Human Resource Selection 9th Edition by Marianne Jennings

Exercise 6

Around 5:00 a.m. on January 1, 2004, Matthew Schmucker, who was eighteen at the time, was traveling alone in a horse and buggy near the intersection of Indiana State Road 37 and Notestine Road in Harlan, Indiana. He was intoxicated at the time and failed to stop at an intersection, thereby colliding with the side of a 2003 Dodge Stratus carrying David Candon and Monica Young, who is now paralyzed from the neck down as a result of the accident. S chmucker was charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol and failing to stop at a throughway. C andon, Young, and their children, who were in the car at the time of the auto / buggy collision, brought suit against Schmucker. Schmucker declared bankruptcy and asked to be discharged from his obligations to Candon and Young. Candon and Young argued that the injury was a "willful and malicious injury by a vessel" under the bankruptcy code and was thus a nondischargeable debt. Schmucker said a horse and buggy is not a vessel. Discuss the role of the court in this case. What would the court look to in making its decision? What is the impact of the court's decision on the ability of the family to recover for injuries? Young v Schmucker, 409 B.R. 477 (N.D. Ind. 2008)