Michigan Law
Katherine “Katie” Osborn, ’24, recently received the Law School’s Paul R. Dimond Prize for her scholarly writing on debtor exemptions in an era before stable bankruptcy law.
The prize, established by Paul R. Dimond, ’69, recognized the best scholarly work during the 2023–2024 academic year in civil rights, constitutional law, or judicial review. Osborn received a $5,000 stipend.
Her writing, “Trespassing on the Necessary Comforts of Life: Litigating Debtor Exemptions in the Early Republic,” examines the first exemption laws passed across the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries.
“These laws told creditors that no matter how much someone owes, certain items are identified as property that the debtor’s family can keep,” said Osborn, who is currently serving as a judicial law clerk in the Northern District of Illinois Bankruptcy Court. “I found this topic interesting because the list of exemptions has grown exponentially over time, while, at the same time, they are still miserly.”
What initially consisted of the bare necessities, such as clothing, tools, and bedding, eventually expanded to include upwards of a dozen categories of goods.
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Osborn opens her paper by examining cooking stoves, which she says were like the iPhones of the 19th century. She argues that if the stove’s purpose has changed over time—once only used to heat homes and eventually serving as a means to bake and cook—how is the law and relationship between a debtor and creditor altered? How do laws allow debtors to continue to protect their necessary goods if they only safeguard one purpose for the good?
She also highlights that certain items may serve a greater need, or be more necessary, for some people but not others.
“I hope I convey that necessities are extremely hard to define,” concluded Osborn. “It’s difficult for a legislature to make a law that will protect the most important things to people when we all have varying priorities, especially as society evolves.”
On a practical level, Osborn noted, as soon as a legislature attempts to list things deemed necessary to every person—as soon as the ink is dry—the items’ categorization as a “necessary” might be outdated. Furthermore, the speed at which items become outdated increases as technology advances, and as our society adapts to new technology, living without owning certain consumer goods becomes even more challenging.
“At its core, the paper is about how ordinary people, legislators, and judges think about what we owe to each other, even if we can’t pay our creditors back.”
Derek A. Zeigler, ’24, and Jose Urteaga, ’23, received honorable mention recognition by the Paul R. Dimon Prize selection committee for their paper, “Is There Anything Left in the Fight Against Partisan Gerrymandering?
Congressional Redistricting Commissions and the ‘Independent State Legislature Theory.’”
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