Cite as: 507 U. S. 380 (1993)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
ness, arguing that it would be inequitable to penalize his client so greatly where the "delay was occasioned not by [the client], but by its counsel." Id., at 73a. Accord, id., at 102(a) ("[U]nder all the circumstances, we think it would be unfair and inequitable to visit the sins of the lawyer on the client"); id., at 112a (Although the foul-up was respondents' attorney's, given "the lack of prejudice [and] the totality of all the circumstances, [it would be] inherently inequitable to visit the sins on the client for this situation").
Perhaps it would have been desirable for the Bankruptcy Court to make a specific factual finding on whether the unorthodox form of notice actually caused respondents' former counsel to miss the deadline. Given that respondents' lawyer offered no reason why he overlooked the bar date, it is not inconceivable that the notice's unorthodoxy led him astray. Id., at 57a (no recollection of seeing the order setting the deadline); id., at 103a (same). But if there is uncertainty, the answer is to remand to the Bankruptcy Court for appropriate factual findings. Based on the current state of the record and the findings the Bankruptcy Court did make, I cannot accept the majority's finding that counsel's failure in fact resulted from the inadequacy of notice.
Respondents' former counsel's error may represent a relatively unaggravated instance of negligence. He did not miss deadlines repeatedly despite clear warnings. Nor did he act in bad faith. But respondents, their former lawyer, the Court of Appeals, and the majority today have all failed to produce a reasonable explanation for this rather major error. More important still, the Bankruptcy Court did explain the error. It found that respondents' failure to meet the deadline resulted at least in part from counsel's "indifference." The majority offers no reason for ignoring that finding. Even accepting the conclusion that excusable neglect may cover some instances of negligence, indifference falls outside the range of the "excusable." Because the failure to act in this case did not result from excusable neglect, there is no
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