In re Cole

Citations

• 347 Conn. 284

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 55-3), ''[n]o provision of the general statutes, not previously contained in the statutes of the state, which imposes any new obligation on any person or corporation, shall be construed to have a retrospective effect.'' In November, 2021, the debtor, C, filed a bankruptcy petition under chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut, claiming, inter alia, a statutory (§ 52-352b (21)) homestead exemption in the amount of $250,000. The public act (P.A. 93-301) that created the homestead exemption allowed a debtor to protect up to $75,000 of the value of his or her primary residence from attachment in postjudgment or bankruptcy proceedings. Public Act 93-301, however, included a carve-out whereby the homestead exemption could not be claimed for debts accrued prior to the act's effective date of October 1, 1993. The legislature subsequently passed an amendment (P.A. 21-161), effective October 1, 2021, that repealed the previous version of § 52-352b and replaced it with a new version, which increased the homestead exemption from $75,000 to $250,000 but did not include any carve-out for preexisting debts. The trustee of the bankruptcy estate objected to C's claimed homestead exemption of $250,000, arguing that, although her bankruptcy proceeding was com- menced after October 1, 2021, all of her debts were incurred prior to that date. Relying on the principle embodied in § 55-3, the parties focused their arguments before the Bankruptcy Court on the issue of whether P.A. 21-161 enacted a procedural amendment, which presumptively applies retroactively, or a substantive amendment, which presumptively applies only prospectively. The Bankruptcy Court overruled the trustee's objection, concluding that the amendment was intended to apply retroac- tively to preexisting debts and, accordingly, that C was entitled to the $250,000 homestead exemption. The trustee appealed from the decision of