Is ‘Chutzpah’ A Legal Term?

The Hebrew and Yiddish term “chutzpah” didn’t appear in a judicial opinion until 1972, but is now a go-to term of art used by many judges to describe cases where plaintiffs display a certain brazen confidence. This month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a bankruptcy case brought by a serial court abuser whose behavior could “only be described as an exercise in chutzpah.” But, “[I]s chutzpah legally cognizable?” asks Doron Kenter in the Weil Bankruptcy Blog. “[C]an the presence of some nebulously defined attitude form the basis of a court’s decision, or of a legal argument? … Is chutzpah itself a term of art, or merely an attention-grabbing catchphrase or a stand-in for a comprehensive analysis?”