Bankruptcy

Adversary Proceeding

An adversary proceeding is a lawsuit filed inside a bankruptcy case, with its own case number and its own docket.

It is used for disputes that need real litigation: recovering preferential transfers, determining whether a particular debt is dischargeable, and fights over the validity of liens. The rules closely track the civil rules, with a complaint, an answer, and discovery.

For anyone searching records, this is a common source of confusion. The main bankruptcy case and each adversary proceeding are separate dockets, so finding the bankruptcy does not mean you have found the lawsuit inside it.

Discharge disputes usually arrive this way. A creditor arguing that a debt was incurred by fraud must file an adversary proceeding by a deadline, or the debt is discharged with everything else. Adversary dockets also carry their own appeal path, and because they are separate cases, a search that returns only the main bankruptcy will miss both the complaint and the judgment in the lawsuit.