18 B 13481, 18 A 00212
Debtor George Burciaga filed an adversary complaint against chapter 7 trustee Alex D. Moglia, seeking a determination that certain severance pay is not property of the estate under 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(1) but, rather, constitutes excluded post-petition earnings under 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(6). The parties subsequently filed cross-motions for judgment on the pleadings. The Debtor argued that the severance pay is not property of the estate because his receipt of that pay was contingent on his execution of a separation agreement and his subsequent compliance with the post-petition conditions outlined therein. The Trustee argued that the severance pay is property of the estate because it is based on both the Debtor’s pre-petition employment and pre-petition termination from that employment. Applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s "sufficiently-rooted test" in Segal v. Rochelle, 382 U.S. 375 (1966), the Court found that the severance pay is both pre-petition property of the bankruptcy estate and post-petition earnings for services excluded therefrom and concluded that a fair allocation of the pay between the estate and the Debtor is 50/50. As such, the Court granted in part and denied in part both parties’ motions for judgment on the pleadings.