On June 12, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided Mercy Health Network v. Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, IA. The court affirmed the dismissal of an unsecured creditor’s appeal from a Chapter 11 confirmation order. The creditor had challenged the plan’s third-party releases and debtor releases, even though the creditor had opted out of the third-party releases and therefore was not bound by them. The court held that the creditor was not a “person aggrieved” with standing to appeal either set of releases. In a period of heavy scrutiny of plan releases, the ruling gives plan proponents in the Eighth Circuit a meaningful threshold defense against appeals by objectors who have only marginal stakes.