In Re Inofin Inc., 466 B.R. 170

Inofin Incorporated is a Chapter 7 debtor in a bankruptcy case; RC G, a lender, moved for relief from the automatic stay.
RCG contends its security interest in Inofin’s retail installment contracts is valid and that it can obtain relief from stay to continue collection.
The contracts in RCG’s portfolio were funded in part by RCG but over time Inofin assigned mixed batches of contracts to RCG not all traceable to RCG’s advances.
The Chapter 7 trustee challenged RCG’s security interest primarily on tracing and attachment grounds and raised correlating defenses in the stay proceeding.
The bankruptcy court denied relief from stay after a plenary hearing, with findings suggesting litigation would continue in the pending adversary proceeding, and noted the decision sought a determination of lien validity outside a formal adversary proceeding.
The panel dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, finding the stay-denial order not final because issues remain in the adversary proceeding and the stay ruling is intertwined with those unresolved issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Is the denial of relief from stay a final order for appellate jurisdiction?	RCG—finality attaches when colorable claim exists.	Court—order is not final; issues remain in adversary proceeding.	Not final; appeal dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Should appellate review proceed given the pending adversary proceeding?	Adversary proceeding pending; denial should be appealable.	Review would fragment proceedings; stay denial intertwined with adversary issues.	Review declined; no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal at this time.

In re Bank of New England Corp., 218 B.R. 643 (1st Cir. BAP 1998) (finality in bankruptcy is case-specific; stay-denial often interlocutory)
In re Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., 209 B.R. 832 (Bankr. D. Del. 1997) (finality considerations in bankruptcy; avoiding piecemeal appeals)
In re Henriquez, 261 B.R. 67 (1st Cir. BAP 2001) (colorable claim and finality where stay denial intertwined with adversary proceeding)
Calore Exp. Co., 288 F.3d 22 (1st Cir. 2002) (interlocutory review of stay denial where issues depend on adversary proceeding)
In re American Colonial Broad. Corp., 758 F.2d 794 (1st Cir. 1985) (bankruptcy finality considerations; pragmatic approach)
Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541 (1949) (final judgments and prudential limits on interlocutory reviews)