Before TACHA, EBEL, and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.
Appellants Search Market Direct, Inc. and Magnet Media, Inc. (collectively “SMDI”) seek to appeal the bankruptcy court’s decision confirming Appellees’ joint bankruptcy reorganization plan (the “Joint Plan”) and denying SMDI’s competing plan. Following the bankruptcy court’s confirmation of the Joint Plan, the trustee paid off most of the bankruptcy estate’s creditors and the plan was substantially consummated. In light of the steps that had been taken to implement the Joint Plan, the district court dismissed SMDI’s appeal, concluding that it had become both constitutionally and equitably moot. Exercising our jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158(d)(1), we REVERSE and REMAND this case to the district court for consideration of the merits of SMDI’s appeal.
This case presents a somewhat unsettling-but we suspect common-set of facts. Two competing parties-ConsumerInfo.Com (“ConsumerInfo”) and SMDI-have proposed plans to administer Mr. Paige’s bankruptcy estate. However, while both of these plans were crafted to be protective of the creditors’ interests, neither of these parties is really interested in ensuring that the creditors are paid off. Rather, as the bankruptcy court observed, “the proponents’ true intentions throughout this case ha[ve] been to acquire the right to own and use the [FreeCreditScore.com] Domain Name,” In re Paige, No. 05-34474, 2007 WL 4143212, at *7 (Bankr. D. Utah 2007), the estate’s most valuable asset. To that end, both ConsumerInfo and SMDI purchased substantial portions of the creditors’ claims against the estate, thereby gaining the authority to propose bankruptcy plans for the estate that would further their respective desires to acquire the FreeCreditScore.com domain name.