Those no longer able to drive cars will be pleased to know that a golf cart can be exempt as a “motor vehicle,” at least in Oklahoma.
Bankruptcy Judge Janice D. Loyd of Oklahoma City said that hers was the first opinion in the country to tackle the exemption status of a golf cart. Her opinion does not say whether a golf cart would remain exempt if it were actually used to play golf. She also does not say whether a golf cart would be exempt if it were electric-powered. But then, even “real” automobiles can be electric-powered these days.
The chapter 7 debtor was unemployed, his business having failed. He was divorced and owned a 17-year-old gasoline-powered golf cart worth about $2,000.
The debtor owned no traditional automobile. He said that the cart was his only means of transportation. He used it for shopping. For longer trips, he borrowed his father’s pickup truck.
The debtor does not play golf and said he did not drive the golf cart on public streets.
Oklahoma is one of the states that has opted out of federal exemptions, so the debtor claimed that the golf cart was exempt under state law, which exempts one “motor vehicle” for not more than $7,500.
The trustee objected to the exemption, but the debtor came out on top.
There was no precedent in Oklahoma or elsewhere. Unlike “Humpty Dumpty,” Judge Loyd said, “neither a litigant nor a court may manufacture words to mean what it chooses them to mean.”
To interpret the Oklahoma statute’s definition of an exempt “motor vehicle,” Judge Loyd started with dictionaries, where they were described as motorized carts for transporting golfers around golf courses.
She found the dictionary “of little help,” because golf carts are “capable of transporting people and property for many other purposes other than on a golf course.” On the other hand, she said that a golf cart might fall within a dictionary definition of “motor vehicle.”
“But again, the definition of words in isolation, however helpful, is not necessarily controlling in statutory construction,” Judge Loyd said.
Judge Loyd researched the meaning of “motor vehicle” in Oklahoma statutes. She found that a golf cart might be a “motor vehicle” for some purposes but not others.
To hone in on the result, Judge Loyd said that Tenth Circuit precedent calls for liberally construing exemptions given their humanitarian purpose. Under state law too, exemptions must be liberally construed.
Reciting the use of the cart “as testified by the Debtor,” Judge Loyd held that it was a motor vehicle in view of the “purposes of the exemption statute.”
Judge Loyd overruled the trustee’s objection to the exemption, believing that the Oklahoma Supreme Court would reach the same result “under the facts of this particular case.”
Those no longer able to drive cars will be pleased to know that a golf cart can be exempt as a “motor vehicle,” at least in Oklahoma.
Bankruptcy Judge Janice D. Loyd of Oklahoma City said that hers was the first opinion in the country to tackle the exemption status of a golf cart. Her opinion does not say whether a golf cart would remain exempt if it were actually used to play golf. She also does not say whether a golf cart would be exempt if it were electric-powered. But then, even “real” automobiles can be electric-powered these days.