In re Springer

338 B.R. 515, 2005 Bankr. LEXIS 760, 2005 WL 3844202
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedMarch 3, 2005
DocketNo. 04-12747-WHD
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 338 B.R. 515 (In re Springer) 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 Springer, 338 B.R. 515, 2005 Bankr. LEXIS 760, 2005 WL 3844202 (Ga. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER

W. HOMER DRAKE, JR., Bankruptcy Judge.

Before the Court in the above-referenced case is the issue of whether the proposed Chapter 13 plan filed by Mary Hart Springer (hereinafter the “Debtor”) meets the requirements of § 1325 of the Bankruptcy Code. On December 9, 2004, the Court heard the objections to confirmation raised by Adam M. Goodman (hereinafter the “Trustee”), the Standing Chapter 13 Trustee. Following the hearing, the Court took the ease under advisement. The parties have submitted letter briefs on the legal issue involved in this controversy. This matter falls within the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction, see 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b)(2)(A) & (0), and it shall be disposed of in accordance with the following reasoning.

Background

On August 31, 2004, the Debtor filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, a proposed Chapter 13 plan, and schedules of assets and liabilities. The Debtor’s Schedules I & J indicate that the Debtor earns $2,206.52 per month from Social Security Income and that she has monthly expenses of $2,099.63. Therefore, the Debtor’s proposed Chapter 13 plan provides for monthly payments of $106.89 for the first six months and payments of $222.89 per month for the remaining thirty months. The plan proposes a dividend of 2% to unsecured creditors. According to the Debtor’s schedules, the Debtor owes $948 to priority, unsecured creditors and $12,944 to general unsecured creditors.

On Schedule B, the Debtor disclosed an interest in a personal injury claim against a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant located in Newnan, Georgia. On Schedule C, the Debtor claimed $10,000 of any recovery from the personal injury claim as exempt property pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100(a)(ll)(D), and, accordingly, the Debtor’s proposed plan does not anticipate that the Debtor would turn over to the Trustee any recovery from the personal injury claim.

On October 6, 2004, the Trustee filed an objection to confirmation, in which he objected to the Debtor’s exemption of her personal injury claim on the basis that the funds constitute disposable income that must be committed to the payment of unsecured creditors. The Trustee’s objec[517]*517tion to confirmation was filed within the time frame mandated by Rule 4003(b) for the filing of objections to exemptions. In response, the Debtor claims that the issue of whether exempt property must be committed to payment of unsecured creditors has already been settled by this Court, as well as the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Trustee urges the Court to join the majority of courts that have ruled on this issue by holding that exempt income may also constitute “disposable income” within the meaning of § 1325.

Conclusions of Law

In order to determine whether the Debtor’s proposed Chapter 13 plan satisfies the requirements for confirmation, the Court must determine whether the exempt settlement proceeds that may arise from the liquidation of the Debtor’s personal injury claim constitute “disposable income” within the meaning of § 1325(b) of the Bankruptcy Code. Pursuant to § 1325(b), “[i]f the trustee or the holder of an allowed unsecured claim objects to the confirmation of the plan, then the court may not approve the plan unless, as of the effective date of the plan ... the plan provides that all of the debtor’s projected disposable income to be received in the three-year period beginning on the date that the first payment is due under the plan will be applied to make payments under the plan.” 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(1). The term “disposable income” is defined as “income which is received by the debtor and which is not reasonably necessary to be expended ... for the maintenance or support of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor .... ” 11 U.S.C. § 1325(b)(2).

The issue of whether exempt income also constitutes disposable income arises because, pursuant to § 522(c), exempt property, with two exceptions not applicable here, is “not hable during or after the case for any debt of the debtor that arose ... before the commencement of the case ....” 11 U.S.C. § 522(c). Nothing within the Code suggests that Chapter 13 debtors are not permitted to claim exemptions or that § 522(c) does not apply in Chapter 13 cases. See 11 U.S.C. § 103(a) (all of the provisions of Chapter 5 of the Bankruptcy Code, including § 522, apply in Chapter 13 cases). These two provisions appear to be at odds with one another, as the requirement that the Chapter 13 debtor commit all income that is not reasonably necessary for support conflicts with the debtor’s right to shield exempt property from payment of pre-petition debts. This Court previously noted that “[njeither §§ 1325(b) nor §§ 522(c) is expressly limited by or subject to the other,” and “[i]n a case like the one at bar, in which the Trustee seeks to satisfy pre-petition claims with proceeds generated through the liquidation of exempt property, it is difficult, if not impossible, to harmonize the two statutes.” In re Hunton, 253 B.R. 580, 581 (Bankr.N.D.Ga.2000) (Drake, J.).

Although a split of opinion has arisen with regard to this issue, this Court declined to enter the fray when it decided the case of In re Hunton. The facts ofHunton were similar to the facts before the Court in the instant case. However, in Hunton, the Chapter 13 trustee had not filed a timely objection to the debtor’s exemption of the income. In that case, the Court determined that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision in Gamble v. Brown (In re Gamble), 168 F.3d 442 (11th Cir.1999), prevented the Court from considering the issue of whether conclusively exempt property must be committed to the Debtor’s plan as disposable income. See also In re Graham, 258 B.R. 286 (Bankr. M.D.Fla.2001) (conclusively exempted income not subject to disposable income test).

[518]*518In Gamble, the debtors sold real property after filing a Chapter 13 petition. 168 F.3d at 443. The debtors claimed the proceeds from the sale as exempt, and no objections were filed. Id. Nonetheless, the bankruptcy court directed the debtors to turn over the proceeds to the Chapter 13 trustee until they had completed their Chapter 13 plan. The debtors sought the return of the funds, and the court denied the request, holding that, although the debtors had exempted the proceeds, the trustee needed to safeguard the property in the event the debtors’ case was dismissed. Id. at 443-44. The Court of Appeals reversed the lower court, holding that, because no party had objected to the debtors’ exemption, the “property became exempt” and, once property is exempt, it “is no longer part of the bankruptcy estate, and is available for the debtor’s use.” Id. at 444-45 (citing Hall v. Finance One of Georgia, Inc. (In re Hall),

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
338 B.R. 515, 2005 Bankr. LEXIS 760, 2005 WL 3844202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-springer-ganb-2005.