Keathley v. Buddy Ayers Construction, Inc. · ¶5

This Court has never applied judicial estoppel in the bankruptcy context. But we have suggested in other situations that judicial estoppel may be inapposite where the inconsistent position was the result of “inadvertence or mistake.” New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U. S. 742, 753 (2001). In this case, the Fifth Circuit applied a follow-on rule that the omission of a claim in the bankruptcy context will be considered inadvertent or a mistake in only two circumstances: (1) when the debtor was unaware of the underlying facts of his claim, or (2) where there was no hypothetical motive to conceal the claim.

slip opinion
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.