In In re British American Insurance Company, the plaintiff was recognized as a foreign representative under chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code. Thereafter, the plaintiff filed an adversary proceeding to execute on a judgment by proceeding supplementary, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 69(a) and Florida Statutes section 56.29, to recover assets the judgment debtor allegedly fraudulently transferred to his spouse. In prior orders, the bankruptcy court ruled that it had subject matter jurisdiction over the adversary proceeding as a non-core matter; and under Florida law, a supplemental complaint filed by the plaintiff against the spouse was considered part of the original adversary proceeding against the judgment debtor. Further disputing subject matter jurisdiction in the spouse’s motion to dismiss, the parties argued for the applicability of 11 U.S.C. § 1507 for the bankruptcy court to provide additional assistance to the foreign representative for relief under law other than insolvency law. In rejecting the argument, the bankruptcy court held the plaintiff was already recognized as a foreign representative under 11 U.S.C. § 1517; and thus, the plaintiff automatically obtained the power to pursue in the United States courts any claims at law or equity pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1509, including the supplementary proceeding against the spouse. Further, the court noted that section 1507 is not a jurisdictional provision. Therefore, the bankruptcy court held it had jurisdiction to oversee execution of its own judgment through the supplementary proceeding. Also, the bankruptcy court granted the plaintiff’s motion to amend the complaint to remove references to 11 U.S.C. § 544, which is expressly excluded from available relief to the foreign representative pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1521(a)(7). The bankruptcy court noted that Section 544 had nothing to do with the supplementary proceeding.
