Episode Details

Keathley v. Buddy Ayers Construction, Inc. | Case No. 25-6 | Docket Link: Here | Argued: 3/24/2026 | Decided: 6/11/2026

Oral Advocates:

1. Petitioner (Keathley): Gregory G. Garre of Latham and Watkins
2. United States (as Amicus Curiae Supporting Vacatur): Frederick Liu, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice
3. Respondent (Buddy Ayers Construction): William M. Jay of Goodwin Proctor

Overview: A bankruptcy debtor's failure to disclose a personal-injury lawsuit triggered the Fifth Circuit's rigid two-factor estoppel test, splitting federal circuits over whether courts must examine all circumstances or presume bad faith from knowledge and motive alone.

Question Presented: Whether courts must examine the totality of circumstances — not just two factors — to determine if a bankruptcy debtor's omission of a lawsuit qualifies as inadvertent.

Posture: District court and Fifth Circuit dismissed Keathley's personal-injury lawsuit under rigid two-factor judicial estoppel rule.

Main Arguments:

• Petitioner Keathley: (1) Courts must examine all circumstances before concluding a bankruptcy omission reflects intentional concealment; (2) The Fifth Circuit's test conflates theoretical motive with actual bad faith, eliminating any real inadvertence exception; (3) Blocking honest debtors' lawsuits rewards tortfeasors and destroys assets creditors could recover.
• Respondent Buddy Ayers Construction: (1) Objective inconsistency — not subjective bad intent — supplies the basis for judicial estoppel; (2) The inadvertence exception covers only objectively verifiable errors, not every non-malicious explanation a debtor offers; (3) A multi-factor holistic test eliminates deterrence, invites abuse, and guts the bankruptcy disclosure system.

Holding: Courts must examine the totality of circumstances surrounding a debtor's bankruptcy omission to determine whether that omission qualifies as inadvertent or mistaken for purposes of judicial estoppel; the Fifth Circuit erred by artificially restricting its inquiry to only two factors.

Voting Breakdown: 9-0. Justice Jackson delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice Gorsuch joined. Justice Sotomayor filed a concurring opinion. Vacated and remanded.

Opinion: Here

Majority Reasoning:

• (1) Judicial estoppel functions as an equitable doctrine, and equity demands case-by-case flexibility — not a mechanical two-factor checklist that blocks courts from considering all available evidence;
• (2) The Fifth Circuit's test fails both as too rigid — barring courts from looking beyond two factors — and too broad — those two factors apply to virtually every bankruptcy omission, making the exception meaningless;
• (3) Courts must weigh all circumstances — including prompt correction, absence of actual benefit, counsel's knowledge, and local bankruptcy practice — to determine whether an omission truly resulted from inadvertence.

Separate Opinions:

• Justice Thomas (concurring, joined by Gorsuch): Joins majority in full but questions whether federal courts hold any authority to apply judicial estoppel at all; the doctrine lacks statutory, procedural, or founding-era support and merits reexamination in a future case.
• Justice Sotomayor (concurring): Agrees with majority but argues judicial est