State Compensation Insurance Fund v. Zamora (In re Silverman)
- Citation:
- 2010 WL 3169415 (9th Cir. August 12, 2010)
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- The court held that criminal restitution payments may be recovered by a trustee as a preference so long as the payments meet the statutory requirements of § 547. The court noted that there is no judicial exception for criminal restitution payments under § 547(b) and that restitution payments may be "to or for the benefit of" the victim since the payment is based on the amount of loss claimed by the victim.
The court further held that District court decisions are not binding on bankruptcy courts in other districts. The court noted that bankruptcy court decisions cannot be appealed to district courts in other districts and so it makes little sense for those out-of-district cases to have precedential control.
- Procedural context:
- Appeal from the the District Court for the Central District of California affirming the bankruptcy court's summary judgment decision finding that a restitution payment could be recovered by the bankruptcy trustee pursuant to § 547.
- Facts:
- Debtors participated in a scheme to underreport payroll allowing Debtor to underpay its' premiums for workers' compensation insurance. Debtors were indicted and convicted for insurance fraud after paying $101,531 in restitution. Within nintey days of paying the restitution, Debtors filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition.
- Judge(s):
- Mary M. Schroeder, Raymond C. Fisher, N. Randy Smith
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