United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit

August Term 2023 Argued: January 10, 2024 Decided: March 12, 2024

No. 23-311-bk

IN RE: ORION HEALTHCORP, INC.

Debtors.

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AQUILA ALPHA LLC,

Appellant,

v.

HOWARD M. EHRENBERG, IN HIS CAPACITY AS LIQUIDATING TRUSTEE OF ORION HEALTHCORP, INC., ET AL., CHT HOLDCO, LLC, AND CC CAPITAL CHT HOLDCO LLC,

Appellee,

1 UNITED STATES TRUSTEE,

Trustee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York No. 22-cv-2148 , Frederick Block, Judge.

Before: CALABRESI, NATHAN, Circuit Judges, AND NAGALA, District Judge. ∗

Appellant Aquila Alpha LLC (Aquila) appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Block, J.) affirming the bankruptcy court’s decision denying Aquila’s motion to vacate a default judgment. We agree with the district court that the bankruptcy court possessed personal jurisdiction over the parties. We also agree with the district court that the bankruptcy court properly applied the Rule 60(b) factors to deny Aquila’s motion to vacate default. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

ANTHONY F. GUILIANO, Giuliano Law P.C., Melville, NY, for Appellant.

BRIGITTE R. ROSE (John P. Amato, Joseph Orbach, Mark T. ∗ Judge Sarala V. Nagala, of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, sitting by designation.

2 Power, on the brief), Thompson Coburn LLP, New York, NY, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM: BACKGROUND

Appellant Aquila Alpha LLC (Aquila) appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Block, J.) affirming the bankruptcy court’s decision denying Aquila’s motion to vacate a default judgment. The default judgment had been obtained by Howard M. Ehrenberg (Liquidating Trustee) in his capacity as the liquidating trustee of Appellee debtors, including CHT Holdco, LLC (CHT), Orion HealthCorp, Inc., and CC Capital (collectively, Debtors). It granted Debtors ownership of a $23.7 million mortgage (the Mortgage) purchased by Aquila for $3.8 million. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

DISCUSSION This Court conducts a plenary review of district court orders issued in their capacity as appellate courts in bankruptcy cases. See In re Duplan Corp., 212 F.3d 144, 151 (2d Cir. 2000). We review the bankruptcy court’s conclusions of law de novo and its factual findings for clear error. Id. An entry of a default judgment is reviewed for abuse of discretion. See Enron Oil Corp. v. Diakuhara, 10 F.3d 90, 95 (2d Cir. 1993). We leave the decision of whether to set aside a default “to

3 the sound discretion of [the] district court because it is in the best position to assess the individual circumstances of a given case and to evaluate t