Novak

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 04-55838 Plaintiff-Appellant, v.  D.C. No.

CV-03-06706-CBM

RAYMOND P. NOVAK,

OPINION

Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Consuelo B. Marshall, Chief Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 16, 2006—Pasadena, California

Filed March 23, 2006

Before: Alfred T. Goodwin, Betty B. Fletcher, and Consuelo M. Callahan, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Callahan; Dissent by Judge B. Fletcher COUNSEL

Debra Yang, United States Attorney, Leon W. Weidman, and Brent A. Whittlesey, Assistant United States Attorneys of Los Angeles, California, for the appellant.

Martin S. Bakst of Encino, California, for the appellee.

OPINION

CALLAHAN, Circuit Judge:

The United States appeals from the district court’s order quashing its writ of garnishment of Raymond Novak’s bene- fits under a pension plan subject to the Employment and Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). The dis- 3176 UNITED STATES v. NOVAK trict court held that…