Thigpen v. United States (In re Thigpen)

590 B.R. 810
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 30, 2018
Docket17 C 7222
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 590 B.R. 810 (Thigpen v. United States (In re Thigpen)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thigpen v. United States (In re Thigpen), 590 B.R. 810 (illinoised 2018).

Opinion

Gary Feinerman, United States District Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

James Thigpen appeals the bankruptcy court's orders granting the Government's motion to amend its judgment and denying his motion to enforce the automatic stay. Docs. 1, 1-3, 1-4. The bankruptcy court's ruling is vacated and the case is remanded for consideration of the Government's motion for relief from the automatic stay.

Background

The pertinent facts are undisputed. In May 2009, Thigpen pleaded guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. § 641 by fraudulently obtaining Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") benefits, which are intended to provide income security to qualifying persons with disabilities. Doc. 6-2 at 99-108; see United States v. Thigpen , No. 06 CR 779 (Manning, J.). The district court sentenced him to two years' probation and ordered him to pay $49,327.17 in restitution to the Social Security Administration ("SSA") "in increments of 10% of [his] net, monthly income." Doc. 6-2 at 117-122. Each month for almost eight years, Thigpen paid SSA approximately ten percent of his monthly Social Security Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance ("OASDI") benefits, his only source of income during that time. Doc. 8 at 7-8; see Doc. 6-2 at 32, 36-37.

In March 2017, SSA began withholding 100 percent of Thigpen's OASDI benefits. Doc. 6-2 at 183; Doc. 8 at 6; Doc. 10 at 7. Thigpen quickly filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Doc. 6-2 at 7-72. Citing the equitable recoupment doctrine, the Government moved the bankruptcy court to confirm that the automatic stay, see 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3)(A), did not apply to its withholding of Thigpen's OASDI benefits or, alternatively, for relief from the automatic stay. Doc. 6-2 at 78-122. While the motion was pending, the bankruptcy court confirmed a Chapter 13 plan providing that Thigpen would pay SSA $100 per month, just over 10% of the total benefit, in restitution. Id. at 2-4, 141, 172; Doc. 8 at 6.

The bankruptcy court denied the Government's motion regarding the automatic stay. Doc. 6-2 at 183; Doc. 6-3 at 1-3. The bankruptcy court reasoned, in pertinent part, that the district court's criminal restitution order mandating payment "in increments of 10% of defendant's net, monthly income" was res judicata and precluded the bankruptcy court from authorizing SSA to withhold 100 percent of Thigpen's benefits. The Government moved to amend the bankruptcy court's judgment, Doc. 6-3 at 5-25, and Thigpen cross-moved for an *812order compelling SSA to pay the OASDI benefits that SSA was continuing to withhold, id. at 27-29. The bankruptcy court granted the Government's motion, denied Thigpen's motion, and vacated its prior order. Docs. 1-3, 1-4. Citing In re Wernick , 2016 WL 7212508 (N.D. Ill. 2016), the bankruptcy court held that SSA's withholding of Thigpen's OASDI benefits constituted recoupment and thus was not subject to the automatic stay, and also that the criminal restitution order was not res judicata. Ibid. Thigpen timely appealed. Doc. 1.

Discussion

Thigpen offers several challenges to the bankruptcy court's order, but it is necessary to consider only one-that SSA's withholding of Thigpen's OASDI benefits is not recoupment and thus does not fall outside the scope of the automatic stay. As the Government agreed at the argument on this appeal, Doc. 13, if the recoupment doctrine does not apply, then SSA's withholding of Thigpen's OASDI benefits is subject to the automatic stay. This court reviews de novo the bankruptcy court's decision on the recoupment issue. See In re Terry , 687 F.3d 961, 963 (8th Cir. 2012) ; In re Holyoke Nursing Home, Inc. , 372 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2004) ; Matter of Kosadnar , 157 F.3d 1011, 1013 (5th Cir. 1998).

Filing a bankruptcy petition "operates as a stay, applicable to all entities, of ... any act to collect, assess, or recover a claim against the debtor that arose before the commencement of the [bankruptcy] case ...." 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(6). "[T]he setoff of any debt owing to the debtor that arose before the commencement of the case under this title against any claim against the debtor" is also stayed. Id. § 362(a)(7) ; see Citizens Bank of Md. v. Strumpf , 516 U.S. 16, 20, 116 S.Ct. 286, 133 L.Ed.2d 258 (1995) (recognizing that 11 U.S.C. § 362 imposes a "restriction upon when an actual setoff may be effected-which is to say, not during the automatic stay"); In re Univ. Med. Ctr. , 973 F.2d 1065, 1079-80 (3d Cir. 1992). Property subject to the recoupment doctrine, by contrast, is exempt from the automatic stay. See In re Malinowski

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590 B.R. 810, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thigpen-v-united-states-in-re-thigpen-illinoised-2018.