Court Opinion

ID: 856263
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-03-26 17:21:22.335958+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:30.423652
License: Public Domain

Case: 11-13115   Date Filed: 03/22/2013   Page: 1 of 2

                                                                     [PUBLISH]

             IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

                     FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
                       ________________________

                             No. 11-13115
                       ________________________

         D.C. Docket Nos. 1:11-cv-00136-CAP; USBC 10-74119-WLH

In re: LOU ANN CASSELL,

                    Debtor.
______________________________________

ROBERT B. SILLIMAN,
Chapter 7 Trustee,

                     Plaintiff - Appellant,

versus

LOU ANN CASSELL,

                     Defendant - Appellee.

                       ________________________

                Appeal from the United States District Court
                   for the Northern District of Georgia
                      ________________________

                             (March 22, 2013)
                Case: 11-13115       Date Filed: 03/22/2013      Page: 2 of 2

Before CARNES, MARTIN, and JORDAN, Circuit Judges.

CARNES, Circuit Judge:

       We are grateful to the Supreme Court of Georgia for the clear and

dispositive answers it has provided in response to the questions that we certified.

See Silliman v. Cassell, No. S12Q1936, — S.E.2d —, 2013 WL 593512 (Ga. Feb.

18, 2013). In light of that Court’s decision, Lou Ann Cassell’s annuity is an

“annuity” within the meaning of the Georgia bankruptcy exemption statute, Ga.

Code Ann. § 44-13-100(a)(2)(E), and the annuity payments to her are “on account

of . . . age.”1 The judgment of the district court is

       AFFIRMED.

1
 The bankruptcy trustee has conceded that the third requirement for the exception under the
Georgia statute, which is that the payments are “reasonably necessary to the support of the
debtor,” has been met.
                                               2