Crow v. 2010-1 RADC/CADC Venture, LLC
Crow v. 2010-1 RADC/CADC Venture, LLC
Opinion of the Court
[¶1] Appellant, Thomas L. Crow, challenges an order denying his claim that his paintings are statutorily exempt from execution to satisfy a judgment debt. We affirm.
ISSUE
[¶2] Did the district court err in concluding that paintings owned by Mr. Crow are not exempt from execution as "pictures" under
FACTS
[¶3] In 2013, 2010-1 RADC/CADC Venture, LLC (RADC), obtained a Colorado judgment against Mr. Crow for nearly two million dollars. Later that year, RADC filed the judgment as a foreign judgment in the district court for Teton County, Wyoming, where Mr. Crow owned real and personal property. The matter lay dormant for the next three years.
[¶4] In 2016, RADC assigned its interest in the judgment to Radiance Capital Receivables Nineteen, LLC (Radiance), and Radiance applied for a writ of execution to be issued against Mr. Crow's "real, personal and equitable" assets located in Teton County. The clerk of court issued the requested writ, and the Teton County Sheriff attached Mr. Crow's property. Included in the attached property are more than 30 works of art, described by Mr. Crow as "primarily framed oil, watercolors and acrylic paintings." These paintings are the subject of this appeal.
[¶5] Mr. Crow filed an objection to the writ of execution, claiming that:
• All of the attached property was exempt because he owned it jointly with his wife as tenants by the entirety;
• All of the attached property had an aggregate value of no more than four thousand dollars and was therefore exempt under
• His 2004 Range Rover was exempt pursuant to
• His "pictures (labeled as 'artwork' listed on Sheriff's inventory)" were exempt under
[¶6] Following a hearing, the district court entered an order generally denying the claimed exemptions. The court determined that:
• "[P]ersonal property is not held by the entirety unless a document shows it is held by the entirety or if all unities of interest are satisfied." Mr. Crow did not provide any evidence indicating that the unities of interest were satisfied, and so "there is no tenancy by the entirety in the personal property in this case."
• Many of the attached items, including "artwork, skis, bicycles, an antique phone, and 'several boxes' of china are not 'household articles' which has been construed to mean 'a necessary article in ordinary housekeeping.' In re Tidball ,
•
• The paintings are not exempt:
The Court appreciates the personal and emotional value Mr. Crow and his family may place on the collection of artwork. However, collectible artwork is not a "picture." The Bankruptcy Court, when applying the state exemption statutes has applied the maxim of statutory interpretation that the words of the statute are construed with the surrounding words. In re Winters ,40 P.3d 1231 (Wyo. 200[2] ) (holding that wedding rings that were not the debtor's wedding rings are not "wearing apparel"); In re Tidball ,40 F.2d 560 (holding that a typewriter and a phonograph were not "other household items" like furniture and bedding). The provision for "family bible, pictures and school books" suggest[s] articles of deeply personal value, whose value is rooted in the memories associated with the property. Artwork, while it may have sentimental value, is not like a family bible nor is it like pictures of family or life events. It is different in kind, more like a luxury good purchased at a high price. To allow judgment debtors to keep luxury goods through the "pictures" exemption would be inconsistent with the other exemptions [which] are based on basic necessities, such as keeping wearing apparel, tools of the trade, and necessary household goods.
[¶7] Following entry of the order, Mr. Crow filed a motion seeking a temporary stay of a scheduled sheriff's sale of the assets. The motion was denied. On the same day that the order denying stay was signed, Mr. Crow filed a petition for bankruptcy seeking protection under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. He subsequently filed a notice of the bankruptcy filing with the district court and the district court entered an order staying the state court proceedings, which had the effect of postponing the sheriff's sale. In bankruptcy court, Mr. Crow moved to modify the automatic stay to pursue an appeal of the district court's order concerning the exemptions. The motion was granted, and Mr. Crow filed a notice of appeal, bringing the matter before us.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
[¶8] Mr. Crow contends his paintings are "pictures" that qualify for the exemption set forth in
DISCUSSION
[¶9] When interpreting a statute, our primary goal is to give effect to the intent of the legislature. PacifiCorp , ¶ 10,
[¶10]
(a) The following property, when owned by any person, is exempt from levy or sale upon execution, writ of attachment or any process issuing out of any court in this state and shall continue to be exempt while the person or the family of the person is moving from one (1) place of residence to another in this state:
(i) The family bible, pictures and school books;
(ii) A lot in any cemetery or burial ground;
(iii) Furniture, bedding, provisions and other household articles of any kind or character as the debtor may select, not exceeding in all the value of four thousand dollars ($4,000.00). When two (2) or more persons occupy the same residence, each shall be entitled to a separate exemption;
(iv) The value in a motor vehicle not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000.00).
(b) The tools, team, implements or stock in trade of any person, used and kept for the purpose of carrying on his trade or business, not exceeding in value four thousand dollars ($4,000.00), or the library, instruments and implements of any professional person, not exceeding in value four thousand dollars ($4,000.00), are exempt from levy or sale upon execution, writ of attachment or any process out of any court in this state.
(c) The value of the property selected by any debtor shall be ascertained by the appraisement of three (3) disinterested appraisers, to be selected and summoned by the officer claiming to levy upon, attach or sell the property. The appraisers shall be sworn by the officer to make a true appraisement of the value of the property.
[¶11] Mr. Crow asks us to interpret the statute based upon the plain and ordinary meaning of the words used in the statute, and he cites dictionary definitions of the word "picture" such as a "design or representation made by various means (such as painting, drawing or photography)," and a "painting or drawing." Based on these definitions, he claims that the statutory term "pictures" unambiguously includes his paintings.
[¶12] Radiance counters that such an interpretation is at odds with the general purpose of the exemption statutes, emphasizing this statement from our precedent:
Under the rule adopted by most of the courts in this country, that, in view of the fact that such statutes are enacted for the purpose of saving debtors and their families from want by reason of misfortune or improvidence, they will be liberally construed to accomplish that purpose, we think there can be but one interpretation of the closing words of the section that "there shall be exempt in all cases a sum not to exceed fifty dollars." The meaning is that in no case shall these amendments reduce the exemption to less than $50. It is in the nature of a finding by the Legislature that the exemption of a less sum than $50, out of the earnings of the debtor for 60 days, would not accomplish the purpose of the statute to preserve the family of the debtor from want .
Lafferty v. Sistalla ,
[¶13] Mr. Crow's assertion that the word "pictures" should be given its ordinary dictionary definition presents a plausible interpretation of the statute. Common dictionary definitions of the word "picture" include a "visual representation or image drawn, photographed, or otherwise rendered on a flat surface," American Heritage College Dictionary 1053 (4th ed. 2004), and "a design or *1175representation made by various means (as painting, drawing, or photography)." Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 890 (1991). Under those definitions, the paintings at issue would qualify as "pictures." However, we cannot view the statutory provision in isolation. When the other applicable statutory provisions are considered, it is clear that Mr. Crow's paintings do not fall within the exemption.
[¶14] We have often explained that we read
each statutory provision in pari materia , giving effect to every word, clause, and sentence according to their arrangement and connection. To ascertain the meaning of a given law, we also consider all statutes relating to the same subject or having the same general purpose and strive to interpret them harmoniously. We presume that the legislature has acted in a thoughtful and rational manner with full knowledge of existing law, and that it intended new statutory provisions to be read in harmony with existing law and as part of an overall and uniform system of jurisprudence.
PacifiCorp , ¶ 10,
[¶15] The second type includes items with relatively higher monetary value, but which are nevertheless necessary, as we said in Lafferty ,
[¶16] On the first type of assets, the statute sets no limit on the value of the exempted items.
[¶17] The statute places no limit on the value of exempted "pictures." Id ., § 1-20-106(a)(i). This strongly indicates that the "pictures" the legislature intended to exempt from execution are assets of the first type-those of high utility or sentimental value to the debtor and his family, but of relatively low monetary value to creditors. Pictures of family members or important events in the family's life would be included as this type of asset. If the legislature had intended the word "pictures" to include paintings of potentially significant monetary value without any personal connection to the debtor or the debtor's family, as Mr. Crow contends, then it would most likely have placed a limit on the exemption for "pictures," as it did for other relatively high-value assets. The fact that the legislature instead included "pictures" among the other exempt assets of the first type-between "family bible" and "school books"-leads us to reject Mr. Crow's interpretation of the statutory exemption because it is contrary to the legislature's intent as indicated by the structure of the statute as a whole.
*1176[¶18] Our conclusion is in harmony with our decision in Zubrod v. Winters (In re Winters ),
only for wedding rings insofar as such wedding rings signify the debtor's own personal marriage. Thus, rings which do not represent the debtor's own personal marriage are not exempt as they do not constitute "necessary wearing apparel" as specifically expressed within the plain and unambiguous language ofWyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-20-105 .
Zubrod , ¶ 15,
[¶19] Further, as asserted by Radiance, Mr. Crow's interpretation would allow him, "and any other future debtor, to collect a hoard of 'pictures,' in the form of [paintings] of unlimited value, secure in the knowledge that his creditors had no recourse and could not seize those assets." On this basis, Radiance claims that Mr. Crow's interpretation leads to an absurd result. "Interpretation should not produce an absurd result." Decker v. State ex rel. Wyo. Med. Comm'n ,
[¶20] Our conclusion is also consistent with a decision from the Superior Court of Ohio that was reached more than 150 years ago addressing a similar issue:
We ought not to extend the exemption in these clauses to the private gallery of a connoisseur, nor yet to costly pictures, the subjects of which are not connected with the family in whose possession they are found. As the family Bible is specially excepted which preserves the names, the births, the marriages, and the burial of the parents and the children, so the portrait of a father or a mother may well be preserved as a living memory to a son or a daughter, alike consecrated by human sympathy, and vindicated by the law.
M'Micken v. Board of Directors of the M'Micken Univ. ,
[¶21] Affirmed.
Mr. Crow's appeal involves only the district court's ruling on the exemption for his paintings under
The burden of proof was on Mr. Crow to establish the nature of the property he claims as exempt. Hancock v. Stockmens Bank & Trust Co. ,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Thomas L. CROW, (Defendant) v. 2010-1 RADC/CADC VENTURE, LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company, (Plaintiff).
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published