WEINGARTEN NOSTAT, INC., Appellant, v. SERVICE MERCHANDISE COMPANY, INC., Appellee., 396 F.3d 737

Summary

The landlord opposed the assignment of the lease because the assignee's assurance of future payment of rent was allegedly inadequate and because the assignee subleased the space to a store that competed directly with an existing tenant in the shopping center. The landlord also appealed the district court's decision to deny a stay pending appeal of the bankruptcy court order allowing the assumption and assignment of the lease to proceed. The relevant case law demonstrated that a stay pending appeal was required when the sale and assignment were part of a single transaction, and there was no reason that this protection should have been lost merely because the instant transaction had been separated into two steps. So, even though the transaction at issue was complicated, it satisfied the requirements of a sale under 11 U.S.C.S. § 363. Therefore, § 363(m) applied, and the landlord's failure to obtain a stay required the dismissal of its appeals as moot.