The U.S. Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel is the federal appellate court which hears appeals from bankruptcy cases from the following districts: the District of Oregon, District of Montana, District of Hawaii, District of Nevada, District of Idaho, District of Arizona, District of Alaska, Northern District of California, Eastern District of California, Southern District of California, Central District of California, Western District of Washington and Eastern District of Washington. The court is located at: The Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals Building, 125 South Grand Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105. The main phone number for the clerk's office is 626-229-7220.

There are six judges actively serving on the U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit. One of these judges is chief judge, which is a position rotated among all active judges in the court. Requirements are that a judge must be at least 70 years old or have served for at least seven years. If no one meets these, they are waived.

When a case is heard by the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, three judges will decide the outcome. In addition, judges from the home district where the case originated may not serve on that appeal's panel.

The panel's website is found at www.ca9.uscourts.gov/bap/. Here, the public can access information about the court's active judges, court statistics, jury instructions, pretrial services, judicial vacancies and even employment opportunities. Local court rules, a hearing calendar, manuals for litigants, opinions, online forms and electronic case files are also provided on this site.

Visitors can utilize the PACER system to find court documents, which stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records. However, they must first register to use the system. They can also search for a bankruptcy case in the circuit via the search engine provided on the court's site by case number or party name.