Eva Carmack v. Gary Carmack
- Case Type:
- Consumer
- Case Status:
- Affirmed
- Citation:
- 23-11817 (11th Circuit, Apr 03,2024) Not Published
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- As had the immediately lower court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Circuit) affirmed the decision of the U.S, Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida (BC) not to sanction Gary Carmack (GC), the ex-husband of debtor Eva=Djina Grant-Carmack (DR), for alleged violations of the discharge injunction secured by the latter, as the standard for awarding such civil contempt sanctions required there be no objectively reasonable basis for concluding that the creditor's conduct might be lawful under the discharge order - and here there was.
- Procedural context:
- In April 2021, a Florida appellate court affirmed a state court’s order awarding attorney's fees to GC. After this decision issued, GC tried to collect the attorney’s fee award from the DR. She refused to pay, having won her discharge injunction and had her case closed in August 2020. GC then filed a motion in state court to hold her in contempt for failing to pay the fee award. The DR proceeded have this state court removed as an adversary proceeding in GC's own closed bankruptcy case and then moved for its dismissal. GC responded by asking for a remand, which the BC granted. Meanwhile, the DR also moved to reopen her OWN bankruptcy case and filed a motion for sanctions against GC. The BC reopened the DR's bankruptcy case for the limited purpose of resolving her motion for sanctions, but ultimately denied that motion. The DR appealed.
- Facts:
- In April 2020, a few months after a state court awarded GC attorney's fees and while the DR's appeal of that order was pending, the DR filed a chapter 7 petition. The DR listed GC as a creditor who had an unsecured claim for $15,350.10 but noted that she had appealed the fee award. In that same month, GC filed his own petition. In his schedules, GC did not include the debt that the DR owed him for attorney’s fees, reasoning that the award was on appeal and the DR's likelihood of payment was uncertain, but disclosed its existence at his 341 meeting. In July 2020, the BC granted a discharge to GC; in August 2020, it did the same to the DR.
- Judge(s):
- Robin S. Rosenbaum; Jill A. Pryor; and Britt Grant
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