Pioneer Investment Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Ltd. Partnership, 507 U.S. 380, 16 (1993)

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Cite as: 507 U. S. 380 (1993)

Opinion of the Court

ral meaning of the word "neglect" and would be at odds with the accepted meaning of that word in analogous contexts.12

B

This leaves, of course, the Rule's requirement that the party's neglect of the bar date be "excusable." It is this requirement that we believe will deter creditors or other parties from freely ignoring court-ordered deadlines in the hopes of winning a permissive reprieve under Rule 9006(b)(1). With regard to determining whether a party's neglect of a deadline is excusable, we are in substantial agreement with the factors identified by the Court of Appeals. Because Congress has provided no other guideposts for determining what sorts of neglect will be considered "excusable," we conclude that the determination is at bottom an equitable one, taking account of all relevant circumstances surrounding the party's omission.13 These include, as the Court of Appeals found, the danger of prejudice to the debtor, the length of the delay and its potential impact on judicial proceedings, the reason for the delay, including whether it was within the reasonable control of the movant, and whether the movant acted in good faith. See 943 F. 2d, at 677.14

12 See also United States v. Boyle, 469 U. S. 241, 245, n. 3 (1985) ("neglect" as used in statute governing late filing of tax returns "impl[ies] carelessness").

13 The dissent discerns in Lujan v. National Wildlife Federation, 497 U. S. 871 (1990), an indication that the factors relevant to this inquiry extend no further than the movant's culpability and the reason for the delay, see post, at 401. We cannot agree. Lujan held that a District Court did not abuse its discretion in declining to permit a late filing under Rule 6(b) of the Civil Rules on grounds of excusable neglect. 497 U. S., at 897- 898. The Court did not, however, define "excusable neglect" or even decide whether that standard could have been met on the facts of that case.

14 The dissent would permit judges to take account of the full range of equitable considerations only if they have first made a threshold determination that the movant is "sufficiently blameless" in the delay, see post, at 400. The dissent believes that this formulation of the Rule's requirements

395

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