Opinion of the Court
“A discharge under section 727 … of this title does not discharge an individual debtor from any debt …
“(2) for money, property, services, or an extension, renewal, or refinancing of credit, to the extent obtained by—
“(A) false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud, other than a statement respecting the debtor’s or an insider’s financial condition.”
By its terms, this text precludes Kate Bartenwerfer from discharging her liability for the state-court judgment. (From now on, we will refer to Kate as “Bartenwerfer.”) First, she is an “individual debtor.” Second, the judgment is a “debt.” And third, because the debt arises from the sale proceeds obtained by David’s fraudulent misrepresentations, it is a debt “for money … obtained by … false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud.”
Bartenwerfer disputes the third premise. She admits that, as a grammatical matter, the passive-voice statute does not specify a fraudulent actor. But in her view, the statute is most naturally read to bar the discharge of debts for money obtained by the debtor’s fraud.[1] To illustrate, she offers the sentence “Jane’s clerkship was obtained through hard work.” According to Bartenwerfer, an ordinary English speaker would understand this sentence to mean that Jane’s hard work led to her clerkship. Brief for Petitioner
- ↑ Buckley contends that Bartenwerfer has forfeited this argument because in her petition for a writ of certiorari and in the lower courts, she asserted that §523(a)(2)(A) bars discharge when the debtor “knew or should have known” of her partner’s fraud. We disagree. The question presented is whether a debtor can be “subject to liability for the fraud of another that is barred from discharge in bankruptcy … without any act, omission, intent or knowledge of her own.” Pet. for Cert. i. Bartenwerfer’s current argument—that the debt must arise from the debtor’s own fraud—is “fairly included” within that question and her position in the lower courts. Supreme Court Rule 14.1(a); Yee v. Escondido, 503 U. S. 519, 534 (1992).
