In re Henry F. Raab, Inc.

85 B.R. 293, 1988 Bankr. LEXIS 577, 1988 WL 33743
District Court, S.D. New York·Decided April 11, 1988·No. Bankruptcy Nos. 87 B 20003, 87 B 20004·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

DECISION ON PROFESSIONALS’ FEE APPLICATIONS AND MOTION BY ANGELO RAINALDI AND HENRY F. RAAB OPPOSING APPLICATIONS AND SEEKING RETURN OF INTERIM COMPENSATION

HOWARD SCHWARTZBERG, Bankruptcy Judge.

Pursuant to two orders of this court, dated February 2, 1987 and June 30, 1987, the law firms of Sitomer & Odessor, P.C. (“Sitomer”) and Marc Stuart Goldberg, P.C. (“Goldberg”) and accountants, Seidman and Seidman were retained, respectively, on behalf of the debtors, Domestic Fuel Corp. (“Domestic”) and Henry F. Raab, Inc. (“Raab”). These professionals seek interim and final compensation, specifically from Raab, for pre- and post-petition services allegedly performed on behalf of both debtors. Raab and Angelo Rainaldi, a creditor of Domestic and the current owner of Raab, object to the granting of such compensation and seek a determination by this court that, if payment is considered timely, Domestic should be responsible for the payment of these administrative expenses and, additionally, any interim compensation paid in the past to these professionals from the Raab estate be returned to Raab.

[295]*295FACTUAL BACKGROUND

1. On January 5, 1987, Domestic and Raab filed with this court separate voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and continued to operate their businesses and manage their properties as debtors in possession in accordance with 11 U.S.C. §§ 1107 and 1108. Thereafter, an order was entered by this court pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 1015 directing that the estates of both debtors be consolidated for purposes of joint administration. The debtors each had separate assets and separate creditors.

2. On June 25, 1985, Rainaldi, who was the sole stockholder of Raab, entered into a stock-purchase agreement with Domestic wherein Rainaldi sold all of his stock to Domestic for $1,600,000. Domestic paid $600,000 at the closing and was to make monthly payments on the balance of the loan plus interest. As security for the unpaid purchase price, Rainaldi was given a lien upon the Raab stock which were pledged by Domestic with Marine Midland Bank to secure the unpaid purchase price.

3. Domestic paid only the interest due under the first three notes and made no further payments after November 15,1985. On January 18, 1987, Rainaldi moved in this court for relief from the automatic stay in order to enforce his security interest in the pledged Raab stock. After a trial, this court found Rainaldi’s security interest in the stock was properly perfected and that he was not adequately protected. Accordingly, Rainaldi was granted relief from the stay to proceed with his foreclosure action. Domestic Fuel Corp. v. Rainaldi, (In re Domestic Fuel Corp.), 70 B.R. 455 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1987).

4. By order of this court dated February 2, 1987 and June 30, 1987, the law firms of Sitomer and Drexler and Marc Stuart Goldberg and the accounting firms of Seidman and Seidman were retained, respectively, as corporate and litigation counsel and accountants to the debtors.

5. Meanwhile, Domestic commenced an adversary proceeding against Rainaldi to rescind the stock purchase agreement under which Domestic purchased the Raab stock from Rainaldi. Rescission was sought by Domestic on the ground that the stock purchase agreement was entered into as a result of mutual mistake or as a result of Domestic’s mistake and Rainaldi’s fraud.

6. Rainaldi counterclaimed for a reclamation of the pledged Raab stock because of Domestic’s failure to make payments in accordance with the purchase agreement.

7. After a trial, this court held that Domestic had not established that it was entitled to rescind the stock purchase agreement, whereas Rainaldi had established that he was entitled to recover the pledged Raab stock from the pledgee, Marine Midland Bank. Domestic Fuel Corp. v. Rainaldi and Marine Midland Bank, (In re Domestic Fuel Corp.), 79 B.R. 184 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1987).

8. In February of 1987, the accounting firm of Borek, Stockel & Company made an application to this court for fees based upon an order of retention signed by this court on behalf of the debtors. After a hearing, this court held the services performed by Borek, Stockel were only to the benefit of Domestic’s adversary litigation against Rainaldi and held Borek, Stockel may not seek compensation from the Raab estate. In re Henry F. Raab and Domestic Fuel Corp., 82 B.R. 250 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1988).

9. Rainaldi now owns the Raab stock and controls the Raab corporation which continues as a co-debtor in this case. Both he and Raab object to the payment of administrative fees from the Raab estate asserting the work performed by the attorneys dealt with preparation for litigation in the above adversary proceeding and to defeat Rainaldi’s asserted counterclaim in that proceeding. Additionally, Raab argues that some of the fees for which Sitomer and Odessor seek compensation were accrued pre-petition, and are not compensi-ble, and that interim fees which have already been awarded to all the professionals and paid from the Raab estate be reimbursed to the estate because the fees resulted from work performed on behalf of Domestic in pursuit of its adversary proceeding against Rainaldi.

[296]*29610. To date, Goldberg has received interim compensation from Raab, by order of this court dated September 23, 1987, in the amount of $11,691.75, together with incurred disbursements of $1182.68, and now seeks a final award from Raab of $5,772.50; Sitomer has received interim compensation from Raab by order of this court dated September 23, 1987, in the amount of $14,154.75, and now seeks final compensation from Raab in the amount of $1,000; Seidman & Seidman has not received any past award of interim compensation and now seeks interim compensation from Raab in the amount of $39,958.

DISCUSSION

Sitomer and Goldberg were retained by order of this court to represent the debtors as their corporate and litigation counsel and Seidman was retained by this court to perform general accounting services for the debtors. Unlike the Borek, Stockel retention order, which stated that firm was appointed as accountants to provide services in connection with Domestic’s adversary action to rescind its purchase of the stock of Raab and in opposition to Rainaldi’s action to foreclose upon the Raab stock which was pledged by Domestic, Sitomer, Goldberg and Seidman were not retained specifically to perform services in connection with the Domestic/Rainal-di adversary action.

However, in reviewing the time sheets of all the professionals, it is apparent that a substantial amount of work performed involved preparation for the Domestic/Rain-aldi adversary proceeding. These services only conferred a benefit upon Domestic, not upon Raab. The times sheet submitted by the professionals also indicate that all of them were aware that litigation was imminent and the results of such litigation could, and in fact, did result in Rainaldi’s right to exert his security interest in the Raab stock. Accordingly, Domestic no longer owns Raab.

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In re Henry F. Raab, Inc., 85 B.R. 293, 1988 Bankr. LEXIS 577, 1988 WL 33743 (S.D.N.Y. 1988).

85 B.R. 293 (In re Henry F. Raab, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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