11 U.S.C. § 1122
Section 1122 · Classification of claims or interests
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 370 court decisions — leading case United States v. Reorganized CF&I Fabricators of Utah, Inc. (1996)
Most recently applied in Highland Captl v. Highland Captl Mgmt (January 2023)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 11 U.S.C. § 1129 · 11 U.S.C. § 1123 · 11 U.S.C. § 1126
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a plan may place a claim or an interest in a particular class only if such claim or interest is substantially similar to the other claims or interests of such class.
(b) A plan may designate a separate class of claims consisting only of every unsecured claim that is less than or reduced to an amount that the court approves as reasonable and necessary for administrative convenience.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
This section codifies current case law surrounding the classification of claims and equity securities. It requires classification based on the nature of the claims or interests classified, and permits inclusion of claims or interests in a particular class only if the claim or interest being included is substantially similar to the other claims or interests of the class.
Subsection (b), also a codification of existing practice, contains an exception. The plan may designate a separate class of claims consisting only of every unsecured claim that is less than or reduced to an amount that the court approves as reasonable and necessary for administrative convenience.