United States v. Whiting Pools, Inc.
Supreme Court of the United States
462 U.S. 198 (1983)
Whiting Pools, Inc. (defendant) owed $92,000 in back taxes, prompting the IRS to seize its equipment, vehicles, inventory, and office supplies. The next day, Whiting filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and sought a bankruptcy court order requiring the IRS to turn the seized property over to the reorganization estate so Whiting could keep operating. The bankruptcy court ordered the turnover conditioned on protections for the IRS's interest, but the district court reversed, and the court of appeals reversed again in Whiting's favor; the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether, when a debtor seeks to reorganize a business through bankruptcy, the reorganization estate includes property of the debtor that a creditor seized before the bankruptcy filing.