion: Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, 21-908

Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, 21-908. The Court unanimously held that the Bankruptcy Code prohibits a debtor from discharging a debt obtained by fraud regardless of whether the debtor was the fraudster. Kate Bartenwerfer bought a house with her then-boyfriend, David Bartenwerfer, in 2005. They acted as business partners with a plan to remodel the house and sell it for a profit. David took charge of the remodel, and Kate was mostly uninvolved. After they sold the home, the buyer sued them for failing to disclose all material defects regarding the property. A California jury found in favor of the buyer and awarded more than $200,000 in damages, for which David and Kate were jointly liable. They later filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy seeking to discharge their debt. The buyer filed an adversary complaint alleging that the state-court judgment was not dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(2)(A). That section bars debtors from discharging any debt for money “obtained by . . . fraud.” The bankruptcy court held a two-day trial and found that David had knowingly concealed the house’s defects from the buyer. After imputing David’s fraud to Kate, the court ruled that neither party could discharge their debt. The Ninth Circuit’s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel reversed as to Kate, reasoning that §523(a)(2)(A) applied only if she knew or had reason to know of David’s fraud. Following a second trial, the bankruptcy court determined that Kate lacked the requisite knowledge of David’s fraud and thus could discharge her debt. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel affirmed, but the Ninth Circuit reversed in relevant part. It held that under Strang v. Bradner, 114 U.S. 555 (1885), Kate could not discharge her debt irrespective of her own culpability in committing the fraud. In an opinion by Justice Barrett, the Court affirmed.

The Court concluded that the plain language of §523(a)(2)(A) precluded Kate from discharging her debt. The statute prohibits an “individual debtor” from discharging any “debt” for “money . . . obtained by . . . false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud.” As the Court explained, Kate does not dispute that she is an “individual debtor” within the meaning of the statute, or that the state-court judgment constitutes a “debt.” Rather, she fights the third premise, arguing that although “the passive-voice statute does not specify a fraudulent actor,” it “is most naturally read to bar the discharge of debts for money obtained by the debtor’s fraud.” The Court disagreed, reasoning that “[p]assive voice pulls the actor off the stage.” The Court explained that Congress framed the statute to focus on “how the money was obtained, not who committed fraud to obtain it.” In the Court’s view, the “debt must result from someone’s fraud, but Congress was ‘agnosti[c]’ about who committed it.” For the Court, the “relevant legal context” confirmed as much, as the common law of fraud “has long maintained that fraud liability is not limited to the wrongdoer.” And the Court reasoned that “§523(a)(2)(A)’s neighboring provisions, which both require action by the debtor herself” for certain discharge exceptions to apply, further supported its reading of §523(a)(2)(A). As the Court noted, “‘[w]hen Congress includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another section of the same Act,’ we generally take the choice to be deliberate.”

The Court further stated that its “precedent, along with Congress’s response to it, eliminates any possible doubt about our textual analysis.” The Court explained that an earlier version of the discharge exception for fraud provided that “[N]o debt created by the fraud or embezzlement of the bankrupt . . . shall be discharged under this act.” While this language “seemed to limit the exception to fraud committed by the debtor herself,” the Court “held otherwise in Strang v. Bradner.” When Congress overhauled the bankruptcy law 13 years later, “it deleted ‘of the bankrupt’ from the discharge exception for fraud.” “By doing so,” the Court continued, “Congress cut from the statute the strongest textual hook counseling against the outcome in Strang.” The Court concluded, “The unmistakable implication is that Congress embraced Strang’s holding—so we do too.” Finally, the Court rejected Kate’s policy-based arguments, stating that it would not second-guess Congress’s decision to favor creditors over debtors when it comes to debts for money obtained by fraud.

Justice Sotomayor filed a concurring opinion, which Justice Jackson joined. Justice Sotomayor read the Court’s opinion as holding “that 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(2)(A) bars debtors from discharging a debt obtained by fraud of the debtor’s agent or partner.” This holding, Justice Sotomayor stated, is consistent with Congress’s incorporation of common-law fraud principles into the statute. Because Kate does not dispute that she and David acted as partners when they sold their property, Justice Sotomayor wrote, “the debt is not dischargeable under the statute.” Justice Sotomayor stated that the “Court here does not confront a situation involving fraud by a person bearing no agency or partnership relationship to the debtor.” With that understanding, Justice Sotomayor joined the Court’s opinion.

Related Posts

Related Posts

Supreme Court Report, Volume 31, Issue 20

Supreme Court Report, Volume 32, Issue 6

Supreme Court Report, Volume 31, Issue 15

Connect with NAAG and the Attorney General Community

Create a NAAG account to subscribe to our newsletters or mailing lists.

Create Account
Subscribe
Marble columns and the top of a federal building

scroll to filters

White Logo for the National Association of Attorneys General

1850 M Street NW
12th floor
Washington, DC 20036

TEL 202-326-6000
EMAIL 

Youtube
  • Issues
    • Issues
      • Anticorruption
      • Antitrust
      • Bankruptcy
      • Charities
      • Civil Law
    • Issues
      • Consumer Protection
      • Criminal Law
      • Cyber and Technology
      • Disaster Preparedness & Response
      • Elder Justice
    • Issues
      • Ethics
      • Human Trafficking
      • Medicaid Fraud
      • Opioids
      • Powers & Duties
    • Issues
      • Public Health
      • The U.S. Supreme Court
      • Tobacco
      • Veterans & Military
  • Our Work
    • Training & Research
    • Centers
      • Center for Consumer Protection
      • Center for Supreme Court Advocacy
      • Center for Tobacco & Public Health
    • Committees
    • Initiatives
      • Presidential Initiative
      • Strategic Partnerships
      • International Fellows
      • COVID-19
    • Bankruptcy
    • Policy & Advocacy
  • Events & Training
    • Event Calendar
    • Attorney General Symposium
    • Presidential Summit
    • Capital Forum
    • Region Meetings
    • CLE Credit
    • NAAG Trainings
    • Online Learning
    • NAMFCU Trainings
    • NAAG Faculty
  • News & Resources
    • Attorney General Journal
    • Reports & Publications
    • Newsroom
    • NAAG Policy Letters
    • Podcasts
    • Online Learning
    • Research & Data
    • Member Directory
  • Attorneys General
    • What Attorneys General Do
    • Who is my Attorney General?
    • Attorneys General Office 101
    • Research & Data
    • Awards & Recognition
    • Careers in Attorney General Offices
    • Careers in Medicaid Fraud Control Units
  • About NAAG
    • NAAG Staff
    • NAAG Leadership
    • NAAG Member Services
    • NAAG Regions
    • NAAG FAQs
    • SAGE
    • NAMFCU
    • Newsroom
    • Careers at NAAG
  • Find my AG
  • About NAMFCU
    • About the Medicaid Fraud Control Units
    • Reporting Fraud and Abuse
    • MFCU Member Hub
    • Careers with a MFCU
  • Contact Us
  • Find My AG
  • Consumer Complaints
  • Member Benefits
  • Contact Us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy & Cookies Notice
  • Sitemap
  • Member Login

About the National Association of Attorneys General

As the nonpartisan national forum for America's state and territory attorneys general and their staff, NAAG provides collaboration, insight, and expertise to empower and champion America's attorneys general.
Learn More

© 2025 Copyright National Association of Attorneys General

Website by Yoko Co

Internal Feedback / Report an Error

Request an Update / Report an Error

The change you are requesting will be linked to this page. The URL for the page will be included in a hidden field when the form is submitted.
Please enter your change or describe your request. Be sure to reference where the error appears on the page and what needs to be done specifically.
Upload any files that need to be linked to this page. PDF only. Submit another request if you have more than five files to upload.
Drop files here or
Accepted file types: pdf, docx, xls, Max. file size: 50 MB, Max. files: 5.

    Who is requesting this change?(Required)

    Scroll To Top

    Insert/edit link

    Enter the destination URL

    Or link to existing content

      No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.
        To provide you more clarity about how we collect, store and use personal information, and your rights to control that information, we have updated our privacy policy, which also explains how we use cookies. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.I Agree