Tracy Lynn St. Clair

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
WESTERN DIVISION
In Re:
Tracy Lynn St. Clair,
Debtor.
) 	Case No.: 12-34996
)
) 	Chapter 7
)
) 	Hon. Mary Ann Whipple
)
)
)
ORDER
This case is before the court on a Debtor’s Motion to Refund Overpayment of Filing Fee. [Doc.
# 16].
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1930(f)(3), bankruptcy courts are permitted to “waive” fees required under the
statute on grounds not otherwise specified therein by Congress “in accordance with Judicial Conference
policy.” Judicial Conference policy limits fee refunds as follows:
The Judicial Conference prohibits refunding the fees due upon filing. The Conference
prohibits the clerk from refunding these fees even if the party filed the case in error, and
even if the court dismisses the case or proceeding. Nevertheless, the clerk must refund any
fee collected without authority. For example, the clerk has no authority to collect a fee to
reopen a case unless the case is closed. Consequently, the clerk must refund a fee to reopen
if the parties discover later that the case was open.
Bankruptcy Fee Compendium III (August 2007), ¶ A.9, p11. Recognizing that the electronic filing
environment in which all bankruptcy courts now operate raises different administrative issues as to the no
the record of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
of this court the document set forth below. This document has been entered electronically in
The court incorporates by reference in this paragraph and adopts as the findings and orders
Dated: January 18 2013
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refund policy than the traditional manual filing environment, the Judicial Conference has also authorized
courts to develop local procedures as follows:
Develop Local Procedures. Although the Judicial Conference still prohibits refunds generally,
judges, in conjunction with their clerks, may develop procedures addressing CM/ECF refunds.
Id., ¶ A.9.A.(1), p. 12. In this district, the court has adopted General Order 05-2 addressing filing fee refund
procedures, as follows:
Upon review of the Judicial Conference policy, neither the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court
nor the Bankruptcy Judge(s) has the authority to permit refund of fees due upon filing except
for fees collected without authority or due to administrative error on the part of the clerk’s
office....IT IS ORDERED that refunds will not be permitted on fees due upon filing, even
if the party files the document in error and even if the court dismisses the case or pleading.”
Under the statute, Judicial Conference Policy and local procedure, the standard for court authorization to
allow the refund of a filing fee is twofold: the fee was collected without authority or the fee was collected
due to administrative error on the part of the clerk’s office.
The court has routinely denied requests for refunds of filing fees in circumstances where an
authorized filing fee was incurred as a result of a mistake in filing a case or document. However, in this
case, the court entered an order granting Debtor’s Application to Pay Filing Fee in Installments. 	The
$306.00 filing fee was to be paid in four installments of $80.00, $76.00, $75.00 and $75.00. Debtor, through
counsel, paid the first three installments as ordered. However, her attorney incorrectly submitted a final
payment of $150.00, rather than the balance owed of $75.00. Thus, the case filing fee was overpaid by
$75.00. 	Under these circumstances, the additional $75.00 was collected without authority since the court
has no authority to collect a filing fee in excess of the $306.00 fee authorized by statute. See 28 U.S.C.
§§ 1930(a)(1) and (b), 1914(b).
THEREFORE, based on the foregoing reasons and authorities,
IT IS ORDERED that the Motion to Refund Overpayment of Filing Fee [Doc. # 16] be, and hereby
is, GRANTED. 	The Clerk of Court shall refund the $75.00 overpayment to Debtor’s attorney, Patti
Baumgartner-Novak.
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