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Effect of Chap 7 discharge on Statutory Hospital liens
Liens survive bankruptcy, in rem. Discharge is in personam. Pay the liens, or the lienholders may have a claim against you.
Sent from my iPhone
On May 4, 2011, at 4:03 PM, "Delmas" wrote:
> I have a client that was involved in an auto injury accident in 2009. We settled her personal injury case in pre-lit in 2011 but she filed a pro se Chap 7 in 2010. She scheduled her hospital and ER bills on Sch. D. She did not exempt any potential recovery of her PI claim and did not identify the claim on the SOFA. She received a discharge in early 2011.
>
> I am wondering about whether her discharge relieves my office of the obligation to resolve her statutory liens? We have actual notice of the liens but since she does not have an obligation to the pay the liens, it should stand to reason that we don't have an obligation either.
>
> Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me some guidance as to where I can run down the appropriate law? Thank you!
>
>
Liens survive bankruptcy, in rem. Discharge is in personam. Pay the liens, or the lienholders may have a claim against you.Sent from my iPhoneOn May 4, 2011, at 4:03 PM, "Delmas" <dawood3@aol.com> wrote:
I have a client that was involved in an auto injury accident in 2009. We settled her personal injury case in pre-lit in 2011 but she filed a pro se Chap 7 in 2010. She scheduled her hospital and ER bills on Sch. D. She did not exempt any potential recovery of her PI claim and did not identify the claim on the SOFA. She received a discharge in early 2011.
I am wondering about whether her discharge relieves my office of the obligation to resolve her statutory liens? We have actual notice of the liens but since she does not have an obligation to the pay the liens, it should stand to reason that we don't have an obligation either.
Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me some guidance as to where I can run down the appropriate law? Thank you!
The post was migrated from Yahoo.
charsetndows-1252
I think client has other things to worry about.
1. If she didn't schedule the pi claim on schedule B and didn't claim it to be exempt, it is still property of the estate, even if the estate is closed.
2. If she claimed the 703.140 exemptions, there may be an effective cap on the exempt recovery.
3. If she claimed the 704 exemptions, the pi cause of action is "exempt without making a claim" per 704.140(a) but I think that is uncharted territory when the asset was not disclosed on Schedule B. Better practice is to disclose it and exempt it. Which debtor may have to do by way of reopening the case and filing amended schedules.
4. If the medical claims truly are liens (not my area) then they survived the discharge and still attach to the recovery. How did she describe the collateral on Schedule D?
5. I recall that there are penalties for attorneys who ignore medical liens.
Jason Wallach
On May 4, 2011, at 4:03 PM, Delmas wrote:
> I have a client that was involved in an auto injury accident in 2009. We settled her personal injury case in pre-lit in 2011 but she filed a pro se Chap 7 in 2010. She scheduled her hospital and ER bills on Sch. D. She did not exempt any potential recovery of her PI claim and did not identify the claim on the SOFA. She received a discharge in early 2011.
>
> I am wondering about whether her discharge relieves my office of the obligation to resolve her statutory liens? We have actual notice of the liens but since she does not have an obligation to the pay the liens, it should stand to reason that we don't have an obligation either.
>
> Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me some guidance as to where I can run down the appropriate law? Thank you!
>
>
charsetndows-1252
I think client has other things to worry about.1. If she didn't schedule the pi claim on schedule B and didn't claim it to be exempt, it is still property of the estate, even if the estate is closed.2. If she claimed the 703.140 exemptions, there may be an effective cap on the exempt recovery.3. If she claimed the 704 exemptions, the pi cause of action is "exempt without making a claim" per 704.140(a) but I think that is uncharted territory when the asset was not disclosed on Schedule B. Better practice is to disclose it and exempt it. Which debtor may have to do by way of reopening the case and filing amended schedules.4. If the medical claims truly are liens (not my area) then they survived the discharge and still attach to the recovery. How did she describe the collateral on Schedule D?5. I recall that there are penalties for attorneys who ignore medical liens.Jason WallachOn May 4, 2011, at 4:03 PM, Delmas wrote:
I have a client that was involved in an auto injury accident in 2009. We settled her personal injury case in pre-lit in 2011 but she filed a pro se Chap 7 in 2010. She scheduled her hospital and ER bills on Sch. D. She did not exempt any potential recovery of her PI claim and did not identify the claim on the SOFA. She received a discharge in early 2011.
I am wondering about whether her discharge relieves my office of the obligation to resolve her statutory liens? We have actual notice of the liens but since she does not have an obligation to the pay the liens, it should stand to reason that we don't have an obligation either.
Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me some guidance as to where I can run down the appropriate law? Thank you!
The post was migrated from Yahoo.
I have a client that was involved in an auto injury accident in 2009. We settled her personal injury case in pre-lit in 2011 but she filed a pro se Chap 7 in 2010. She scheduled her hospital and ER bills on Sch. D. She did not exempt any potential recovery of her PI claim and did not identify the claim on the SOFA. She received a discharge in early 2011.
I am wondering about whether her discharge relieves my office of the obligation to resolve her statutory liens? We have actual notice of the liens but since she does not have an obligation to the pay the liens, it should stand to reason that we don't have an obligation either.
Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me some guidance as to where I can run down the appropriate law? Thank you!
The post was migrated from Yahoo.