In re Moore-Mckinney

603 B.R. 855
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedMay 9, 2019
DocketCASE NO. 19-50585-WLH
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 603 B.R. 855 (In re Moore-Mckinney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Moore-Mckinney, 603 B.R. 855 (Ga. 2019).

Opinion

Wendy L. Hagenau, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge

THIS MATTER is before the Court on the Debtor's Objection to Claim of Anthony B. Moore (Doc. No. 26). The Court held a hearing on the Objection on April 2, 2019, after which it took the matter under advisement.

I. FACTS

Mr. Moore is the Debtor's former spouse as well as a child support creditor in this case. The parties have an extensive history of litigation in both state court and this Court. Debtor filed this case on January 11, 2019. This is the Debtor's second chapter 13 bankruptcy case.

Debtor previously filed case number 16-57172 on April 25, 2016. After obtaining relief from the automatic stay, Mr. Moore obtained a judgment in the Douglas County Superior Court on July 11, 2016 for child support arrears, reimbursement of medical expenses, and various fees. Mr. Moore filed a proof of claim regarding the domestic support obligation of the Debtor to Mr. Moore. After hearing and based on a state court order in existence at the time, the Court allowed Mr. Moore a priority unsecured claim in the amount of $18,971.84. Order on Motion to Disallow Claim (Doc. No. 70.), entered on October 14, 2016.

Mr. Moore appealed the state court order. After a remand, the state court entered an Order After Second Remand on May 17, 2018, in which it recalculated the amounts due and increased the amount of Mr. Moore's claim. Mr. Moore filed an amended proof of claim and, after notice and hearing, the Court modified its prior order and allowed Mr. Moore an unsecured priority claim in the amount of $24,159.61. The claim consisted of the following:

Child Support Arrears $4,347.00 Uninsured Health Care Expenses $5,749.55 Attorney's Fee $15,571.50 Amount Paid by Debtor ($1,508.44) ___________ TOTAL $24,159.61

*859Order Allowing Modified Claim (Doc. No. 102) entered July 19, 2018.

Debtor was unable to propose a workable plan modification to pay Mr. Moore's modified claim. The Chapter 13 Trustee filed a motion to dismiss the case, and the case was dismissed on September 26, 2018.

Mr. Moore then returned to state court and filed an Amended Motion for Contempt on November 20, 2018 requesting interest on his domestic support claim pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 7-4-12. The state court held a hearing on Mr. Moore's amended motion for contempt on January 15, 2019, after the Debtor filed this case. The state court issued an order on January 18, 2019. The order made several observations but left it to this Court to determine Mr. Moore's claim.

Mr. Moore filed a proof of claim for the domestic support obligation owed by the Debtor to him in this case. He amended his claim several times to add and adjust interest he alleges is owed on the claim. Mr. Moore filed his original proof of claim number 1 on January 23, 2019 for $16,205.26. He then filed claim no. a1 on January 25, 2019 for $17,039.87; claim no. a2 on January 30, 2019 for $21,939.60; claim no. a3 on February 6, 2019 for $22,518.40; and claim no. a4 on February 28, 2019 for $26,124.33. Mr. Moore seeks interest at the rate of 6.25% for 2015 - 2018 in the amount of $5,399.28.

The Debtor objects to Mr. Moore's claim. She contends Mr. Moore's claim should be reduced to reflect the amount of his claim allowed in the Debtor's previous case ($24,159.61) less the amount the Debtor paid on the claim in her prior case ($6,994.74) to reflect a balance of $17,164.87. Debtor contends Mr. Moore is not entitled to interest on his claim and, if allowed, the interest should not be entitled to priority status but be a general unsecured claim. Debtor argues Mr. Moore is estopped from seeking interest now since he did not seek it in Debtor's prior case. Debtor also argues the portion of the claim for attorney's fees should not be entitled to priority.

The Court held a hearing on the objection on April 2, 2019. Counsel for the Debtor, David Casey, Mr. Moore, and counsel for the Chapter 13 Trustee, Ryan Williams, were present. After considering the argument of counsel and Mr. Moore, the Court found Mr. Moore is entitled to both pre- and post-petition interest and the interest is to be treated as a priority debt and that the attorney's fees are entitled to priority treatment. The Court took the precise calculation of Mr. Moore's claim under advisement and ordered the parties to submit revised calculations of the interest owed, accounting for the payments made by the Debtor before and during her prior case.

Mr. Moore filed a calculation on April 8, 2019 (Doc. No. 45). On April 10, 2019, Debtor submitted her calculation (Doc. No. 46). The Chapter 13 Trustee filed a report on April 11, 2019 (Doc. No. 47). The Court entered an order on April 17, 2019 (Doc. No. 52) providing further direction for the calculation of the claim. The parties filed a Joint Stipulation pursuant to the Court's order calculating Mr. Moore's pre-petition claim to be $22,104.00 (Doc. No. 54). After the Court requested the parties divide the claim between principal and interest, Mr. Moore filed a second revision of the calculation of his claim (Doc. No. 55) rejecting the stipulation and proposing his calculation of principal and interest. Debtor responded (Doc. No. 56) with a different proposal.

II. ANALYSIS

The Objection and responses raise several issues: 1) is Mr. Moore entitled to pre-petition *860interest; 2) did Mr. Moore waive his interest claim by not raising it in the Debtor's prior case; 3) is Mr. Moore entitled to post-petition interest; 4) if he is entitled to interest, what interest rate applies; 5) is Mr. Moore entitled to a priority claim for attorney's fees; 6) what is the basis for the charges of $175 and $320 included in Mr. Moore's claim; and 7) what is the principal and interest due on the judgment as of the petition date (i.e. Mr. Moore's claim)? The Court considers each of these in turn.

a. Mr. Moore is Entitled to Pre-Petition Interest

Mr. Moore is entitled to pre-petition interest on his domestic support obligation and the interest is entitled to priority status.

The state court order issued on January 18, 2019 discusses interest, but it did not award Mr. Moore interest. Rather, the state court acknowledged it was "aware" that Georgia law provides all judgments in Georgia shall bear annual interest. It noted that Mr. Moore "did not specify the amount of interest accrued thus far, however, it does appear that he is entitled to collect interest on his judgment claim which is something that he can take up with the bankruptcy court when he files his claim under her chapter 13 plan." The state court therefore left the question of interest open for this Court to consider.

The Bankruptcy Code provides for interest on DSO claims. Section 101(14A) defines a "domestic support obligation" ("DSO") as:

a debt that accrues before, on, or after the date of the order for relief in a case under this title, including interest that accrues on that debt as provided under applicable nonbankruptcy law notwithstanding any other provision of this title, that is-
(A) owed to or recoverable by-
(i)

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Bluebook (online)
603 B.R. 855, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-moore-mckinney-ganb-2019.