In re Graves

464 B.R. 225, 2012 WL 234848, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 245
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 24, 2012
DocketNo. 09-12649-MDC
StatusPublished

This text of 464 B.R. 225 (In re Graves) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Graves, 464 B.R. 225, 2012 WL 234848, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 245 (Pa. 2012).

Opinion

Memorandum

MAGDELINE D. COLEMAN, Bankruptcy Judge.

Introduction

Before this Court for consideration is the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee’s (the “Trustee”) objection to the Amended Claim of Exemptions dated April 14, 2011 (the “Objection”), filed by Robert E. Graves and Mary Lou Graves (collectively, the “Debtors”). The Trustee objects to the claim filed by Mary Lou Graves (“Mrs. Graves”) for an exemption under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(ll)(D) (“§ 522(d)(ll)(D)”) for a loss of consortium claim relating to a pre-petition automobile accident involving only Robert E. Graves (“Mr. Graves”).

Following a hearing on the matter and consideration of post-hearing briefs filed by the Trustee and the Debtors, this Court will sustain in part and deny in part the Trustee’s Objection. Mrs. Graves’ loss of consortium claim is property of her estate and for which she may claim an exemption. However, Mrs. Graves has failed to establish that the proceeds from the settlement of Mr. Graves’ automobile accident are property of her estate and subject to a claim for exemption under § 522(d)(ll)(D). Background

The Debtors initiated this bankruptcy case by filing a petition for chapter 13 relief on April 9, 2009. Shortly thereafter, on May 22, 2009, the Debtors filed an Amended Schedule B to add a personal injury claim stemming from an automobile accident involving Mr. Graves that occurred on April 7, 2009, two days before the Debtors filed their joint petition for chapter 13 relief (the “Personal Injury Claim”). The Debtors’ Amended Schedule B identified the Personal Injury Claim to be joint property of the Debtors.

On the same day, the Debtors also filed an Amended Schedule C in which the Debtors valued the Personal Injury Claim in the amount of $62,801 and claimed exemptions in the total amount of $62,802. With regard to the Personal Injury Claim, the Debtors claimed an exemption in the amount of $2,150 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(5), an exemption in the amount of $20,250 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(5), an exemption in the amount of $1.00 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(ll)(E), an exemption in the amount of $1.00 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(9) and an exemption in the amount of $40,400 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(ll)(D) (the “Disputed Exemption”). Subsequently, on August 15, 2009, the Debtors filed a second Amended Schedule C. The Debtors did not change the amount or type of their claims exemp[227]*227tions. Rather, the Debtors amended their Schedule C to list the value of the Personal Injury Claim as $200,000.

On June 18, 2009, the Trustee filed his original objection to the Disputed Exemption. A hearing on the Trustee’s original objection was scheduled to occur on July 15, 2009, and was later continued to August 19, 2009. Prior to the hearing scheduled for August 19, 2009, the parties submitted a stipulation extending the time for the Trustee to object to the Disputed Exemption (the “Stipulation”). The Stipulation was approved by this Court on August 21, 2009, and provided that the time for the Chapter 18 Trustee to object to the Debtors’ exemptions was extended for a period of 90 days after the Trustee’s receipt of written notice of any proposed settlement of or judgment on the Personal Injury Claim.

On August 26, 2009, the Debtors’ Chapter 13 Plan (“Plan”) was confirmed. The Debtors’ Plan provided in relevant part that any net non-exempt proceeds from the Personal Injury Claim would be paid into the Plan for distribution to unsecured creditors. A year later on August 26, 2010, the Trustee wrote to Debtors’ bankruptcy counsel regarding the status of the Personal Injury Claim. No response was forthcoming. Several months later, on February 14, 2011, the Trustee wrote to the counsel representing the Debtors’ in connection with the Personal Injury Claim. The next day, the Trustee received a letter from Debtors’ bankruptcy counsel advising, for the first time, that the Personal Injury Claim had been settled for $125,000. Thereafter, on March 3, 2011, the Trustee received from the Debtors’ counsel a copy of a Statement of Distribution dated February 19, 2010 (the “Statement of Distribution”). The parties agree that the Statement of Distribution disclosed that Mr. Graves received a sum of $82,262.18 on or about March 1, 2010 (the “Settlement Proceeds”). The Settlement Proceeds represent Mr. Graves’ share of the total settlement amount of $125,000 less attorneys’ fees and costs.1 Although a copy of the Statement of Distribution was never provided to this Court, counsel for the Debtors admits that the Statement of Distribution and accompanying release of the Personal Injury Claim was only signed by Mr. Graves. The Debtors have not provided any explanation as to why they waited for over a year to report the settlement of the Personal Injury Claim to the Trustee.

Consistent with the Stipulation, the Trustee timely filed his present Objection. In the Objection, the Trustee argued that Mrs. Graves is not entitled to claim any exemption relating to the Personal Injury Claim because the Personal Injury Claim is not property of her estate. The Debtors filed a timely opposition to the Objection contending that Mrs. Graves was entitled to claim an exemption for her loss of consortium claim as a derivative claim of Mr. Graves’ personal injury claim. Arguments with regard to the Trustee’s Objection were heard by this Court at a hearing on August 11, 2011 (the “Hearing”).

At the Hearing, the parties admitted that no facts were in dispute and the only matter to be decided is whether any portion of the Settlement Proceeds may be attributed to Mrs. Graves’ bankruptcy es[228]*228tate.2 Central to this question are the documents evidencing the settlement of the Personal Injury Claim. Debtors’ counsel stated that he was in possession of a copy of the release of the Personal Injury Claim. However, he did not introduce the release into the record because it was the Debtors’ only copy.3 In lieu of introducing the release into this Court’s record, Debtors’ counsel conceded that Mrs. Graves did not sign the release and that the release makes no reference to her alleged loss of consortium claim. In addition, Debtors’ counsel requested that this Court set a post-hearing briefing schedule to allow him to explain why the release, despite not being signed by Mrs. Graves and despite omitting any reference to Mrs. Graves’ claim, implicates Mrs. Graves’ alleged loss of consortium claim. Counsel for the Debtors indicated that he would submit a copy of the release along with his post-hearing brief.

This Court is now in possession of the parties’ post-hearing briefs. Despite his representations to this Court, Debtors’ counsel did not attach a copy of the release to his post-hearing brief. For whatever reason, the parties have not provided to this Court, whether at the Hearing or as a part of their post-trial filings, a copy of the release or any other document relating to the settlement of the Personal Injury Claim.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
464 B.R. 225, 2012 WL 234848, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-graves-paeb-2012.