316
Opinion of the Court
McCallum, Deputy Solicitor General Clement, William Kanter, and Robert Kamenshine.
Donald B. Ayer argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Jack W. Campbell IV and Rayford K. Adams III.*
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. The Bankruptcy Code provides that a debt shall not be dischargeable in bankruptcy "to the extent" it is "for money . . . obtained by . . . false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud." 11 U. S. C. § 523(a)(2)(A). Can this language cover a debt embodied in a settlement agreement that settled a creditor's earlier claim "for money . . . obtained by . . . fraud"? In our view, the statute can cover such a debt, and we reverse a lower court judgment to the contrary.
I
This case arises out of circumstances that we outline as follows: (1) A sues B seeking money that (A says) B obtained
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the State of Ohio et al. by Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General of Ohio, David M. Gormley, State Solicitor, and Marcus J. Glasgow and John K. McManus, Assistant Attorneys General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Bruce M. Botelho of Alaska, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Bill Lockyer of California, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida, Thurbert E. Baker of Georgia, Alan G. Lance of Idaho, James E. Ryan of Illinois, Steve Carter of Indiana, Thomas J. Miller of Iowa, Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts, Mike Hatch of Minnesota, Mike Moore of Mississippi, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon of Missouri, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, David Samson of New Jersey, Eliot Spitzer of New York, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Wayne Stenehjem of North Dakota, Robert Tenorio Torres of the Northern Mariana Islands, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, D. Michael Fisher of Pennsylvania, Anabelle Rodríguez of Puerto Rico, Paul G. Summers of Tennessee, John Cornyn of Texas, Mark L. Shurtleff of Utah, Christine O. Gregoire of Washington, and Hoke MacMillan of Wyoming; for AARP by Walter Dellinger, Jonathan D. Hacker, Stacy J. Canan, Deborah M. Zuckerman, and Michael R. Schuster; and for G. Eric Brunstad, Jr., by Mr. Brunstad, pro se, and Rheba Rutkowski.
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