Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-91-04090/USCOURTS-ca10-91-04090-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
David M. Fullmer
Appellant
Linda L. Fullmer
Appellant
Stephen W. Rupp
Appellee

Document Text:

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

IN RE DAVID M. FULLMER 

AND LINDA L. FULLMER, 

Debtors, 

IN RE DAVID M. FULLMER No. 91-4090 

AUG 3 ~-1992 

ROBER:' L. HOECK~?. 

Clerk 

AND LINDA L. FULLMER, 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

(D.C. No. 90-C-662W) 

(Central District of Utah) 

Debtors/Appellant, 

vs. 

) 

STEPHEN W. RUPP, ) 

) 

Trustee/Appellee, ) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Before EBEL, and MCWILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and EISELE, District 

Judge••. 

The debtors in this bankruptcy case, David and Linda Fullmer, 

filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code 

on October 6, 1989. They claimed an exemption for the ERISA 

retirement plans in which Mr. Fullmer had acquired an interest 

during his employment with United Savings/Western Mortgage. The 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except for 

the purposes of establishing the doctrines of law of the case, res 

judicata or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

** Honorable G. Thomas Eisele, United States Senior District Judge 

for the Eastern District of Arkansas, sitting by designation. 

1 

Appellate Case: 91-4090 Document: 010110307924 Date Filed: 08/31/1992 Page: 1
Fullmers argued that under 11 U.S.C. § 541(c) (2) , 1 interests in 

ERISA plans should be exempted from the bankruptcy estate. The 

bankruptcy trustee disagreed and challenged this exemption. 

The Bankruptcy Court, after conducting a hearing, ruled in 

favor of the trustee and denied the Fullmers the exemption they had 

claimed for the ERISA plans. The Fullmers appealed that decision 

to the District Court for the District of Utah, which affirmed the 

Bankruptcy Court's decision. This appeal followed. 

On December 5, 1991, after the parties here had filed their 

briefs, this Court issued its decision in In re Harline, 950 F.2d 

669 (10th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 112 s. ct. 2991 (1992), where 

it addressed the same issue presented here. Harline held "that a 

tax-qualified ERISA pension or profit sharing plan is exempt from 

the bankruptcy estate under§ 541(c) (2) ." Id., 950 F.2d at 674. 

In light of this recent and controlling precedent, this Court 

would normally have promptly ruled in favor of the Fullmers. 

However, at the time the case was submitted for argument, the 

Supreme Court had granted certiorari in Shumate v. Patterson, 943 

F.2d 362 (4th Cir. 1991), cert. granted, 112 S. Ct. 932 (1992), a 

case raising the same question that was decided in Har line; 

additionally, a petition for certiorari was pending in Harline 

itself. Therefore, we reserved ruling here pending the Supreme 

Court's decisions. The Supreme Court has now decided Shumate, 112 

Section 541 (c) (2), a provision of the Bankruptcy Code, 

provides: "A restriction on the transfer of a beneficial interest 

of the debtor in a trust that is enforceable under applicable 

nonbankruptcy law is enforceable in a case under this title." 

2 

Appellate Case: 91-4090 Document: 010110307924 Date Filed: 08/31/1992 Page: 2
s. ct. 2242 (1992), where it affirmed the view that we took in 

Harline. The petition for certiorari in Harline has been denied. 

Supra. 

Shumate and Harline answer the question raised on this appeal 

in favor of the debtor-appellants. Therefore, district court's 

decision in favor of the bankruptcy trustee is REVERSED and the 

case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this 

opinion. 

3 

Entered for the Court 

G. Thomas Eisele 

District Judge 

Appellate Case: 91-4090 Document: 010110307924 Date Filed: 08/31/1992 Page: 3