In Re Chiapetta

159 B.R. 152, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1235, 1993 WL 335167
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 1, 1993
Docket16-17070
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 159 B.R. 152 (In Re Chiapetta) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Chiapetta, 159 B.R. 152, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1235, 1993 WL 335167 (Pa. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID A. SCHOLL, Bankruptcy Judge.

A. INTRODUCTION

ROSARIO CHIAPETTA (“the Debtor”), whose individual voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy yielded a solvent estate as the result of receipt of proceeds of a settlement of certain litigation, has filed certain Objections to the proposed Distribution of his *154 estate’s assets submitted by CHRISTINE C. SHUBERT, ESQUIRE (“the Trustee”). We conclude that, except for certain uni-temized requests for reimbursement of costs, his challenge to the Application for compensation filed by his counsel in the litigation, BERNARD M. GROSS, P.C. (“Gross”), for its one-third contingent fee is not well-taken, because, even when making disallowances for services performed by Gross pre-petition and post-petition prior to Gross’ Application for appointment as the Trustee’s special counsel to conduct the litigation, the contingent fee sought is reasonable. However, we sustain the Debt- or’s objections to the addition of interest at six (6%) percent, to the administrative claims of the Trustee and Gross from the date of their respective appointments. Rather, we conclude that neither the Trustee nor Gross are entitled to any interest because their claims did not arise until our instant awards were entered. We also hold that interest to the Debtor’s unsecured creditors must be calculated at the federal judgment rate at the time of the filing of the case, as established in 28 U.S.C. § 1961, which was 5.42 percent, rather than at Pennsylvania judgment rate of six (6%) percent.

B. FA CTUAL AND PROCED URAL HISTORY

The underlying voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy was filed by the Debtor on November 25, 1991. The Trustee was appointed as interim trustee on December 5, 1991. The Schedules initially filed by the Debtor do not reflect any claims of the Debtor arising from the Debtor’s suit against Alno Kitchen Cabinets, Inc. and Bert Stolp (“the Defendants”), then pending in the local federal district court (“the Alno Suit”). In that Suit, in which Gross was his counsel, the Debtor sought to recover substantial damages for the Defendants’ alleged breach of a contract to provide the Debtor with exclusive rights to market their product locally.

The Trustee filed a no-asset report in this case immediately after the Meeting of Creditors on January 3, 1992. It is unclear when the Trustee learned of the existence of the Alno Suit. We note that, on March 16,1992, the Debtor amended his Schedules to list the Alno Suit as an asset for the first time, valuing it at $600 and claiming it as exempt. We also note.that, on May 10, 1992, the Trustee filed a Praecipe seeking to change this case to an asset case. However, a non-descript docket entry of the Praecipe resulted in this court’s approving the no-asset report and discharging the Debtor and the Trustee on July 23, 1992. The case was closed on July 27, 1992.

On August 24, 1992, the Trustee filed a Motion to Reopen the case to administer the asset reflected by the Alno Suit. This Motion was granted on September 24, 1992. On September 25, 1992, the Trustee filed an Application to employ Gross as her special counsel to handle the Alno Suit on a “contingent fee basis,” the precise terms of which were not disclosed. On October 1, 1992, upon Certification of No Objection after notice to, inter alia, the Debtor, we entered an Order approving the employment of Gross, to which we added the following annotation:

However, compensation shall be allowed only upon the filing and court approval of Fee Applications prepared in conformity with [Local Bankruptcy Rule (“L.B.R.”) ] 2002.2. The contingency arrangement may be subject to court review and adjustment. See In re Crouse Group, Inc., 75 B.R. 560 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1987) [(holding that this court should review the services performed before allowing compensation on a contingent-fee basis) ].

A status hearing on this case was conducted on January 19, 1993. Upon the Trustee’s advice that settlement of the Alno Suit was imminent, we entered an Order of January 20, 1993, which provided, inter alia, that March 1, 1993, was the bar date for filing “all claims, including the filing of any Fee Applications except the Trustee’s professionals, which shall be filed on or before April 30, 1993.” The Trustee was also directed to “file all papers, including any remaining Fee Applications, necessary to conduct a Final Audit hearing on or *155 before April 30, 1993.” A Final Audit hearing was tentatively scheduled on August 10, 1993.

On January 26, 1993, Gross filed a motion seeking court approval of a proposed settlement of the Alno Suit for the sum of $50,000. The Debtor objected and vigorously contested this motion on the ground that the proposed settlement was inadequate. A hearing on this motion was ultimately conducted on March 30, 1993. Thereafter, we granted this motion and approved the settlement. That decision was not appealed.

On April 19, 1993, prior to the bar date established in our January 20, 1993, Order, the Trustee filed her Final Audit Report (“the Audit”) with the office of the United States Trustee (“the UST”), as required by that office. We note that, since the UST desires sixty (60) days to review Audits prior to filing, they are not docketed with the clerk of this court at that time, but only after they are reviewed and approved by the UST. The Audit package included fee applications of the Trustee and Gross and a Proposed Order of Distribution (“the Distribution Order”). The Distribution Order stated, in relevant part, as follows:

Party Entitled to Distribution Claim Amount Expenses Interest Total to be Paid
$ 39.00 $ 4.00 P 43.00 Court Costs 00-
1,364.26 74.54 150.99 1,589.79 The Trustee
16,666.67 2,174.89 942.10 19,783.66 Gross
9,227.82 922.80 10,150.62 Getano Vetri & Catherine Vetri Consuelo
6,700.00 670.00 7,370.00 Prior
11,397.93 Surplus to Debtor
P50,335.00 TOTAL

The Audit was reviewed by the UST and approved by that office, and then filed with this court and recorded on our docket for the first time on June 24, 1993. Since- the Audit was submitted earlier than anticipated per our January 20, 1993, Order, the Final Audit Hearing was promptly noticed and moved up to July 27, 1993.

The Debtor, by his counsel, appeared and vigorously objected to the Distribution Order. The Trustee, the Debtor’s counsel, the UST, and the court engaged in a lively discussion of relevant issues regarding computation of interest in asset cases involving solvent debtors. Testimony was received from Deborah R. Gross Kurtz, Esquire (“Deborah”), who had done most of the work in the case, in support of Gross’ contested Application for fees and costs.

Deborah testified that she had been retained by the Debtor to represent him in the Alno Suit in early 1991.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re Robinson
567 B.R. 644 (N.D. Georgia, 2017)
In re Nortel Networks, Inc.
522 B.R. 491 (D. Delaware, 2014)
In re W.R. Grace & Co.
475 B.R. 34 (D. Delaware, 2012)
In Re Washington Mutual, Inc.
461 B.R. 200 (D. Delaware, 2011)
DeHart v. Parke (Parke)
369 B.R. 205 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 2007)
In Re Cook
322 B.R. 336 (N.D. Ohio, 2005)
In Re Reed
293 B.R. 698 (N.D. Texas, 2003)
In Re Vogt
250 B.R. 250 (M.D. Louisiana, 2000)
In Re Country Manor of Kenton, Inc.
254 B.R. 179 (N.D. Ohio, 2000)
In Re El Paso Refinery, L.P.
244 B.R. 613 (W.D. Texas, 2000)
Waslow v. Grant Thornton LLP (In Re Jack Greenberg, Inc.)
240 B.R. 486 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1999)
In Re Dow Corning Corp.
237 B.R. 380 (E.D. Michigan, 1999)
U.S. Trustee v. Fishback
Eleventh Circuit, 1996
In re Keller
198 B.R. 630 (M.D. Florida, 1996)
In Re Child World, Inc.
185 B.R. 14 (S.D. New York, 1995)
Walton v. Kleinfeld (In re Glados, Inc.)
197 B.R. 357 (M.D. Florida, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
159 B.R. 152, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 1235, 1993 WL 335167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-chiapetta-paeb-1993.