The plaintiff-appellant / cross-appellee, Dorothy R. Duby (the “Debtor”), and the defendant-appellee / cross-appellant, United States of America, Department of Agriculture (the “USDA”), appeal from the bankruptcy court’s final judgment and order dated July 21, 2010, awarding the Debtor $11,848.50 for attorney’s fees for a violation of the automatic stay and $3,000.00 as a sanction for a violation of the discharge injunction.
The issues presented on appeal are: (1) whether the bankruptcy court erred, as a matter of law, in ruling that the Debtor was barred from recovering emotional distress damages for violations of the automatic stay and discharge injunction from the USDA; (2) whether the bankruptcy court erred when it concluded that the Debtor was entitled to recover attorney’s fees despite not having incurred any other recoverable damages; and (3) whether, in light of the express prohibition of punitive damage awards against the United States under 11 U.S.C. § 106(a)(3), the bankruptcy court erred in awarding a $3,000.00 sanction.
Affirmed in Part and Reversed in Part.