O'Brien
O'Brien v. Ambs Diagnostics, LLC
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Hoffstadt, J.
*556 A judgment creditor sought to collect a money judgment from a debtor's individual retirement accounts. Mere weeks after we ruled in a published decision that the accounts were only partially exempt from levy pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 704.115, subdivisions (a)(3) and (e) 1 ( O'Brien v. AMBS Diagnostics, LLC (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 942 , 201 Cal.Rptr.3d 305 ( O'Brien II )), 2 the debtor formed a new limited liability company, directed the company to adopt a 401(k) retirement plan, transferred the money in his individual retirement accounts to the 401(k) plan, and claimed that the funds were now fully exempt from levy under section 704.115, subdivision (a)(1). This appeal presents two questions: (1) Is a 401(k) plan that a debtor creates and controls with the avowed purpose of "protect[ing] [his] assets from creditors," a plan principally "designed and used for retirement purposes" ( Yaesu Electronics Corp. v. Tamura (1994) 28 Cal.App.4th 8 , 14, 33 Cal.Rptr.2d 283 ( Yaesu ); Dudley v. Anderson (In re Dudley) (9th Cir. 2001) 249 F.3d 1170 , 1177 ( Dudley )), thereby *557 rendering the funds in that plan fully exempt from levy, and if not, (2) did the debtor's…