394
Opinion of the Court
60(b). But petitioner's allegations set up an extraordinary situation which cannot fairly or logically be classified as mere 'neglect' on his part. The undenied facts set out in the petition reveal far more than a failure to defend . . . due to inadvertence, indifference, or careless disregard of consequences." Id., at 613.
Justice Frankfurter, although dissenting on other grounds, agreed that Klapprott's allegations of inability to comply with earlier deadlines took his case outside the scope of "excusable neglect" "because 'neglect' in the context of its subject matter carries the idea of negligence and not merely of non-action." Id., at 630.
Thus, at least for purposes of Rule 60(b), "excusable neglect" is understood to encompass situations in which the failure to comply with a filing deadline is attributable to negligence. Because of the language and structure of Rule 60(b), a party's failure to file on time for reasons beyond his or her control is not considered to constitute "neglect." See Klapprott, supra.11 This latter result, however, would not obtain under Bankruptcy Rule 9006(b)(1). Had respondents here been prevented from complying with the bar date by an act of God or some other circumstance beyond their control, the Bankruptcy Court plainly would have been permitted to find "excusable neglect." At the same time, reading Rule 9006(b)(1) inflexibly to exclude every instance of an inadvertent or negligent omission would ignore the most natu-11 A similar, but even more explicit, dichotomy can be found in a former Rule of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit governing the late filing of appeals. That Rule permitted late filings " 'upon a showing . . . (a) that the delay has been due to cause beyond the control of the moving party or (b) that the delay has been due to circumstances which shall be deemed to be merely excusable neglect . . . .' " Rule 15(2), U. S. C. C. A., Second Circuit, quoted in Pyramid Motor Freight Corp. v. Ispass, 330 U. S. 695, 703, n. 10 (1947). Although the meaning given "excusable neglect" for purposes of this Rule obviously is not controlling for purposes of Rule 9006(b)(1), it does suggest that the meaning of "excusable neglect" urged by petitioner is far from natural.
Page: Index Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007