David A Stewart and Terry P Stewart

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 25, 2021
Docket15-12215
StatusUnknown

This text of David A Stewart and Terry P Stewart (David A Stewart and Terry P Stewart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
David A Stewart and Terry P Stewart, (Okla. 2021).

Opinion

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Janice D. Loyd U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA In re: ) ) David A. Stewart, ) Case No. 15-12215-JDL Terry P. Stewart ) Ch. 7 ) Jointly Administered Debtors. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON MOTIONS TO COMPEL DISCOVERY On March 24, 2021, this discovery dispute came before the Court for hearing on (1) SE Property Holdings, LLC’s (“SEPH”) Motion to Compe! Welch Parties (collectively and individually hereinafter referred to as “Welch”) To More Fully Respond to Interrogatories, and Produce Documents [Doc. 795], the Response and Objection of Welch Law Firm, P.C. and Ruston C. Welch to SE Property Holdings, LLC’s Motion to Compe! [Doc. 807] and SE Holdings, LLC’s Reply Brief to Response of Welch Parties on Motion to Compe! [Doc. 818]; (2) SE Property Holdings, LLC’s Motion to Compe! Neverve, LLC (“Neverve’) to Produce Documents [Doc. 796] and the Corrected Response and Objection of Neverve, LLC to SE Property Holdings, LLC’s Motion to Compel [Doc. 815]; and (3) SE Property Holdings LLC’s Motion to Compel

Shimmering Sands Development Company, LLC to Produce Documents (“Shimmering Sands”) [Doc. 797]. Background For more than two years after being retained by the Debtors in the spring of 2015 to represent them in this bankruptcy case, numerous adversary proceedings associated with it, as well as representing numerous affiliates owned or operated by Debtors, Welch failed to disclose the amount, source or the payment of any attorney fees to him. It was not until August 30, 2017, when the Court ordered him to do so that the Welch revealed that he had been paid fees and expenses for the bankruptcy case and adversaries in the amount of $348,044.41. The source of all of these payments was proceeds of tort claims against British Petroleum arising out of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico received by Debtors’ affiliates, principally for the matter presently before the Court, Neverve and Shimmering Sands. The Neverve and Shimmering Sands proceeds (but not in their entirety) were applied to the then outstanding hourly rate fees and expenses incurred by Welch in his representation of the Debtors, affiliates, insiders or related defendants in various adversary proceedings. As a result of Welch’s failure to have made proper disclosure of his attorneys’ fees as required by 11 U.S.C. Code § 329 and Fed.R.Bankr.P. 2016 and 2017,1 SEPH moved the Court to order disgorgement of all of the approximately $350,000 in fees received by Welch for his bankruptcy services. On April 27, 2018, this Court held that the appropriate sanction for Welch’s failure to timely disclose his compensation was the disgorgement of $25,000. In re Stewart, 583 B.R. 775 (Bankr. W.D. Okla. 2018). SEPH appealed, and the BAP affirmed the $25,000 sanction. SE Property Holdings, LLC v. Stewart (In re Stewart), 600 B.R. 425 (10th Cir.

1 All further references to “Code”, “Section”, and “§” are to the United States Bankruptcy Code, Title 11 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., unless otherwise indicated. All future references to “Rule” or “Rules” are to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, unless otherwise indicated. 2 BAP 2019). On SEPH’s appeal, the Tenth Circuit reversed and remanded this Court’s decision. In re Stewart, 970 F.3d 1255 (10th Cir. 2020). The Circuit Court held that the presumptive or “default” position for failure of an attorney to make proper disclosure under § 329 and Rule 2016 was disgorgement of the entire fees paid to the attorney unless there were “sound reasons supported by solid evidence” in mitigation of total disgorgement. Id., 970 F.3d at 1268. The Court of Appeals found that the Bankruptcy Court had not heard such “solid evidence” to support any mitigation of anything less than the entire fee. “Most importantly, however, the bankruptcy court failed to examine the source of the payments to Mr. Welch.**** (and) [w]e would therefore expect the court to examine those payments before deciding not to require complete disgorgement.” Id. In accordance with the instructions from the Court of Appeals, this Court entered a Scheduling Order in conjunction with an evidentiary hearing solely on the issue of disgorgement of fees from Welch to be held on June 1, 2021. [Doc. 772]. Pursuant to that Scheduling Order, SEPH served Welch Interrogatories and Requests for Production of Documents relative to the disgorgement issue. SEPH also served upon Shimmering Sands and Neverve Subpoenas to Produce Documents. While Welch answered many of the Interrogatories and produced many documents responsive to the Requests, he did object to certain Interrogatories and Requests for Production, primarily on the basis of the attorney-client privilege and the prohibition of the Confidentiality Order entered by the United States District Court in Louisiana in the BP oil spill litigation. Shimmering Sands and Neverve objected to the Subpoenas for documents on the basis of attorney-client privilege and included a Privilege Log in their objections. Not satisfied with the discovery responses from Welch, Shimmering Sands and Neverve, SEPH filed its Motions to Compel. Welch has filed his Response to the Motion to Compel. Neverve, although originally objecting to the Subpoena to Produce Documents on the sole, general basis of “privileged attorney/client communication” [Doc. 796-1], in its Response to the 3 Motion to Compel adopted the more expansive Response of Welch, particularly relevant being the protection of the Confidentiality Order. Shimmering Sands has not filed a response to SEPH’s Motion to Compel. Discussion A. The Confidentiality Order Included in Welch’s and Neverve’s Response, and asserted for years throughout much of this litigation, is the argument that certain documents should not be produced by virtue of the Confidentiality Order issued by the United States Magistrate in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in the BP oil spill multi-district litigation. [In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, MDL No. 2179, Section J (E.D. La. 1/13/16)]. That Order reads as follows: [Concerning Settlement Documents and Discussions] Pursuant to the Court's inherent jurisdiction and Federal Rule of Evidence 408, every recipient of this Order shall treat as strictly confidential all documentation, draft or otherwise, all term sheets, release documents, or other settlement-related documentation, and all communications regarding resolution of claims or lawsuits related to this multi-district litigation (including both the fact and substance of any discussions and any document prepared in connection therewith). Any person who has been shown any such documents and/or including in communications shall be bound to keep such information as private and disclosed to no one unless specifically permitted in advance by the undersigned. Documents related to settlement shall be deemed exempt under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. sec. 522, and any corresponding state open records act absent good cause shown in this proceeding. Any person found to be in violation of this order will be subject to imposition of sanctions. Both the Neverve [780-3, Exhibit A] and Shimmering Sands’ Subpoenas [780-4, Exhibit A] seek the following: 1.

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