In the Matter of Ronald and Marjorie Pattersons Appeal of Abbotsford State Bank’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 federal appellate · 3 district · 5 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 60 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A] businessman’s secretary is by the same token a tool of the trade; indeed all capital and labor inputs are tools in this sense; the only things a business buys that are not tools of its trade are raw materials. If “tools” is to be given so capricious a definition as the [debtors] urge, then the exemption is not for the tools of a person’s trade but for the capital assets of his business, ... The broad definition, moreover, makes it hard to explain the statute’s explicit mention of so petty an item as “professional books,” which rarely (though sometimes) will have a substantial value ... But if, for example, a printing proprietorship goes into bankruptcy, what sense would it make to allow the owner to exempt $750 from the auction of a million dollar printing press? The purpose of the tools of the trade exemption is to enable an artisan to retain tools of modest value so that he is not forced out of his trade. Although as a matter of semantics farm “implements” could be thought to cover machinery and vehicles as well as hand tools, this would be an incongruous interpretation. There would be no point in allowing a debtor to exempt $750 worth of equipment that might have a market value of many thousands of dollars. He would have to sell it anyway, and probably he could not replace it; certainly he could not continue to use it in his trade.”

   8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Nipper · In Re Taylor

2. “(f) Notwithstanding any waiver of exemptions, the debtor may avoid the fixing of a lien on an interest of the debtor in property to the extent that such lien impairs an exemption to which the debtor would have been entitled to under subsection (b) of this section, if such lien is— [[Image here]] (2) a nonpossessory, nonpurchase-mon-ey security interest in any— (A) household furnishings, household goods, wearing apparel, appliances, books, animals, crops, musical instruments, or jewelry that are held primarily for the personal, family, or household use of the debtor or a dependent of the debtor; (B) implements, professional books, or tools, of the trade of the debtor or the trade of a dependent of the debtor [[Image here]]”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Heape · Matter of Healy

3. “The same language in section 522(f), since it could be picking up a tools of the trade exemption in state law as well as the tools of the trade exemption (which need not have the same scope) in 522(d), could mean two different things, (p. 1146)”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Duss · Matter of Hintz