Parking ticket 1793

Indeed. Here's what the NCLC lawyers' guide to Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Practice has to say (sec. 14.4.3.7, 5th edition, 1996 (the law may have moved on a bit, but this should still be valid)):

"One of the less frequently used exceptions to discharge is that for fines and penalties owed to governmental units and for their benefit. By its terms, this exception is limited to *375 purely punitive, as opposed to compensatory, buttessments. However, the Supreme Court in Kelly v. Robinson 479 U.S. 36 (1986) has held that a resbreastution order in a welfare fraud case consbreastutes a nondischargeable fine or penalty within themeaning of this section. Similar reasoning has led to courts holding that a compensatory buttessment of costs is nondischargeable. This exception may extend to fines imposed by administrative agencies as well as by courts. But an examination of the circumstances of other judicial and administrative resbreastution awards may turn up grounds for distinguishing Kelly.

"In a chapter 13 case, many penalties and fines are dischargeable. In the past, arguments were frequently raised about whether court-imposed payments are debts within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code. The United States Supreme Court has laid most of those arguments to rest by holding that resbreastution orders imposed as a condition of probation in a criminal proceeding are debts dischargeable in Chapter 13. Shortly after it was rendered, this decision was partially overruled by Congress through an amendment creating Code section 1328(a)(3), which makes nondischargeable resbreastution debts included in a sentence on the debtor's conviction of a crime. Other resbreastution debts, such as those imposed in pretrial diversion programs, remain dischargeable in Chapter 13.

"Certain fines, other than federal criminal fines, also remain dischargeable in chapter 13. The 1994 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code made nondischargeable in that chapter fines imposed as part of a sentence upon conviction of a crime. Clearly, civil penalties are not included within this new statutory language. There may also be issues concerning whether parking tickets or traffic tickets remain dischargeable. The answer in a particular case may turn on whether parking or traffic violations are deemed "crimes" under state law. In many states they probably are not, especially if there is state law defining crimes as including only misdemeanors and felonies. There may also be issues regarding whether a 'conviction' has occurred in such cases, or whether there has been a 'sentence.'

"In any case, there is no doubt that a debtor may provide for such debts in a chapter 13 plan even if they are nondischargeable. If the debtor does so, the automatic stay should bar collection efforts, such as attempts to revoke the debtor's driver's license or to incarcerate the debtor due to nonpayment. There may be issues regarding whether the debtor can separately clbuttify such debts, similar to those issues that arise with respect to nondischargeable student loans. Also, the debtor may have to file a claim on behalf of the creditor to ensure that the debt is paid.

"Not included in either the chapter 7 exception of the chapter 13 exception are to specific kinds of tax penalties. Those penalties relating to a tax which is dischargeable are also dischargeable, as are any tax penalties re*376lating to a transaction or event that occurred more than three years before the filing of the pebreastion. Also not included in either exception are civil awards for multiple and punitive damages."

footnotes omitted