Johnson v

Speedee Cash of Columbus, Inc., 289 B.R. 251, 2002 Bankr. LEXIS 1445 (Bankr. M.D. Ga. 2002). LLC that seized a Chapter 13 debtor’s car 16 hours before the debtor declared bankruptcy, and sold the car without keeping records, was ordered to pay the debtor $6,579.57 for loss of the car, $300 for lost personal property that was in the car, $2,356.70 in emotional distress damages, and reasonable attorney’s fees, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(k), because the evidence showed that the LLC knew the debtor declared bankruptcy before the LLC sold the car. Although the LLC claimed that the LLC was not liable under § 362 because the debtor forfeited rights in the car pursuant to the Georgia Pawnshop Act (GPA), O.C.G.A. § 44-14-403, when the debtor failed to repay a debt, the court rejected that argument because the LLC assessed interest rates over the course of the contract that exceeded the rates allowed by the GPA, such that a Motor Vehicle Pawn Contract the debtor signed was void from the contract’s inception pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 44-12-131. Spinner v. Cash In A Hurry, LLC, 398 B.R. 84, 2008 Bankr. LEXIS 3620 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 2008). Creditor’s motion for relief from automatic stay seeking permission to repossess a vehicle that the debtor pledged to the creditor pursuant to a title pawn transaction was granted because nothing in the Bankruptcy Code permitted a Chapter 13 debtor to modify a title pawn contract under Georgia law by treating a pawnbroker as a secured creditor where state-law redemption period, as extended by 11 U.S.C. § 108(b), had expired and the pawnbroker had adequately asserted the pawnbroker’s rights pre-confirmation. TitleMax of Ga., Inc. v. Hamilton (In re Hamilton), 635 B.R. 877, 2022 Bankr. LEXIS 82 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. 2022). Class action against pawn shop failed. — Pawnshop customer’s action, alleging that a pawnshop failed to disclose 225 all of the interest and charges that it assessed against the customer and against purported class members who were similarly situated, as required by O.C.G.A. § 44-12-138(b)(6) and (8), failed upon a finding that the pawnshop had made a good faith offer to avoid litigation by tendering to the customer a check in the amount collected beyond the principal, as required by O.C.G.A. § 44-12- 44-12-132 131(a)(7)(A); accordingly, the court found that the customer had not sufficiently complied with the ante litem notice provisions with respect to the other members of the class, who were not sufficiently identified in order to allow a good faith offer to be made to them. Mack v. Ga. Auto Pawn, Inc., 262 Ga. App. 277, 585 S.E.2d 661, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 882 (2003).