In re Thorpe

ERIC L. FRANK, U.S. BANKRUPTCY JUDGE

I. INTRODUCTION

Bankruptcy courts are not courts of general jurisdiction able to resolve every dispute that may affect a bankruptcy debtor during the pendency of a bankruptcy case. A fundamental principle of federal jurisprudence is that federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. Bankruptcy court jurisdiction constitutes a strictly circumscribed subset of that limited federal court jurisdiction. Further, even when bankruptcy jurisdiction attaches, it tends to "wane" after the confirmation of a bankruptcy plan. See Nuveen Mun. Trust ex rel. Nuveen…