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Contesting Chapter 7 Trustee Attorney's Fees [1 Attachment]
This is my personal opinion and not of the firms. I would leave the fees
alone.
The EDC case which was attached is about Trustee compensation not their
attorneys. I would strongly advise against fighting Trustee's attorney fees
unless the fees are very high, the work was easy, and you have leverage.
One example of leverage is a situation where the attorney fees exceed
assets of the estate already. The attorney doesn't want to fight a battle
when there is no additional money, he would rather settle.
The reason for my recommendation is two-fold. First, In re Nucorp Energy
and progeny could mean that the attorney is paid for ALL the work he does
in defending against your attack. Suddenly the 100% plan is going to be 2%
with all the money going to the trustee's attorney after his fees have been
reduced.
The second reason is tied to the first. What are you going to do if the
Trustee's attorney wants an evidentiary hearing? Is your client prepared to
hire an expert witness to analyze the fees? To compensate the Trustee's
attorney for his expert witness? These are things that can happen if the
Trustee's attorney wants to be mean.
Sincerely,
Michael Avanesian
On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 1:20 PM, Shannon Doyle
sdoyle@ebankruptcyassistants.com [cdcbaa] wrote:
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> [Attachment(s) from Shannon Doyle included
> below]
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> It sounds excessive to me, even for California. I dont know VK> position on this issue but Ive attached a recent EDC case that may help
> with your analysis (which also references the 9th Cir BAP case of In re
> Salgado-Naval).
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> *From:* cdcbaa@yahoogroups.com [mailto:cdcbaa@yahoogroups.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, October 17, 2014 11:39 AM
> *To:* cdcbaa@yahoogroups.com
> *Subject:* [cdcbaa] Contesting Chapter 7 Trustee Attorney's Fees
>
>
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>
>
> After Debtors (unwisely) filed a Chapter 7 case in pro per, they retained
> and we were able to successfully convert to Chapter 13 over the Chapter 7
> Trustee's objection. The Chapter 7 Trustee wanted to sell Debtors'
> residence. We will soon confirm a 100% plan.
>
>
>
> Chapter 7 Trustee's counsel has filed a claim for 20.4 hours at $550
> hourly -- about $11k, with costs. We had one hearing. The time is somewhat
> out of line, but the hourly is what gets me -- $550 hourly seems excessive
> for the novelty and complexity of work. But my opinion may be skewed, as I
> moved here from Florida not long ago and don't know anyone who bills out at
> $550 hourly.
>
>
>
> I would like to contest fees, but my gut tells me that it's maybe a 50/50
> proposition and I leave my client liable for fees and costs associated with
> defending a "good" claim.
>
>
>
> Does anyone have experience with contesting such fees? Are they reasonable
> for the circumstances? Judge is VK in WH.
>
>
>
> Any feedback is appreciated.
>
> Henry Paloci, Esq.
>
> 805.498.5500
>
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>
This is my personal opinion and not of the firms. I would leave the fees alone.The EDC case which was attached is about Trustee compensation not their attorneys. I would strongly advise against fighting Trustee's attorney fees unless the fees are very high, the work was easy, and you have leverage. One example of leverage is a situation where the attorney fees exceed assets of the estate already. The attorney doesn't want to fight a battle when there is no additional money, he would rather settle.The reason for my recommendation is two-fold. First,In re Nucorp Energy and progeny could mean that the attorney is paid for ALL the work he does in defending against your attack. Suddenly the 100% plan is going to be 2% with all the money going to the trustee's attorney after his fees have been reduced.The second reason is tied to the first. What are you going to do if the Trustee's attorney wants an evidentiary hearing? Is your client prepared to hire an expert witness to analyze the fees? To compensate the Trustee's attorney for his expert witness? These are things that can happen if the Trustee's attorney wants to be mean.Sincerely, Michael AvanesianOn Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 1:20 PM, Shannon Doyle sdoyle@ebankruptcyassistants.com [cdcbaa] <cdcbaa@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
The post was migrated from Yahoo.