Complex Bankruptcy Litigation in a Stern World

June 23 marked the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Stern v. Marshall, in which the court held that a bankruptcy court lacks the constitutional authority to enter final judgment in a state law counterclaim. Since Stern, the growing trend is uncertainty among the courts in whether to interpret this standard narrowly or broadly. This cloud of uncertainty only makes the most complex matters worse when large-sum commercial interests may be at stake, impacting lenders, officers and directors and other stakeholders involved in litigation.