08-998 Hamilton v. Lanning

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Bankruptcy
Projected disposable income

When a bankruptcy court calculates a debtor's projected disposable income, the court may account for changes in the debtor's income or expenses that are known or virtually certain at the time of confirmation.

Respondent has the better interpretation of "projected disposable income." First, such a forward-looking approach is supported by the ordinary meaning of "projected." See Asgrow Seed Co. v. Winterboer, 513 U. S. 179, 187. In ordinary usage future occurrences are not "projected" based on the assumption that the past will necessarily repeat itself. While a projection takes past events into account, adjustments are often made based on other factors that may affect the outcome. Second, "projected" appears in many federal statutes, yet Congress rarely uses it to mean simple multiplication. See, e.g., 7 U. S. C. §1301(b)(8)(B). By contrast, as the Bankruptcy Code shows, Congress can make its mandate of simple multiplication unambiguous-commonly using the term "multiplied." See, e.g., 11 U. S.C. §1325(b)(3). Third, under pre-BAPCPA case law, the general rule was that courts would multiply a debtor's current monthly income by the number of months in the commitment period as the first step in determining projected disposable income, but would also have discretion to account for known or virtually certain changes in the debtor's income. This is significant, since the Court "will not read the Bankruptcy Code to erode past bankruptcy practice absent a clear indication that Congress intended such a departure," Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. of America v. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co., 549 U. S. 443, 454, and Congress did not amend the term "projected disposable income" in 2005.
545 F. 3d 1269, affirmed.

08-998 Hamilton v. Lanning

Alito, J.; Scalia, J., dissenting.

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