Unpublished Disposition, 889 F.2d 1094 (9th Cir. 1987)

MEMORANDUM^** 

The Allustiartes are debtors in bankruptcy. They appeal from a district court order denying their motion to stay, pending appeal, the bankruptcy court's order commissioning an appraisal of real property. We affirm.

* The Allustiartes filed voluntary petitions for relief in bankruptcy on August 15, 1979. The case has wended its way through the court system ever since, reaching this court at least once before. See Allustiarte v. Cooper, 786 F.2d 910 (9th Cir. 1986). On May 12, 1987, the bankruptcy court entered an order authorizing the commission of an appraisal of a single-family dwelling in the property of the estate in bankruptcy.¹  The Allustiartes appealed the order to the district court and also sought a stay of the bankruptcy court's order pending its appeal. On October 30, 1987, the district court denied the stay.

We review the district court's denial of a stay pending appeal for abuse of discretion. See Lopez v. Heckler, 713 F.2d 1432, 1435 (9th Cir. 1983) ("The standard of review for evaluating stays pending appeal is similar to that employed by the district courts in deciding whether to grant a preliminary injunction"); see also id. at 1436 (an abuse-of-discretion standard is applied to an order issuing or denying a preliminary injunction).

II

Bankruptcy Rule 12-53(a) authorizes the court to "appoint one or more competent and disinterested appraisers who shall prepare and file with the court an appraisal of the property of the debtor." The bankruptcy court here did exactly that.

The district court may, in its discretion, stay the enforcement of bankruptcy proceedings pending appeal. See 11 U.S.C. app. Sec. 8005 (Bankruptcy Rule). The relevant factors are those generally applicable to injunctive relief: the likelihood of success on the merits, likelihood of irreparable injury if the stay is not granted, the absence of substantial harm to other interested persons, and the absence of harm to the public interest. The district court here weighed the factors and "conclude [d] that a stay [was] not warranted":

Most particularly, the court is mindful of the substantial harm such a stay would impose on other interested persons, namely the creditors. These creditors have been forced to wait while the bankruptcy court, this court, and the court of appeals, over a time span of approximately eight years, fully reviewed appellants' claims. The time has now ended for stays affecting the appraisal and ultimate sale of the subject property.

Based on the foregoing, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in denying the stay of the appraisal.

AFFIRMED.