Associated Press
April 16, 2008 11:56 am
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MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge has entered a $40,000 judgment against an Atlanta woman trying to collect child-support payments from former NBA player Jason Caffey because the money was paid to her after Caffey’s bankruptcy filing required a freeze on debt collection.
Karen Russell has been battling the ex-Chicago Bulls player from Mobile for years over payments for their 15-year-old son, born from a relationship when the two attended the University of Alabama.
Caffey claims he cannot make court-ordered payments to seven women who have had at least eight of his children. Caffey’s attorney was in court Wednesday and unavailable for comment.
In the ruling Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Margaret A. Mahoney of Mobile gave Russell additional time to appeal the ruling, even though the normal 10-day window for an appeal has closed.
Mahoney earlier had ordered Russell to repay the money after determining that she violated a freeze on debt collection mandated when Caffey sought protection in court with his bankruptcy filing.
Russell said Tuesday she was stunned when she learned that Mahoney had entered the judgment against her.
“It’s surprising to me that they would even allow him to file bankruptcy to get out of paying child support,” Russell told the Press-Register for a story Wednesday.
Under federal law, a bankruptcy judge cannot wipe away Caffey’s child support obligations. But all creditors, including the mothers of his children, are supposed to stop all efforts to collect their debts while Caffey works out a plan with the court to reorganize his finances.
A Tuscaloosa judge issued an arrest warrant for Caffey in August for not paying child support. The payment Russell accepted in October was part of a settlement Caffey’s lawyer negotiated in order to get his client out of jail, the Mobile newspaper said.
Russell and her lawyers claim they never knew about the bankruptcy order, which was issued prior to Caffey’s arrest. But there was testimony that Caffey’s lawyers left phone messages and sent copies of the order by fax and e-mail to Russell’s lawyers.
Russell said the only time Caffey regularly paid child support was when it was automatically deducted from his NBA paycheck. Court records put the debt at more than $82,000. Russell said it exceeds $100,000 when attorneys’ fees are included.
Russell’s lawyer, Penny Douglass Furr, said the $40,000 judgment is “basically a year’s salary for Karen.”
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