Judgment for court and attorney's fees excluded from prisoners chapter 7 discharge

In Re Searcy
Bankruptcy Case No. 09-00248-TLM
Adversary No. 09-06082-TLM
Decision Date: 1/12/2011
Chapter 7

Debtor is serving a life sentence at the Idaho Department of Corrections. While in prison Debtor filed several civil complaints against Ada County. The state court dismissed the claims as frivolous and pursuant to Idaho R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The state court awarded Ada County costs and attorney's fees under Idaho Code 31-3220(A)(16.)
Debtor appealed. The Idaho Court of Appeals affirmed. Debtor subsequently filed a voluntary petition for chapter 7 relief and listed Ada County's judgement as a "secured claim." Debtor was granted discharge. Ada county filed this adversary proceeding seeking to have thier award excluded from Debtor's discharge under Bankruptcy Code 523(a)(7) and 523(a)(17).
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Idaho found the awards for costs and fees under Idaho Code 31-3220(A)(16) to be penal and qualify as "penalties" for purposes of 523 (a)(7) and are to be excluded from Debtor's chapter 7 discharge.
The Court further found the underlying puropse of Idaho Code 31-3220(A)(16) is similar to 28 U.S.C. 1915(b) and (f)(2) and qualifies as "similar non-Federal law" under 523(a)(17) rendering the costs and attorney's fees excluded from Debtor's discharge pursuant to 523(a)(17).

Full decision can be found at: http://www.id.uscourts.gov/cfCourt/Decisions/BK_DecisionsIndex.cfm

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