Opinion ID: 4542586
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: Schaefer Shapiro LLP (Schaefer) obtained a judgment against Rodien Ball. On December 26, 2018, Schaefer filed an affidavit and praecipe for summons in garnishment, asserting that the judgment against Ball totaled $1,994.99 and that a bank held assets of Ball. The bank answered garnishment interrogatories indicating that Ball’s account contained funds other than wages in excess of $1,994.99. Upon Schaefer’s application to deliver nonexempt funds, the court ordered that “the non-exempt earnings, property, credits, or money withheld by the garnishee in the amount of $1,994.99 be transferred to the Court.” Ball requested a hearing, claiming that the funds were exempt from garnishment. At the January 2019 hearing, Ball testified that he received $1,790 in Social Security every month and that the only funds in his garnished account were Social - 671 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports SCHAEFER SHAPIRO v. BALL Cite as 305 Neb. 669 Security payments. He estimated that the total balance in the garnished bank account was “[$]30,000, probably.” In October 2017, Ball sold real estate and received “[p]robably about a hundred thousand.” Although Ball deposited those proceeds into the same bank account as his Social Security payments, he testified: “[I]t’s all gone. Been spent, and I owed bills.” Ball iterated that he spent the sale proceeds but did not spend Social Security funds. The county court ruled from the bench: “Show that the testimony’s been given that the funds are exempt. They are ruled exempt.” Upon Schaefer’s appeal, the district court affirmed the county court’s judgment. The district court highlighted the absence of evidence regarding how much money was in the bank account in October 2017, or anytime thereafter, aside from Ball’s estimation. And there was no evidence as to how much money was in the account before any commingling occurred or at the time the interrogatories were completed. The district court observed that the county court apparently found Ball to be credible, and the district court found no error by the county court appearing on the record. Schaefer appealed, and we moved the case to our docket. 1 ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR Schaefer assigns that the lower courts erred because the act of depositing and commingling otherwise exempt Social Security funds into the same bank account as nonexempt proceeds from the sale of real estate removes the exempt status, thereby allowing garnishment of the Social Security funds unless the garnishee proves the exempt status of the funds.