In re: ANTONIO ALEJANDRO GUTIERREZ
- Case Type:
- Consumer
- Case Status:
- Affirmed
- Citation:
- BAP No. ID-21-1156-SGB (9th Circuit, Mar 02,2022) Not Published
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- The bankruptcy court correctly ruled that it did not have jurisdiction over a former debtor's claims relating to fees owed by the debtor who, as a prisoner, filed petitions in forma pauperis. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b), such fees must be paid by a prisoner. Under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(17), such fees are not subject to discharge in bankruptcy. As a result, the bankruptcy court did not have jurisdiction to hear the debtor's complaint about the method used to collect such fees.
- Procedural context:
- After reopening the debtor's Chapter 7 case to allow the debtor to contest the government's right to collect filing fees under subsection (b) of the in forma pauperis statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1915, the bankruptcy court granted the Oregon Department of Correction's motion to dismiss the debtor's claim that the filing fees were dischargeable. The bankruptcy court ruled that the debtor's claim regarding the method of collecting such fees should not be dismissed because the issue was not ripe. The Department of Corrections (which was collecting the filing fees) then moved to dismiss the debtor's complaint regarding the method used to collect the fees, arguing that the outcome of the litigation would have no effect on the debtor's Chapter 7 case. Granting the Department of Correction's motion to dismiss, the bankruptcy court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the debtor's complaint about the method used by the prison authority to collect the filing fees.
The debtor appealed the collection method decision of the bankruptcy court.
- Facts:
- Antonio Alejandro Gutierrez is an inmate at the Snake River Correctional Institution, run by the Oregon Department of Corrections. Gutierrez had been a Chapter 7 debtor who received his discharge and his case was closed. He asked the bankruptcy court to reopen his Chapter 7 case so that he could object to the collection of filing fees that he was obligated to pay under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b).
- Judge(s):
- SPRAKER, GAN, and BRAND, Bankruptcy Judges
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