Charles W. Fuqua, II and Ruth A. Fuqua

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 9, 2019
Docket17-91140
StatusUnknown

This text of Charles W. Fuqua, II and Ruth A. Fuqua (Charles W. Fuqua, II and Ruth A. Fuqua) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Charles W. Fuqua, II and Ruth A. Fuqua, (Ill. 2019).

Opinion

SIGNED THIS: August 9, 2019

Mary P. Gorman United States Chief Bankruptcy Judge

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS In Re ) ) Case No. 17-91140 CHARLES W. FUQUA, II, and ) RUTH A. FUQUA, ) ) Chapter 7 Debtors. )

Before the Court is the Amended Application for Administrative Expense (#522) filed by Attorney Roy Jackson Dent, III, seeking an award of fees and costs for his representation of the Debtors in this case that was commenced as a Chapter 11 but was converted, over the objection of the Debtors, to Chapter 7. For the reasons set forth herein, the application will be allowed, in part, and denied, in part.

I. Factual and Procedural Background On October 20, 2017, Charles W. Fuqua, II, and Ruth A. Fuqua (“Debtors”) filed their voluntary petition under Chapter 11. The Debtors were represented in the filing by Attorney Dent, who also filed an application to be employed as the Debtors’ attorney. Approval of Attorney Dent’s application to be employed was delayed due to deficiencies in the service of the application and problems with the submission of a proper order. Attorney Dent’s struggle to get himself employed foreshadowed what was to come in the case—a series of missteps and errors that resulted in conversion of the case. A brief review of the case history is necessary to put Attorney Dent’s request for fees, and this Court’s denial of most of his request, in proper context. On their petition, the Debtors checked the box indicating that they were small business debtors. That section of the petition provides direction to debtors to attach their “most recent balance sheet, statement of operations, cash-flow

statement, and federal income tax return” or to file, within seven days of the order for relief, a statement under penalty of perjury that such documents do not exist.1 Because neither the required small business documents nor the statement was timely filed, a deficiency notice was sent, and only then did the Debtors file the required documents. The Debtors scheduled ownership of forty-one parcels of real estate; they claimed to be the sole owners of twenty parcels and to own a one-half interest in the other twenty-one parcels. Their real estate holdings were valued at slightly more than $3 million. They also scheduled ownership of about $83,000 of 1 The direction is made pursuant to the requirements of 11 U.S.C. §1116(1). -2- personal property including automobiles, trucks, a boat, a camper, tools, several small bank accounts, clothing and personal effects, and household goods and furnishings. The Debtors listed approximately $2.3 million in debt secured by their real estate and personal property. Their major secured creditors were identified as First Federal Savings and Loan (“First Federal”), Prairie State Bank & Trust (“Prairie State”), and First Financial Bank (“First Financial”). About four months into their case, the Debtors began filing numerous applications to employ real estate agents—many seeking to employ the same agents but dealing with different properties. Approval of a number of the applications was delayed due to deficiencies in proposed orders; other applications were stricken after Attorney Dent failed to comply with deficiency notices regarding proper service. Ultimately, however, several real estate agents were hired and, within a month, the Debtors began filing motions to sell real estate free and

clear of liens. The Debtors’ sale motions were generally granted after notice and hearing, with all orders requiring that the secured creditors’ liens attach to the sale proceeds but not specifically authorizing the distribution of proceeds except for the payment of closing costs. Prairie State appeared at several hearings on motions relating to the sale of properties upon which it claimed a lien and negotiated orders allowing for the payment, at closing, of its purchase-money liens and for the escrowing of any additional proceeds pending further court order. After a number of sale orders were entered, Attorney Dent began filing documents, each labeled “Report of Sale” but which were not, in fact, reports of sale. To the contrary, each document reported that a specific property had not been sold -3- because the title company closing the transaction found that the orders drafted by Attorney Dent failed to provide sufficient direction regarding what closing costs, if any, could be paid. The so-called reports of sale sought modification of the previously entered sale orders. Because the “reports of sale” were not the proper method for seeking relief from prior orders, they were all stricken. Attorney Dent then began filing motions seeking to modify the previously entered orders. At a hearing on several of those motions, he suggested that one allowable closing cost should be a “deed preparation” fee for whatever attorney the title company might hire to draft documents for the Debtors. Attorney Dent provided no explanation for why he was not representing the Debtors at the real estate closings and in the preparation of closing documents or how an attorney not employed through the proper bankruptcy court process could be compensated from sale proceeds. His request for compensation for unnamed and unknown

attorneys to be allowed as a closing cost was denied. One of the first properties of the Debtors to sell was their residence in Neoga, Illinois. Attorney Dent filed an actual report of sale after that transaction closed. The report of sale disclosed that the net proceeds of approximately $239,000 available after paying closing costs and the Debtors’ homestead exemption, had been paid to First Federal and that $1250 had been paid to an attorney representing the Debtors at closing. First Financial filed an objection to the report of sale asserting that the first and second mortgages held by First Federal could not have exceeded a total of $150,000 and that the payment of all net proceeds to First Federal was therefore improper. At a subsequent hearing, the attorney for First Federal stated that First Federal had received a check in the -4- mail after the closing on the Debtors’ residence and had used the proceeds to pay not only the notes secured by mortgages on the residence but other debts, including auto loans. Attorney Dent admitted that he had not given direction to the title company about holding the proceeds pending further order of court. He also reported that he had no idea that the Debtors had hired an attorney to assist with the closing, although he admitted that he did not draw the required closing documents or otherwise assist in the closing himself. On August 15, 2018—299 days after the case filing and one day before the statutory deadline—the Debtors filed their Chapter 11 plan and disclosure statement. An order was entered conditionally approving the disclosure statement, and the disclosure statement was set for a final hearing along with plan confirmation. The disclosure statement and plan drew objections from the United States Trustee (“UST”) and several creditors. First Financial responded to the documents by filing a motion to convert the case to Chapter 7. The Debtors’ disclosure statement and plan were wholly inadequate. The disclosure statement contained no financial projections or discussion of any tax consequences notwithstanding the fact that the Debtors were in the process of selling multiple parcels of real estate. The disclosure statement did include a “disposable income” calculation, but it contained at least one mathematical error

and included rents from properties that had already sold or had sales pending.

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