{"argument_date":"2006-11-06T00:00:00Z","arguments":[{"argument_date":"2006-11-06T00:00:00Z","heading":"What happened at the argument","official_detail_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcript/2006","official_transcript_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","paragraphs":["Mr. Brunstad argued the court must deny abusive motions.","He cited Section 105 and inherent judicial power.","Ms. Blatt argued courts have inherent authority to sanction bad faith.","She stated courts must prevent abuse of process."],"reargument":false,"sequence":1,"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 26, lines 51-13","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 26, lines 51-13"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 17-43","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 17-43"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 45-5","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 45-5"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 7-15","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 7-15"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 11-21","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 11-21"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 39-47","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 39-47"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 51-9","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 51-9"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 45, lines 11-29","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 45, lines 11-29"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 5, lines 19-25","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 5, lines 19-25"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 5, lines 41-49","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 5, lines 41-49"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 6, lines 39-47","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 6, lines 39-47"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 7, lines 29-49","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 7, lines 29-49"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 7, lines 3-11","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 7, lines 3-11"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 13-17","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 13-17"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 29-35","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 29-35"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 41-41","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 41-41"}]}],"caption":"Marrama v. Citizens Bank of Mass.","case_history":[{"changed_at":"2026-08-29T20:06:28.259349Z","explanation":"An official oral-argument transcript was verified.","status":"argued"}],"case_status":"argued","dek":"Marrama argues the court lacks power to deny his conversion request. Citizens Bank argues the court must deny it to punish bad faith.","dek_sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 26, lines 51-13","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 26, lines 51-13"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 17-43","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 17-43"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 45, lines 11-29","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 45, lines 11-29"}],"dispositions":[],"latest_court_document_date":"2006-11-06T00:00:00Z","maturity":"official_transcript","official_detail_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcript/2006","official_disposition_urls":[],"official_docket_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/05-996.html","primary_docket":"05-996","revisions":[{"correction_note":"Rewritten to the concise citizen-facing editorial standard.","created_at":"2026-08-31T13:02:29.055481Z","maturity":"official_transcript","revision_number":1},{"correction_note":"Migrated to the dated official Court activity contract without model use.","created_at":"2026-09-05T03:22:24Z","maturity":"official_transcript","revision_number":2}],"schema_version":"1.1","sections":[{"heading":"What this case is about","paragraphs":["Marrama seeks to convert his Chapter 7 case to Chapter 13. He claims the lower court wrongly denied this request. Citizens Bank argues the denial was a valid sanction for his bad faith conduct."],"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 26, lines 51-13","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 26, lines 51-13"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 17-43","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 17-43"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 45, lines 11-29","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 45, lines 11-29"}]},{"heading":"How the case got here","paragraphs":["The Supreme Court heard oral argument in this case on November 6, 2006."],"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 7-15","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 7-15"}]},{"heading":"What each side wants","paragraphs":["Marrama wants the Supreme Court to reverse the denial of his conversion request.","Citizens Bank wants the Supreme Court to affirm the denial of his conversion request."],"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 26, lines 51-13","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 26, lines 51-13"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 17-43","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 17-43"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 45, lines 11-29","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 45, lines 11-29"}]},{"heading":"What each side says","paragraphs":["Marrama argues the bankruptcy court lacks inherent authority to deny conversion as a sanction.","Citizens Bank argues the court has inherent authority to deny conversion to prevent abuse."],"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 26, lines 51-13","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 26, lines 51-13"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 17-43","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 17-43"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 45, lines 11-29","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 45, lines 11-29"}]},{"heading":"What the justices asked","paragraphs":["Justice Scalia asked if Marrama made the same argument to the bankruptcy court.","Justice Scalia asked if the case is moot because Marrama is ineligible for Chapter 13."],"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 45-5","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 45-5"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 11-21","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 11-21"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 39-47","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 39-47"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 51-9","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 51-9"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 5, lines 19-25","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 5, lines 19-25"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 5, lines 41-49","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 5, lines 41-49"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 6, lines 39-47","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 6, lines 39-47"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 7, lines 29-49","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 7, lines 29-49"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 7, lines 3-11","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 7, lines 3-11"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 13-17","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 13-17"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 29-35","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 29-35"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 41-41","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 41-41"}]},{"heading":"Why it matters","paragraphs":["This case defines the scope of bankruptcy court power to sanction bad faith. It determines whether courts can deny relief to punish procedural abuse. This affects how debtors interact with the bankruptcy system."],"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 26, lines 51-13","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 26, lines 51-13"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 17-43","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 17-43"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 45, lines 11-29","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 45, lines 11-29"}]},{"heading":"What happens next","paragraphs":["This article currently covers the argument record. Use the official docket link for later case activity."],"sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 45-5","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 45-5"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 7-15","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 7-15"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 11-21","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 11-21"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 39-47","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 39-47"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 4, lines 51-9","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 4, lines 51-9"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 5, lines 19-25","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 5, lines 19-25"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 5, lines 41-49","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 5, lines 41-49"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 6, lines 39-47","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 6, lines 39-47"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 7, lines 29-49","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 7, lines 29-49"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 7, lines 3-11","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 7, lines 3-11"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 13-17","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 13-17"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 29-35","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 29-35"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 8, lines 41-41","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 8, lines 41-41"}]}],"slug":"2006-05-996-marrama-v-citizens-bank-of-mass","term":"2006","title":"Can a bankruptcy court deny conversion to Chapter 13 as a sanction for bad faith?","title_sources":[{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 26, lines 51-13","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 26, lines 51-13"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 3, lines 17-43","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 3, lines 17-43"},{"evidence_type":"Transcript","label":"Official Supreme Court Transcript — file page 45, lines 11-29","official_url":"https://www.supremecourt.gov/pdfs/transcripts/2006/05-996.pdf","page_label":"file page 45, lines 11-29"}],"topics":[],"undated_disposition_date_fallback":null,"updated_at":"2026-09-05T03:22:24Z"}