Opinion of the Court
by extension, the innocent partners—are generally not on the hook. Uniform Partnership Act §305 (2013). Partnerships and other businesses can also organize as limited-liability entities, which insulate individuals from personal exposure to the business’s debts. See, e.g., §306(c) (limited-liability partnerships); Uniform Limited Partnership Act §303(a) (2013) (limited partnerships); Uniform Limited Liability Company Act §304(a) (2013) (limited-liability companies).
Individuals who themselves are victims of fraud are also likely to have defenses to liability. If a surety or guarantor is duped into assuming secondary liability, then his obligation is typically voidable. Law of Suretyship and Guaranty §6:8 (2022); Restatement (Third) of Suretyship & Guaranty §12 (1996). Likewise, if a purchaser unwittingly contracts for fraudulently obtained property, he may be able to rescind the agreement. 27 R. Lord, Williston on Contracts §69:47 (4th ed. 2022). Thus, victims have a variety of antecedent defenses at their disposal that, if successful, protect them from acquiring any debt to discharge in a later bankruptcy proceeding.
All of this said, innocent people are sometimes held liable for fraud they did not personally commit, and, if they declare bankruptcy, §523(a)(2)(A) bars discharge of that debt. So it is for Bartenwerfer, and we are sensitive to the hardship she faces. But Congress has “evidently concluded that the creditors’ interest in recovering full payment of debts” obtained by fraud “outweigh[s] the debtors’ interest in a complete fresh start,” Grogan v. Garner, 498 U. S. 279, 287 (1991), and it is not our role to second-guess that judgment.
III
We affirm the Ninth Circuit’s judgment that Kate Bartenwerfer’s debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
It is so ordered.
