Lindell-Heasler v. Dinneen (In re Lindell-Heasler)

154 B.R. 748, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21449, 1992 WL 479508
CourtDistrict Court, D. Wyoming
DecidedNovember 2, 1992
DocketNo. 92-CV-044J; Bankruptcy No. 91-00753-A
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 154 B.R. 748 (Lindell-Heasler v. Dinneen (In re Lindell-Heasler)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Wyoming primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lindell-Heasler v. Dinneen (In re Lindell-Heasler), 154 B.R. 748, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21449, 1992 WL 479508 (D. Wyo. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER ON BANKRUPTCY APPEAL TO DISTRICT COURT

ALAN B. JOHNSON, Chief Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on an appeal from an order of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Wyoming, denying Debtors’ claimed exemption in a piano and determining that the piano is not included among the household goods contemplated by Wyo.Stat. § 1-20-106(a)(iii) and that the piano is not necessary for the debtors’ fresh start under the United States Bankruptcy Code. This Court, having reviewed the record on appeal, the briefs of appellants and appellees, and being fully advised in the premises, now FINDS and ORDERS as follows:

Background

The appellants, Richard William Lindell-Heasler and Marilyn Ann Lindell-Heasler, filed a Chapter 7 petition for relief with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Wyoming on August 16, 1991. In their petition, the Debtors claimed exemptions in certain real and personal property in accordance with Wyoming law. Included with much other personal property listed on Debtors’ Schedule C as exempt household goods was a piano and bench. The total allowable exemption amount for household goods and articles of Debtors is $4,000.00, and the total value of the Debtors’ household goods and articles claimed was later stipulated by the parties to be $3,756.00, an amount which is in the aggregate less than the total allowable $4,000.00 exemption amount.

The Chapter 7 Trustee sought, and was subsequently granted, an order extending the time within which he would be permitted to object to the claimed exemption for the piano. The Trustee did object to the Debtors’ exemption in the piano, claimed pursuant to Wyo.Stat. § 1 — 20—106(a)(iii) as an exempt household good. The Debtors’ filed a traverse to the Trustee’s objection, in which they reasserted their claim that the piano is an exempt household article and an article of personal property chosen by Debtors as exempt property in accordance with Wyo.Stat. § 1 — 20—106(a)(iii).

A stipulation of facts appears in the record on appeal. In addition to those stipulated facts above, the Trustee and Debtors also agreed that the piano was owned by the Debtors and was used by the Debtors and their dependents for their personal, family use in their home, and that the piano was not used as a tool of the trade or in any business of the debtor. The piano was held solely for personal use.

Standard of Review

The bankruptcy court’s findings of fact will not be disturbed unless they are clearly erroneous. Fed.R.Bankr.P. 8013. The bankruptcy court’s conclusions of law, however, may be reviewed de novo. In re Hart, 923 F.2d 1410, 1411 (10th Cir.1991); Hall v. Vance, 887 F.2d 1041, 1043 (10th Cir.1989). Except to say that consistency is important and that the bankruptcy court [750]*750had previously ruled that a piano is not a household good and may not be exempted and is not needed to a fresh start in a bankruptcy case, the bankruptcy court in this case made no findings of fact other than those stipulated facts set forth above. It is only the bankruptcy court’s conclusions of law that are the subject of this appeal, and this Court is free to conduct its own de novo review of those conclusions of law.

Discussion

When a debtor files a petition for relief under the Bankruptcy Code, all of the debtor’s property becomes property of a bankruptcy estate. See 11 U.S.C. § 541. The provisions of the Bankruptcy Code, however, allow the debtor to prevent the distribution of certain property to creditors by claiming that property as exempt property. See 11 U.S.C. § 522. A debtor may claim as exempt property items listed in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d), unless the state of the debtor’s domicile has specifically opted out of the federal exemption scheme. 11 U.S.C. § 522(b)(2)(A). Wyoming has specifically opted out of the federal exemption scheme. Wyo.Stat. § 1-20-109 (1988). See Johnston v. Barney, 842 F.2d 1221 (10th Cir.1988). Thus, resolution of the issues presented in this appeal require an analysis of applicable Wyoming law relating to exempt property.

Earlier Wyoming cases have discussed the purpose underlying enactment of the exemption statutes. Property claimed to be exempt is exempt from levy of sale upon execution, writ of attachment or any process issuing out of any court in this state, Wyo.Stat. § 1-20-106(a). See also In re VanGorp, 128 B.R. 579, 580 (Bankr.D.Wyo.1991) (personal property protected from involuntary transfer by a creditor’s use of legal process, such as forced sale upon attachment or execution). However, no property is exempt from attachment or sale upon execution for the purchase money of the property. Wyo.Stat. § 1-20-108(a).

Among other certain types of exempt property such as a homestead and tools of the trade, a debtor is entitled to exempt other personal property. The exemption at issue in this appeal is set out in Wyo.Stat. § 1 — 20—106(a)(iii). This section provides:

(a) The following property, when owned by any person, is exempt from levy or sale upon execution, writ of attachment or any process issuing out of any court in this state and shall continue to be exempt while the person or the family of the person is moving from one (1) place of residence to another in this state:******
(iii) Furniture, bedding, provisions and other household articles of any kind or character as the debtor may select, not exceeding in all the value of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00). When two (2) or more persons occupy the same residence, each shall be entitled to a separate exemption.

The Trustee contends a piano is not a household article which comes within the scope of Wyo.Stat. § 1 — 20—106(a)(iii). The Trustee also urges this Court to accept the bankruptcy court’s finding that the property claimed as exempt must be necessary for the Debtors’ fresh start under the Bankruptcy Code. The Debtors argue that they were free to select the piano as part of their exempt household articles pursuant to Wyo.Stat. § 1 — 20—106(a)(iii) and also urge that no requirement of “necessity” exists in the Wyoming statutory exemption scheme.

This Court agrees with the arguments advanced by the Debtors in this instance. While precedent cited by the Trustee is persuasive, it is not dispositive in this case. For example, in In re McGreevy, 955 F.2d 957 (4th Cir.1992), the property at issue (a shotgun and rifle) was in fact exempt under the applicable Maryland exemption statute. McGreevy, 955 F.2d at 959, n. 3.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
154 B.R. 748, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21449, 1992 WL 479508, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lindell-heasler-v-dinneen-in-re-lindell-heasler-wyd-1992.