In re Connor, 463 B.R. 14, 19 (E.D. Mich. 2012) (Cook)

Citing Hamilton v. Lanning, __ U.S. __, 130 S. Ct. 2464, 177 L. Ed. 2d 23 (June 7, 2010), and Baud v. Carroll, 634 F.3d 327 (6th Cir. Feb. 4, 2011) (Cole, Clay, Katz), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 997, 181 L. Ed. 2d 732 (Jan. 9, 2012), proceeds from personal injury action were not known or virtually certain at time of confirmation and should not have been projected as disposable income. Debtors scheduled an unliquidated personal injury lawsuit with value unknown. Confirmed plan required debtors to seek approval of any settlement and to remit the proceeds of the lawsuit to the trustee. After confirmation, debtors claimed an exemption in a portion of the settlement. The trustee did not object to the exemption but claimed the exempt portion as disposable income. “Because these proceeds were neither known nor virtually certain at the time of the confirmation, the Bankruptcy Court erred in reserving the issue of their distribution for a later determination and in subsequently treating them as disposable income subject to distribution to the Debtors’ creditors.”

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