Keathley v. Buddy Ayers Construction, Inc. · ¶53

All told, judicial estoppel is based in equity, and “specific factual contexts” must “inform the doctrine’s application.” New Hampshire, 532 U. S., at 751. The above discussion has focused on the context of pending bankruptcy proceedings because the judicial estoppel calculus may look different if the debtor takes an inconsistent position long after discharge. Cf. 11 U. S. C. §350(b) (allowing bankruptcy courts to reopen closed cases to “administer assets” or for other “cause[s]”); Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 22 (observing that, for closed bankruptcies, a bankruptcy court can revoke a discharge within certain time periods depending on the kind of bankruptcy at issue). When such a proceeding is still open, however, it is doubtful that equity ever demands the application of judicial estoppel to a claim asserted by a debtor in a different proceeding, even when that claim…

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