This appeal, before us for the second time,1 arises in the context of bankruptcy proceedings. It represents the first occasion for us to address the dischargeability, under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6), of a judgment debt arising from a debtor's accidental firing of a firearm--albeit one which he intentionally loads and carries to a confrontation--that causes unintended bodily injury to his eventual judgment creditor. Agreeing with the district court to which both the initial and post-remand rulings of the bankruptcy court were appealed, as well as with the majority of circuit courts that have directly addressed similar dischargeability issues, we hold that such debts are dischargeable, and therefore affirm the post-remand ruling of the bankruptcy court to that effect.

* FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

The debt for which Debtor-Appellee David Alan Delaney, a teen-aged adult who lived with his parents, sought and ultimately received discharge in bankruptcy resulted from a final and executory judgment in a state court negligence action. That suit was brought by Appellant Danny "Bo" Corley, Jr., another teen-aged adult and sometimes-friend of Delaney. Corley sought and obtained a judgment for damages occasioned by the injuries he had incurred in the wee hours of the morning while seated as a passenger in a car that had come to a halt in the Delaney driveway. Corley was injured when a shotgun, which Delaney had intentionally loaded, carried, and aimed at Corley through the car's windshield, went off by accident. The shotgun discharged after Delaney--with his finger on the trigger--twice tapped the gun barrel on the windshield of the car.

The factual details of the incident are set forth in the published opinion of the state court of appeal and are therefore not reiterated here.2 It suffices that the uncontested facts in the underlying state law negligence case show that Delaney, in anticipation of a confrontation and possible fight with Corley outside Delaney's parents' house, loaded his double-barreled shotgun and took it with him to face Corley, who remained seated in the car that had stopped in the Delaneys' front driveway. It is equally undisputed that the discharge of the gun and the resulting injuries to Corley were not intended by Delaney and that his twice tapping the gun barrel on the windshield was, as Corley himself testified, intended "to get my attention."

At the heart of this case is the question whether, for a debtor to be denied discharge under § 523(a)(6) of a debt arising from his infliction of death or bodily injury, it is the act or the injury that must be willful and malicious. This issue was recently crystallized by the Eleventh Circuit in In re Walker, in which that court stated that the central question in such cases is:

[W]hether a deliberate and intentional act that results in injury may constitute a "willful and malicious injury " under Section 523(a)(6), or whether the debtor must intend the actual injury before the resulting debt may be nondischargeable.3

The majority of circuits that have addressed this issue have strictly interpreted section 523(a)(6) to require that the debtor either intend the resulting injury or intentionally take action that is substantially certain to cause the injury....4

Indeed, the majority to which the Eleventh Circuit alluded includes the Fifth Circuit, for in In re Quezada5 we held that a creditor must demonstrate "conduct designed to cause deliberate or intentional injury" to establish a "willful and malicious injury" under § 523(a)(6). Accordingly, today we reaffirm our place in the circuit majority identified in In re Walker by holding that, for willfulness and malice to prevent discharge under § 523(a)(6), the debtor must have intended the actual injury that resulted.6 As indicated in Quezada and Walker, intent to injure may be established by a showing that the debtor intentionally took action that necessarily caused, or was substantially certain to cause, the injury.7 As succinctly stated by a bankruptcy court in Georgia, "the plain language of Section 523(a)(6) excepts from discharge debts arising from 'willful and malicious injury' rather than 'willful and malicious acts which cause an injury.' "8

Here, Delaney unquestionably acted intentionally when he loaded the shotgun, took it with him to the confrontation with Corley, and, with his finger on the trigger, twice tapped the barrel of the gun on the windshield of the car to get Corley's attention. In contrast, however, the firing of the gun was neither deliberate nor intentional; on the contrary, it was wholly unintentional, even though possibly not wholly unforeseeable. It follows that, under our (and the majority of the circuits') reading of § 523(a)(6), Delaney did not intend Corley's injury--or any injury for that matter. Thus the injury was not "willful and malicious" on the part of Delaney: He neither intended the injury nor intentionally took action that was "substantially certain" to cause the injuries that Corley suffered. Consequently, as ultimately held by both the bankruptcy court and the district court, the negligence judgment debt was and remains dischargeable in bankruptcy.

The findings of fact by the bankruptcy court on remand, like those by the district court both before and after remand, were not clearly erroneous. And our de novo review of the applicable law comports with those of the district court and of the bankruptcy court on remand. The determination of dischargeability by the bankruptcy court on remand, as affirmed by the district court, is in all respects

AFFIRMED.