11 U.S.C. § 1163
Section 1163 · Appointment of trustee
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. v. McCune (1987)
Most recently applied in Wheeling & Lake Erie Ry. Co. v. Keach (April 2020)
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.
As soon as practicable after the order for relief the Secretary of Transportation shall submit a list of five disinterested persons that are qualified and willing to serve as trustees in the case. The United States trustee shall appoint one of such persons to serve as trustee in the case.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Section 1163 of the House amendment represents a compromise between the House bill and Senate amendment with respect to the appointment of a trustee in a railroad reorganization. As soon as practicable after the order for relief, the Secretary of Transportation is required to submit a list of five disinterested persons who are qualified to serve as trustee and the court will than appoint one trustee from the list to serve as trustee in the case.
The House amendment deletes section 1163 of the Senate amendment in order to cover intrastate railroads in a case under subchapter IV of chapter 11. The bill does not confer jurisdiction on the Interstate Commerce Commission with respect to intrastate railroads.
senate report no. 95–989
[Section 1166 (enacted as section 1163)] Requires the court to appoint a trustee in every case. Since the trustee may employ whatever help he needs, multiple trusteeships are unnecessary and add to the cost of administration. The present requirement of section 77(c)(1) [section 205(c)(1) of former title 11] that the trustee be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission is unnecessary, since the trustee will be selected either from the panel established under section 606(f) of title 28, or someone certified by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts as qualified to become a member of that panel.
house report no. 95–595
[Section 1162] This section [enacted as section 1163] requires the appointment of an independent trustee in a railroad reorganization case. The court may appoint one or more disinterested persons to serve as trustee in the case.
Amendments
1986—Pub. L. 99–554 amended section generally, substituting “relief the Secretary” for “relief, the Secretary” and “The United States trustee shall appoint” for “The court shall appoint”.
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Effective date and applicability of amendment by Pub. L. 99–554 dependent upon the judicial district involved, see section 302(d), (e) of Pub. L. 99–554, set out as a note under section 581 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.