The bankruptcy filing of an airline carrier whose plane crashed into a house in Buffalo does not stop all discovery in litigation pertaining to the crash, Western District Judge William Skretny (See Profile) has held. He said that while the bankruptcy “automatic stay”—a provision in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code that generally brings a halt to any litigation or collection efforts—extends to all proceedings involving the debtors of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and Colgan Air, it does not foreclose continued document discovery between the plaintiffs and non-debtor defendants.

In re: Air Crash Near Clarence Center, 09-md-2085, resulted from a 2009 accident in which a Continental Connection/Colgan flight from Newark, N.J., crashed into a house near the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Fifty people—45 passengers, four crew members and one resident of the house—were killed. Pinnacle and Colgan filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy re-organization in the Southern District on April 1.