In Re Sanders

69 B.R. 569, 4 Bankr. Rep (St. Louis B.A.) 3458, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 86
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedJanuary 29, 1987
Docket14-49446
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 69 B.R. 569 (In Re Sanders) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Sanders, 69 B.R. 569, 4 Bankr. Rep (St. Louis B.A.) 3458, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 86 (Mo. 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DAVID P. McDONALD, Bankruptcy Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This contested matter presents the question of whether either the federal or Missouri garnishment statute permits a bankrupt debtor to exempt pre-bankruptcy earnings from property of the estate. The Court holds that although the federal garnishment statute does not apply to Missouri debtors, the Missouri statute does permit a Missouri bankrupt debtor to exempt pre-bankruptcy earnings from property of the estate.

FACTS

The Debtors, husband and wife, filed their voluntary joint petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code on February 28, 1986. On the date their petition was filed, the husband had accrued but unpaid wages of $1,100. No creditor was then attempting to garnish his wages and on their Schedule B-4, Debtors claimed $990 of these pre-bankruptcy earnings as exempt under the Missouri garnishment statute, Mo.Rev.Stat. § 525.030. 1 In the event their exemption claim were disallowed under that statute, Debtors then claimed $825 of said pre-bankruptcy earnings as exempt under the federal garnishment statute, 15 U.S.C. § 1673. The trustee timely objected to their claim of exemption on April 15, 1986, and the matter has been submitted to the Court upon the Stipulation and Briefs of the parties.

*570 JURISDICTION

This Court has jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter of this proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334,151, and 157 and Local Rule 29 of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. This is a “core proceeding” pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(B), which the Court may hear and determine.

DISCUSSION

Section 522(b) of the Bankruptcy Code allows a state to “opt out” of the federal exemption scheme and to substitute its own scheme of exemptions. Missouri “opted out” on August 13, 1982, the effective date of Mo.Rev.Stat. § 513.427. That statute states:

“Bankruptcy, Exemptions Allowed— Every person by or against whom an order is sought for relief under Title 11, United States Code, shall be permitted to exempt from property of the estate any property that is exempt from attachment and execution under the law of the state of Missouri or under federal law, other than Title 11, United States Code, Section 522(d), and no such person is authorized to claim as exempt the property that is specified under Title 11, United States Code, Section 522(d).”

Given the statutory language, two questions arise. First, are a bankrupt debtor’s pre-bankruptcy earnings “exempt from attachment and execution” under the federal garnishment statute, 15 U.S.C. § 1673? Second, are a bankrupt debtor’s pre-bank-ruptcy earnings “exempt from attachment and execution” under the Missouri garnishment statute, Mo.Rev.Stat. § 525.030?

The Federal Garnishment Statute

In 1968, Congress enacted the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act, also known as the Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601-1693r.

“Title III of the Act limits the amount which can be garnished. Under Title III a creditor may garnish the lesser of 1) 25 percent of a debtor’s weekly disposable earnings or 2) the amount by which the debtor’s disposable earnings exceeds thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage. ‘Disposable earnings’ means the debtor’s salary less deductions required by law.
To illustrate, assume that D’s weekly salary is $280 and that $80 is deducted for taxes and Social Security. D’s weekly disposable earnings are $200. Under option one of Title III, a maximum of $50 (25 percent of $200) from D’s weekly paycheck could be made subject to garnishment. To figure the amount gar-nishable under option two, the federal minimum wage, presently $3.35, is multiplied by thirty: $3.35 X 30 = $105. Under option two the excess over $105 ($200 —$105), or $95 of D’s take-home pay could be made subject to garnishment. Because option one ($50) is less than option two ($95), $50 is the maximum amount which can be garnished. Under Title III, the lesser of the two amounts must be chosen....
Title III allows the states to enact garnishment laws which increase the exemptions accorded by the Act and which do not decrease any federal benefit. Where state exemptions are more liberal, the state garnishment exemptions apply. Missouri adopted Title III verbatim and added an additional exemption. A Missouri resident who is a head of household may have only 10 percent of his wages garnished. Thus, if D is the head of a household, in Missouri, only $20 of his $200 weekly take-home pay could be garnished. Because the head of a family Missouri exemption is more liberal than those granted in Title III, the state exemption supersedes federal exemptions.”

Speca, A Survey of Missouri Debtor-Creditor Law, 54 Univ. of Missouri at Kansas City L.Rev. 19, 34-35 (1985) (footnotes omitted); see also, 15 U.S.C. § 1677 (state garnishment law rather than the federal garnishment statute applies if state garnishment law provides for more limited garnishments than the federal statute).

It is interesting to note that if the federal garnishment statute had not been superseded by the Missouri garnishment statute, it would have created an exemption for *571 Missouri debtors by reason of Missouri’s “opt out” statute which allows Missouri debtors federal exemptions other than those listed in Section 522(d) of the Bankruptcy Code. Although the Supreme Court decision of Kokoszka v. Bedford, 417 U.S. 642, 94 S.Ct. 2431, 41 L.Ed.2d 374 (1974), has been construed by some courts to mean that the restriction on garnishment in Title III of the Federal Consumer Protection Act is not such a federal exemption, see, e.g., Usery v. First Nat’l. Bank, 586 F.2d 107 (9th Cir.1978); Dunlop v. First Nat’l. Bank, 399 F.Supp. 855 (D.Ariz.1975), the Court does not believe that Kokoszka warrants that construction.

“Kokoszka involved the narrow issues of whether an income tax refund is property of a debtor’s estate and, if so, whether it was exempt under Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act.

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

Related

In re Foster
556 B.R. 233 (E.D. Virginia, 2016)
Smith v. Frazier
421 B.R. 513 (S.D. Illinois, 2009)
Benn v. Cole (In Re Benn)
340 B.R. 905 (Eighth Circuit, 2006)
In Re Jones
318 B.R. 841 (S.D. Ohio, 2005)
In Re Irish
303 B.R. 380 (N.D. Iowa, 2003)
In Re Urban
262 B.R. 865 (D. Kansas, 2001)
Pruss v. Butler (In Re Pruss)
235 B.R. 430 (Eighth Circuit, 1999)
Lawrence v. Jahn (In Re Lawrence)
219 B.R. 786 (E.D. Tennessee, 1998)
In Re Lawrence
205 B.R. 115 (E.D. Tennessee, 1997)
In Re Arnold
193 B.R. 897 (W.D. Missouri, 1996)
In Re Searcy
193 B.R. 895 (W.D. Missouri, 1996)
In Re Barnes
177 B.R. 635 (E.D. Missouri, 1995)
In Re Kininson
177 B.R. 632 (E.D. Missouri, 1995)
In Re Smith
124 B.R. 787 (W.D. Missouri, 1991)
Scarlett v. Barnes
121 B.R. 578 (W.D. Missouri, 1990)
Gaines v. Nelson (In Re Gaines)
121 B.R. 1015 (W.D. Missouri, 1990)
Coones v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
796 P.2d 803 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 B.R. 569, 4 Bankr. Rep (St. Louis B.A.) 3458, 1987 Bankr. LEXIS 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sanders-moeb-1987.