In re: Evangelical Retirement Homes of Greater Chicago, Incorporated d/b/a Friendship Village of Schaumburg

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 14, 2024
Docket23-07541
StatusUnknown

This text of In re: Evangelical Retirement Homes of Greater Chicago, Incorporated d/b/a Friendship Village of Schaumburg (In re: Evangelical Retirement Homes of Greater Chicago, Incorporated d/b/a Friendship Village of Schaumburg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re: Evangelical Retirement Homes of Greater Chicago, Incorporated d/b/a Friendship Village of Schaumburg, (Ill. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION In re: ) Case No. 23bk07541 EVANGELICAL RETIREMENT HOMES ) OF GREATER CHICAGO, ) Chapter 11 INCORPORATED d/b/a FRIENDSHIP ) VILLAGE OF SCHAUMBURG, ) Judge Timothy A. Barnes ) Debtor(s). FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF ORDER AWARDING TO DOPKELAW LLC, ATTORNEYS FOR DEBTOR, FOR ALLOWANCE AND PAYMENT OF INTERIM COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES TOTAL FEES REQUESTED: $ 52,020.00 TOTAL COSTS REQUESTED: $ 0.00 TOTAL FEES REDUCED: $ 167.00 TOTAL COSTS REDUCED: $ 0.00 TOTAL FEES ALLOWED: $ 51,853.00 TOTAL COSTS ALLOWED: $ 0.00 TOTAL FEES AND COSTS ALLOWED: $51,853.00* *Pursuant to paragraph 2(d) of Dkt. No. 150, the Debtor may only pay 80% of allowed fees and 100% of costs. The attached time and expense entries have been underlined to reflect disallowance in whole or in part. The basis for each disallowance is reflected by numerical notations that appear on the left of each underlined entry. The numerical notations correspond to the enumerated paragraphs below. (1) Unreasonable Time – TOTAL of disallowed amounts: $69.00 The Court denies the allowance in part of compensation for the indicated task(s) since the professional or paraprofessional expended an unreasonable amount of time on the task(s) in light of the nature of the task(s), the experience and knowledge of the professional performing the task(s), and the amount of time previously expended by the professional or another on the task(s). In re Pettibone, 74 B.R. 293, 306 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1987) (Schmetterer, J.) (“The Court will determine what is the reasonable amount of time an attorney should have to spend on a given project... An attorney should not be rewarded for inefficiency. Similarly, attorneys will not be fully compensated for spending an unreasonable number of hours on activities of little benefit to the estate.”); In re Wildman, 72 B.R. 700, 713 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1987) (Schmetterer, J.) (same). As to the time devoted to the preparation of the fee application itself, the Court denies the allowance of compensation that is disproportionate to the total hours in the main case. In re Wildman, 72 B.R. 700, 711 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1987) (Schmetterer, J.) (“In the absence of unusual circumstances, the hours allowed by this Court for preparing and litigating the attorney fee application should not exceed three percent of the total hours in the main case.”); In re Spanjer Bros., Inc., 203 B.R. 85, 93 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1996) (Squires, J.) (compensation limited to 5%); see also In re Pettibone Corp., 74 B.R. 293, 304 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1987) (Schmetterer, J.) (citing Coulter v. State of Tennessee, 805 F.2d 146, 151 (6th Cir. 1986) (Gn nonbankruptcy cases, compensation for preparation and litigation of fee petitions limited to 3-5'% of the hours of the main case)).

(2) Computational or Typographical Error — TOTAL of disallowed amounts: $98.00 The court denies the allowance of compensation for the following tasks because the amount of fees appears to be a computational or typographical error. Also, where there are two identical entries (same day, same tasks, same time billed), the court will consider one of the entries to be a typographical error.

Dated: February 14, 2024 ~_ S— — ‘Timothy A. Barnes United States Bankruptcy Judge

SUMMARY LIST OF ALL PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES OF DOPKELAW DURING THE FEE PERIOD Category Hours Total Fee** CC — (Cash Collateral) hours: 2.8 $ 1,364.50 Comm - Communications hours: 17.1 $ 8,216.50 Court hours: 2.6 $ 1,256.50 DIP — Dip Loan Activity hours: 2.0 $ 980.00 DOTF hours: 4.5 $ 2092.50 EMP — Employ Professionals hours: 16.1 $ 7,886.50 Fee — Fee statements and apps hours: 5.5 $ 2,670.00 time HPrep — (Hearing preparation) hours: 4.0 $ 1,950.00 MOT - (Motion practice) hours: 11.1 $ 5,264.00 OPS — (Operations) hours: .9 $ 421.00 Plan hours: 23.2 $ 11,353.00 PSS — Petition Schedules SOFA hours: 3.5 $ 1,702.50 Reports hours: 2.8 $ 1,339.50 Sale Process hours: 5.9 §$ 2,836.00 UCC — Creditors Committee hours: _5.5 $ 2,687.50 $2601) Totals: hours: 107.5 $ 52,020.00 Amount requested to be allowed and paid: $ 41,616.00 The foregoing total is 80% of the $52,020.00 total fees in the Interim Fee Period. ** Per our engagement letter, our hourly billing rates were raised from $465 per hour to $490 per hour on October 1, 2023. See Order Granting Motion To Employ Bruce Dopke and Dopkelaw LLC As General Bankruptcy Counsel To The Debtor [Docket No. 140, Exhibit 1, page 14 of 21. The fees per category are a mix of the $465/hour billings in September 2023 and the $490/hour billings in October and November 2023. 2024-1-10 EXHIBIT 1

Bruce Dopke, Member 847-524-4811 Statement of Daily Services and Costs Friendship Village of Schaumburg By Category September 1 - 30, 2023 CC – Cash Collateral The category “CC” includes activities which center on securing the Debtor’s use of cash collateral during the case. During the Time Period, Dopkelaw incurred .3 hours of time, with a time value of $139.50 on activities in this category. An itemization of the time spent by Dopkelaw in this category follows. Category Date Time Description CC 9/5 .3 Review the treatment of Stretto in the cash collateral budget. Comm – Communications The category “Comm” includes activities which center on the challenging task of keeping track of what is going on in a large and busy chapter 11 case. During the Time Period, Dopkelaw incurred 6.5 hours of time, with a time value of $ 3,022.50 on activities in this category. Regular Monday morning meetings were held each week by Dopkelaw, Polsinelli and Wyse to keep everyone abreast of the matters focused on each week, accounting for .9 of time in four “co-ordination” meetings. Mr. Dopke attended two joint board meetings of the boards of FSO and FVS on September 1 and 29, 2023, accounting for 2.3 hours of time in this category. The rest of the time was incurred in calls from counsel, residents or representatives of residents and similar telephone calls. An itemization of the time spent by Dopkelaw in this category follows. Category Date Time Description Comm 9/1 1.0 Attend and participate in the joint board meeting of FSO and FVS. Comm 9/5 .5 Participate in the weekly coordination meeting with Wyse team and Ms. Green. Comm 9/8 .1 Return the call of a Resident’s representative concerning the claim and also some questions concerning the bidding schedule. Comm 9/11 .4 Participate in the Monday morning coordination meeting with Wyse and Polsinelli (.3); telephone call from a Resident who had questions concerning the proper filing of his proof of claim (.1). Comm 9/13 2.4 Telephone conference with co-counsel to discuss 4 discreet important subjects or actions to be taken (.4); participate in the joint board meeting of FSO and FVS (2.0). Comm 9/18 .3 Participate in the Monday morning “coordination” meeting with the Wyse team and Mr. Johnson. Comm 9/20 .1 Review and respond to a Resident’s question concerning a schedule to the stalking horse agreement, answering his question but referring him to the Committee for questions asking for legal advice. Comm 9/25 .2 Participate in weekly coordination meeting with Ms. Green, Mr. Wyse and Mr. Celenza. Discuss the amended schedules. Comm 2/27 .2 Receive and review Ms. Green’s email (re the request of a POA for a current resident) and forward it to Mr. Cole for confirmation – review the confirmation from Mr. Celenza (.1); receive and review an email from a former worker at FSO, then think about it and then forward the email to Wyse with a request (.1). Comm 9/29 1.3 Attend joint meeting of the boards of FVS and FSO to discuss sale and other issues. Court The category “Court” includes time in Court, from login (usually .2 or .3 hours) to the conclusion of hearings conducted in this case.

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Related

Coulter v. State Of Tennessee
805 F.2d 146 (Sixth Circuit, 1986)
In Re Wildman
72 B.R. 700 (N.D. Illinois, 1987)
In Re Pettibone Corp.
74 B.R. 293 (N.D. Illinois, 1987)
In Re Spanjer Bros., Inc.
203 B.R. 85 (N.D. Illinois, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
In re: Evangelical Retirement Homes of Greater Chicago, Incorporated d/b/a Friendship Village of Schaumburg, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-evangelical-retirement-homes-of-greater-chicago-incorporated-dba-ilnb-2024.