Faust v. Walker

945 A.2d 212, 2008 Pa. Super. 38, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 165
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 11, 2008
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 945 A.2d 212 (Faust v. Walker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Faust v. Walker, 945 A.2d 212, 2008 Pa. Super. 38, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 165 (Pa. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION BY

COLVILLE, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant Domestic Relations Office of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas appeals from the trial court order which granted the motion of Appellee Michael Walker to strike the order of attachment of income in the amount of $5,000.00 and directed Appellant to prepare an order of attachment of income in the amount of $1,800.93.1 Appellant presents one issue for our review: whether the trial court abused its discretion by misapplying the law when it granted Appellant’s request to limit the attachment of income in contradiction to the specific language of 23 Pa. C.S.A. § 4308.1. We affirm the trial court’s order.

¶ 2 Appellee was injured in a motor vehicle accident and retained a law firm, Schmidt Kramer, P.C., to represent him. [213]*213Appellee’s counsel subsequently settled his personal injury claim for $10,000.00. At the time of the settlement, Appellee was the subject of a child support order and owed child support arrears in excess of $12,000.00. The trial court initially issued an order directing Schmidt Kramer, P.C., to pay $5,000.00 of the settlement toward Appellee’s arrears. In response, Schmidt Kramer, P.C., on behalf of Appellee, filed a motion to strike the court’s order of attachment. A rule was issued upon Appellant to show cause why Appellee’s motion should not be granted which Appellant answered. Following oral argument, the trial court entered an order granting Appel-lee’s motion to strike and, in accordance with 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 4308.1, directed the Domestic Relations Office of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas to prepare an order of attachment of income in the amount of $1,800.93. This appeal followed.

¶ 3 We view Appellant’s claims with the following consideration: “[i]n evaluating a trial court’s application of a statute, our standard of review is plenary and is limited to determining whether the trial court committed an error of law.” Commonwealth v. Johnson, 910 A.2d 80, 83 (Pa.Super.2006). Further, “[w]hen interpreting a statute, we must abide by the rules of statutory construction. It is a basic tenet of statutory interpretation that, ‘when the words of a statute are clear and free from all ambiguity, the letter of it is not to be disregarded under the pretext of pursuing its spirit.’ ” Springfield Twp. v. Mellon PSFS Bank, 586 Pa. 1, 889 A.2d 1184, 1188 (2005)(quoting 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1921(b)).

¶ 4 In this case, Appellant challenges the trial court’s application of 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 4308.1 in determining the amount of Ap-pellee’s settlement award for his personal injury claim that is attributable to the amount he owes in child support arrears. Section 4308.1 provides, in relevant part: “GENERAL RULE. — Overdue support shall be a lien by operation of law against the net proceeds of any monetary award, as defined in subsection (i), owed to an obligor, and distribution of any such award shall be stayed in an amount equal to the child support hen provided for under this section pending payment of the lien.” 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 4308.1(a). Thus, pursuant to Section 4308.1(a), the amount Appellee owes in child support arrears is considered a lien against the “net proceeds” of the obligor’s “monetary award.” Id. “Monetary award” is defined in this section as:

Any portion of a settlement paid as a lump sum negotiated in lieu of, or subsequent to the filing of a lawsuit for, or any civil judgment or civil arbitration award that is paid as a third party claim for bodily injury or death under a property and casualty insurance policy, or paid as a workers’ compensation or occupational disease act award under a workers’ compensation policy. The term includes self-insurers and also applies to property and casualty and workers’ compensation or occupational disease act policies which are issued by an insurer licensed or authorized to do business in this Commonwealth. The term does not include a lump sum payable through a structured settlement annuity. The term shall apply only to those settlements, judgments, civil arbi-trations, Workers’ Compensation Act or The Pennsylvania Occupational Disease Act awards which are asserted and resolved in this Commonwealth.

23 Pa.C.S.A. § 4308.1(i). “Net proceeds” is defined as:

Moneys in excess of $ 5,000 payable to a prevailing party or beneficiary, or in the case of an award under the act of June 2,1915 (P.L. 736, No. 338), known as the Workers’ Compensation Act, or the act of June 21, 1939 (P.L. 566, No. 284), [214]*214known as The Pennsylvania Occupational Disease Act, the claimant after payment of attorney fees, witness fees, court costs, reasonable litigation expenses, documented unpaid expenses incurred for medical treatment causally related to the claim, any workers’ compensation or occupational disease indemnity or medical payment and payments to the medical assistance program under sections 1409 and 1412 of the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L. 31, No. 21), known as the Public Welfare Code.

23 Pa.C.S.A. § 4308.1(i).

¶ 5 The dispute in this case arises from the meaning of the phrase “net proceeds” under Section 4308.1(i). Appellant argues that the plain reading of the term “net proceeds,” is that while $5,000.00 is excluded from the amount of the monetary award subject to the lien, attorney’s fees and costs are not excluded from this amount in the case of a personal injury claim. Rather, it argues that the part of the definition which would deduct these and other expenses from the portion of the monetary award subject to the hen applies only to workers’ compensation or occupational disease awards. Thus, Appellant asserts that in all awards from claims, except for awards from workers’ compensation and occupational disease claims, all proceeds in excess of $5,000.00 are subject to the hen. Appellant argues that such an interpretation more closely resembles the legislative intent of recovering overdue support from lump sum awards payable to an obligor. However, we find no basis, nor does Appellant offer any explanation, for an interpretation of “net proceeds” that would draw a distinction between awards from personal injury claims and those from workers’ compensation or occupational disease claims and only permit attorney’s fees and costs and related medical expenses to be deducted from the latter.

¶ 6 The trial court, in applying 23 Pa. C.S.A. § 4308.1, refused to draw such a distinction. Instead, it found:

Though the sentence structure is awkward, the meaning is otherwise explicit and unambiguous in clearly delineating that “net proceeds” are arrived at by deducting the types of expenses listed therein from both types of monetary awards contemplated there under: net proceeds are “moneys in excess of $5,000 payable to a prevailing party or beneficiary or ... claimant after payment of attorney fees, witness fees, court costs ...” etc.
The determinative factor in so concluding is that the statute explicitly identifies that it is the “net proceeds” of a monetary award that [ ] are subject to a lien. The common meaning of “net proceeds” is “[t]he amount received in a transaction minus the costs of the transaction (such as expenses or commissions). Also termed net balance” Black’s Law Dictionary 1242 (8th ed.).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Robinson, E. v. Madeline C. Weiser, M.D., P.C.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019
Coffman, S. v. Kline, D.
167 A.3d 772 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
In The Interest of K.C.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017
Robinson v. WICHITA EMPLOYEES'RET. BD.
241 P.3d 15 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2010)
Campbell v. Walker
982 A.2d 1013 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
945 A.2d 212, 2008 Pa. Super. 38, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 165, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faust-v-walker-pasuperct-2008.