Opinion
No. BK-78-170
April 4, 1980
Former Bankruptcy Act — Discharge of Debts — Provable Debts — Fines and Penalties — Parking Tickets
A bankrupt's obligation as a result of parking violations is not provable under Section 17a of the Bankruptcy Act since the waiver fees involved were penalties imposed for infractions of the city's police power ordinances. Accordingly, the debt is not dischargeable. See Sec. 17a at ¶ 2144 and Sec. 523(a) at ¶ 9226 and Sec. 63a(1) at ¶ 2612.
[Digest of Opinion]
The municipal officers in the City of Portland enacted parking ordinances and provided a method by which persons charged with their violation could waive all court action by payment of specific fees. After receiving three parking tickets, the bankrupt was towed. At the time of filing her petition in bankruptcy, she owed the city a claim for the unpaid tickets.
The bankrupt argued that the city's claim against her was a provable and allowable debt dischargeable in bankruptcy under Section 63a(1) of the Bankruptcy Act, which provides that debts founded upon a fixed liability are provable. However, the court found that even assuming the waiver fees were a fixed liability evidenced by an instrument in writing, the reported cases did not support the bankrupt's position. The court noted that In re Moore, 111 F. 145(D.C.W.D. Ky 1901) cited with approval by the Court of Appeals in Parker v. U.S., 153 F.2d 66 (1st Cir. 1946), held that fines and penalties were not provable debts within the meaning of Section 17a of the Bankruptcy Act. Rather, in the court's view, the waiver fees were a penalty imposed for the infractions of the city's police power ordinances regulating the operation of vehicles in public ways. It was not the intention of Congress, the court said, to grant bankruptcy courts the power or authority to pardon a bankrupt from the consequences of infractions of police power ordinances. Consequently, the bankrupt's obligation for outstanding waiver fees was held not be a provable debt within the meaning of Section 17a and, therefore, not dischargeable in bankruptcy.