Kesler v. Department of Public Safety of Utah

This case presents the rather rare claim of conflict between an otherwise valid exercise of a State’s so-called police power and the overriding authority of the Bankruptcy Act.1 The statute before us is Utah’s Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act2 — a measure directed towards promoting safety in automobile traffic by administrative and compensatory remedies calculated to restrain careless driving. Its purpose is wholly unrelated to the purposes of the Bankruptcy Act.

In June 1957, a Utah court entered judgments in damages against appellant, based on his allegedly negli*155gent operation of an…