McFarland v. Wallace

516 B.R. 665, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126866, 2014 WL 4463243
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedSeptember 10, 2014
DocketNos. 1:13-CV-00209-JRH-BKE, 11-10218-SDB
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 516 B.R. 665 (McFarland v. Wallace) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McFarland v. Wallace, 516 B.R. 665, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126866, 2014 WL 4463243 (S.D. Ga. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

J. RANDAL HALL, District Judge.

Thomas J. McFarland (“Appellant”) appeals from the Bankruptcy Court’s September 29, 2012, and September 30, 2013, Orders sustaining A. Stephenson Wallace’s (“Appellee”) objection to Appellant’s exemptions. This Court AFFIRMS the Bankruptcy Court’s Orders.

I. JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

This Court has appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1) and Bankruptcy Rules 8001 et seq. On appeal, the Court reviews the bankruptcy court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. In re Globe Mfg. Corp., 567 F.3d 1291, 1296 (11th Cir.2009).

II. DISCUSSION

This appeal presents two issues: (1) whether the Bankruptcy Court erred in determining that Appellant was limited to the $2,000.00 exemption for whole life insurance set forth in O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100(a)(9); and (2) whether the Bankruptcy Court erred in finding that Appellant’s retirement annuity was not exempt pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100(a)(2)(E).

A. Whole Life Insurance

Appellant argues that limiting him to the $2,000.00 exemption for the cash surrender value of life insurance provided in O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100 violates the Supremacy Clause and Bankruptcy Clause of the United States Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause of the Georgia Constitution.1 Appellant also urges that the cash surrender value may be claimed under O.C.G.A. § 33-25-11. The Court reviews the Bankruptcy Court’s legal conclusions on these issues de novo.

1. Background

Appellant filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy as a result of a personal injury judgment. Appellant, who was underinsured, attempted to exempt the full cash surrender value of a whole life insurance policy, approximately $13,445, under O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100(9) and O.C.G.A. § 33-25-11. Appellee, a Chapter 7 trustee, sought to have the exemption disallowed entirely or limited to the $2,000.00 exemption amount provided in § 44-13-100(9).

The Bankruptcy Court sustained Appel-lee’s objection to the full exemption under § 33-25-11 and allowed a limited exemption of $2,000.00 under § 44-13-100(9). The Court also held that limiting debtors to the $2,000.00 exemption for the cash value of life insurance provided in O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100 does not violate the Equal Protection Clause or the Supremacy Clause of the United States arid Georgia Constitutions. Further, the Bankruptcy Court concluded that Georgia debtors in bankruptcy cannot exempt cash surrender values of whole life insurance policies under O.C.G.A. § 33-25-11.

2. Supremacy Clause

Appellant challenges the Georgia bankruptcy statute under the Supremacy Clause. The Supremacy Clause provides that “[t]his Constitution and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in [668]*668Pursuance thereof ... shall be the supreme Law of the Land ... any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2. According to the United States Supreme Court, “any state legislation which frustrates the full effectiveness of federal law is rendered invalid by the Supremacy Clause.” Perez v. Campbell, 402 U.S. 637, 652, 91 S.Ct. 1704, 29 L.Ed.2d 233 (1971). Appellant insists that the Georgia legislature invaded an area of law that is reserved for the federal government when it enacted O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100, a bankruptcy specific statute.

Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 44 — 13—100(b), Georgia “opted out” of the federal bankruptcy exemptions provided in 11 U.S.C. § 522(d) and thus a debtor who files bankruptcy while domiciled in Georgia is limited to the list of exemptions found in O.C.G.A. § 44-13-100. In re Sapp, Case No. 11-30468 (Bankr.S.D.Ga.2012); In re Ambrose, 179 B.R. 982, 984 n. 2 (Bankr. S.D.Ga.1995); In re Boyett, 250 B.R. 822, 824 (Bankr.S.D.Ga.2000).

Many jurisdictions have held that state bankruptcy-only exemption laws are consistent with the Supremacy Clause. In re Joyner, 489 B.R. 292 (Bankr.S.D.Ga.2012) (upholding the constitutionality of Georgia’s bankruptcy statute); Kulp v. Zeman (In re Kulp), 949 F.2d 1106, 1109 n. 3 (10th Cir.1991) (Colorado’s bankruptcy exemption does not conflict with the federal scheme because 11 U.S.C. § 522 expressly delegates to states the power to create bankruptcy exemptions); In re Morrell, 394 B.R. 405 (Bankr.N.D.W.Va.2008) (West Virginia “admirably fulfilled its federal mandate in opting out of the federal exemptions” and creating its bankruptcy specific exemption statute); In re Brown, 2007 WL 2120380, at *15 (Bankr.N.D.N.Y. 2007) (holding that Congress specifically allowed states to use their own exemptions instead of the federal exemptions listed in § 522(d), and New York’s bankruptcy only exemption scheme is not so inconsistent with the exemptions listed in § 522(d) as to render it invalid under the Supremacy Clause); In re Shumaker, 124 B.R. 820, 826 (Bankr.D.Mont.1991) (“[T]he underlying premise ... that it is not permissible for states to seek two different levels of exemptions, one applicable in bankruptcy and one without, simply misstates the applicable constitutional power of a state to enact bankruptcy laws where Congress has not sought to act.”); In re Vasko, 6 B.R. 317, 323-24 (Bankr.N.D.Ohio 1980) (concluding that the state’s bankruptcy-only exemption law did not conflict with or frustrate the basic objectives of Congress to provide a debtor with a fresh start and was therefore not preempted); Sheehan v. Peveich, 574 F.3d 248, 252 (4th Cir.2009) (Supremacy Clause did not render invalid West Virginia’s bankruptcy-specific exemption statute).

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Related

McFarland v. Wallace (In re McFarland)
557 B.R. 256 (S.D. Georgia, 2016)
Thomas J. McFarland v. A. Stephenson Wallace
790 F.3d 1182 (Eleventh Circuit, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
516 B.R. 665, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126866, 2014 WL 4463243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcfarland-v-wallace-gasd-2014.