In re Feasel

277 B.R. 335, 2001 Bankr. LEXIS 1889, 2001 WL 1858272
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJanuary 5, 2001
DocketNo. 99-33535
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 277 B.R. 335 (In re Feasel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Feasel, 277 B.R. 335, 2001 Bankr. LEXIS 1889, 2001 WL 1858272 (Ohio 2001).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

RICHARD L. SPEER, Chief Judge.,

This cause comes before the Court upon the Trustee’s Objection to the Debtors’ claim of exemption in all of the proceeds that they received under a certain policy of insurance: to wit, Twenty-one Thousand One Hundred Seventy-three dollars ($21,-173.00) in prepetition proceeds the Debtors received from Aetna U.S. Healthcare as reimbursement for claims and losses incurred by the Debtor, Linda Feasel. The statutory grounds upon which the Debtors rely for their claim of an exemption in the insurance proceeds are O.R.C. §§ 2329.66(a)(6)(e) and 3923.19.

On March 14, 2000, the Court held a hearing on the matter at which time the Parties agreed that all the issues involved in this proceeding were solely questions of law. Accordingly, the Parties filed legal briefs with the Court in support of their respective positions. In addition, the Parties have, in accordance with this Court’s order dated August 8, 2000, filed with the Court a stipulated set of facts. The facts, [336]*336as delineated by the Parties, are in relevant part as follows:

This proceeding was commenced on August 25, 1999 by a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7. Thereafter, the Trustee was appointed as Trustee and remains Trustee as of the date of this stipulation.
Prior to the commencement of this proceeding, the debtor Linda Feasel was diagnosed with cancer. Her medical treatment for the cancer commenced on May 18, 1999. Subsequent to the meeting of creditors and shortly before discharge, the debtor, Linda Feasel received checks from Aetna U.S. Healthcare in the following amounts for the treatment indicated:
$ 5,841.11 Services provided at Medical College of Ohio 5/18-5/21,1999
$14,107.79 Services provided at Medical College of Ohio 8/3 — 8/7,1999
$ 1,224.64 Services provided 8/3/99 — Dr. Gerken $ 4,827.32 Services provided 10/1/99 — Surgicare
None of the funds involved in this proceeding were received prepetition.
The Funds paid were made in four increments as set forth above.
The total cost of Linda Feasel’s medical bills for treatment is at this time unknown.
The portion of the funds attributable to prepetition treatment is $21,173.44 and the sum of $4,827.32 for postpetition treatment.
The" debtor, Linda Feasel received all the funds, none of the funds were paid to the debtor, Harold Feasel.
The debtor, Linda Feasel was disabled from May through October, 1999.
The treatment to the debtor, Linda Feasel was covered under two health insurance policies. One was through employment and the other was through privately paid for supplemental insurance.
The medical claims were paid by the insurance policy through employment, except for certain deductibles or if the claim was not a covered charge. ,In the event that a claim was not paid for these reasons, the unpaid portion was then paid for by the supplemental insurance. In addition, the supplemental insurance then paid the balance to the debtor Linda Feasel.
On March 19, 2000, the debtor Linda Feasel died. At the time of her death, Linda Feasel only had $4,014.00 of the funds on hand having expended the balance of the funds for the purchase of a 2000 Chevrolet Astro Van. These assets were received by the debtor, Harold Feasel from the Estate of Linda Feasel, as the surviving spouse of the debtor, Linda Feasel.

LEGAL ANALYSIS

In the instant case, the Court is called upon to determine the permissibility of the Debtors’ claim of an exemption in certain insurance proceeds paid on account of pre-petition medical services rendered to the Debtor, Linda Feasel. Specifically, the Debtors seek to exempt Twenty-one Thousand One Hundred Seventy-three and 44/100 dollars ($21,173.44) in proceeds received from Aetna U.S. Healthcare. In this respect, it appears to the Court, from the above set of stipulated facts, that the prepetition medical services provided to the Debtor, Linda Feasel, have been paid in full, and thus the funds the Debtors seek to exempt are, in essence, excess insurance proceeds. In support of their claim of exemption, the Debtors, as previously stated, cite to O.R.C. §§ 2323.66(A)(6)(e) and 3923.16 which provide that:

2329.66 PROPERTY THAT PERSON DOMICILED IN THIS STATE MAY HOLD EXEMPT

(A) Every person who is domiciled in this state may hold property exempt [337]*337from execution, garnishment, attachment, or sale to satisfy a judgment or order, as follows:
(6)(e) The person’s interest in the portion of benefits under policies of sickness and accident insurance and in lump-sum payments for dismemberment and other losses insured under those policies, as exempted by section 3923.19 of the Revised Code

3923.19 BENEFITS EXEMPT FROM LEGAL PROCESS; EXCEPTION

The portion of any benefits under all policies of sickness and accident insurance as does not exceed six hundred dollars for each month during any period of disability covered by the policies, is not liable to attachment or other process, or to be taken, appropriated, or applied by any legal or equitable process or by operation of law, either before or after payment of the benefits, to pay any liabilities of the person insured under any such policy. This exemption does not apply if an action is brought to recover for necessaries contracted for during the period of disability, and if the complaint contains a statement to that effect.
When a policy provides for a lump sum payment because of a dismemberment or other loss insured, the payment is exempt from execution by the insured’s creditors.

With respect to the Debtors’ claim of an exemption under these two statutory sections, the Bankruptcy Rules provide that the Trustee, as the party objecting to the Debtors’ claim of an exemption, bears the burden of proving that the exemption is not properly claimed. Fed.R.BanKR.P. 4003(c).1 In accordance therewith, the Trustee, in his Memorandum in Support, argues as follows:

Under the provisions of R.C. 3923.19, the exemption statute, Linda Feasel would be entitled to $600.00 for each month during any disability covered by the policies. The two periods of disability under the Aetna policy for which this exemption could be claimed are the two visits which Linda Feasel spent in Medical College Hospital. Thus, she may be entitled to a $1,200.00 exemption. However, this theory should not stand because the record reflects that during the period of this proceeding Linda Feasel was still receiving medical/healthcare benefits from both Aetna and the private insurance company; as a result [sic] may very well receive additional lump sum payments in the near future.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
277 B.R. 335, 2001 Bankr. LEXIS 1889, 2001 WL 1858272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-feasel-ohnb-2001.