Wilkins v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co.

OPINION

Appellant, Ralphaell Wilkins, appeals the trial court’s entry of an order appointing a receiver and for turnover after judgment (“the turnover order”). Essentially, Wilkins argues that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter the turnover order because a turnover order can only follow from a final judgment, and since the basis of appellee’s application for turnover is a contempt order with accompanying sanctions (“the contempt order”) entered in an ongoing bankruptcy proceeding, there is no final judgment which can form the basis of the turnover order. Appellee, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, contends that this Court lacks jurisdiction to hear this appeal because the turnover order is interlocutory, and Wilkins failed to file a notice of appeal within the time frame allowed for accelerated appeals from interlocutory orders. Alternatively, State Farm contends that the contempt order is a final order pursuant to bankruptcy law; Wilkins had a limited time within which to appeal that order; and because he has not done so, it is now a final judgment. Moreover, State Farm argues that, even if the contempt order was not final, the order converting Wilkins’s bankruptcy from a Chapter 13 to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy (“the conversion order”) was final; the contempt order merged into the conversion order; and Wilkins’s failure to appeal the conversion of his bankruptcy has rendered final all orders entered before the conversion. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.