In re: Joseph Fitzgerald

Opinion

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

In re: ) ) Case No. 99bk23417 Joseph Fitzgerald, Chapter 7 Debtor ) . ) Judge Timothy A. Barnes

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF ORDER AWARDING TO FOX SWIBEL LEVIN & CARROLL LLP, ATTORNEYS FOR CHAPTER 7 TRUSTEE, FOR ALLOWANCE AND PAYMENT OF FINAL COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES TOTAL FEES REQUESTED: $15,887.00 ‘TOTAL COSTS REQUESTED: $191.13 TOTAL FEES REDUCED: $ 1,050.15 TOTAL COSTS REDUCED: $ 0.00 TOTAL FEES ALLOWED: $ 14,836.85 TOTAL COSTS ALLOWED: $191.13 TOTAL FEES AND COSTS ALLOWED: $15,027.98 ‘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) Lumping — TOTAL of disallowed amounts (10% of affected entries): $707.50 The Court may impose a ten percent penalty on entries that appear to be “lumping.” ‘The Court will reduce each entry marked as such per the penalty. I” re Wildman, 72 B.R. 700, 709 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1987) (Schmetterer, J.) “Applicants may not circumvent the minimum time requirement or any of the requirements of detail by “lumping” a bunch of activities into a single entry. [citation omitted]. Each type of service should be listed with the corresponding specific time allotment.”). (2) Unreasonable Time — TOTAL of disallowed amounts: $ 342.65 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 ight 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). I” re Pettibone, 74 B.R. 293, 306 (Bankr. N.D. Il. 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., 203 B.R. 85, 93 (Bankr. N.D. IIL 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.) (edting Coulter v. State of Tennessee, 805 F.2d 146, 151 (6th Cir. 1986) (in nonbankruptcy cases, compensation for preparation and litigation of fee petitions limited to 3-5% of the hours of the main case)). However, for applications for compensation that request total fees of $10,000.00 or less, this Court will allow compensation for the time devoted to the preparation of the fee application itself in the following manner: For the first $5,000.00 of total compensation requested, this Court will limit time devoted to preparation of the fee application to 10% of total compensation requested and will allow 5% of additional total compensation requested for time devoted to preparation of the fee application.

Dated: March 24, 2026 ~ — ‘Timothy A. Barnes, Judge United States Bankruptcy Court

FOX SWIBEL EXHIBIT Fox Swibel Levin & Carroll LLP B-1 200 W. Madison Street - Suite 3000 Chicago, IL 60606 (312) 224-1200 Tax I.D. 36-4350549 September 26, 2025

NNR as Trustee, re Joseph Fitzgerald (Case No. Invoice: 157957 99-23417) File Number: 09327-002 Billed Through: 09/26/2025

NNR as Trustee — FITZGERALD/General Case Administration PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 01/31/2025 JDV Drafted motion to approve settlement and 6.30 hrs @515.00/hr □ □□□□□□□□ related papers 02/21/2025 JDV Prepared motion to approve settlement 3.80 hrs @515.00/hr 1,957.00 agreement and employ and pay special counsel. 03/12/2025 JDV Revised motions for approval of settlement 2.80 hrs @515.00/hr = 1,442.00 agreement and employment of special counsel and prepared same for filing. 03/13/2025 BMH Finalize motion to employ FSLC and Motion to 1.40 hrs @305.00/hr 427.00 approve settlement, filed same with court, mail copies to service list and docket same 04/08/2025 JDV Attended court call on motions to approve 0.80 hrs @515.00/hr 412.00 settlement and professional retention. 06/27/2025 BMH Drafted retention application and emailed 0.40 hrs @305.00/hr 122.00 same to J. VanDeventer for review 09/05/2025 BMH Phone call with E. Anderson re status of FSLC 0.70 hrs @305.00/hr 213.50 retention application (.4), make edits to application and email same to N. Reid 09/09/2025 BMH Finalized retention fee app of FSLC and sent 0.20 hrs @305.00/hr 61.00 to N. Reid for reivew 09/10/2025 BMH Finalized edits of retention application re 0.40 hrs @305.00/hr 122.00 FSLC, and filed same with court, served parties and docketed same 09/17/2025 AJK Appeared for hearing on the motion to employ 0.30 hrs @475.00/hr 142.50 FSLC as general bankruptcy counsel. 09/17/2025 NNR emails re: status and strategy to close case 0.10 hrs @695.00/hr 69.50

Fox Swibel Levin & Carroll LLP 200 W. Madison Street - Suite 3000 Chicago, IL 60606 (312) 224-1200 Tax I.D. 36-4350549 December 18, 2025

NNR as Trustee, re Joseph Fitzgerald (Case No. Invoice: 161493 99-23417) File Number: 09327-013 Billed Through: 12/17/2025

NNR as Trustee — FITZGERALD/Fee Application PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 10/02/2025 BMH Continued work on first and final fee app 3.70 hrs@305.00/hr = 1,128.50 10/13/2025 NNR finalize review of fee application for TFR filing 0.30 hrs @ 695.00/hr 208.50 Total Professional Services: $1,337.00

Timekeeper Name Hours Total Fees NNR Reid, Neville N 0.30 $208.50 BMH Henderson, Blair M 3.70 $1,128.50

BILL SUMMARY BALANCE DUE UPON RECEIPT $1,337.00

Please remit within 30 days of receipt. Thank you. For ACH Payment: Huntington Bank, Columbus OH ABA# 044000024 Acct# 01060175149 PLEASE REFERENCE INVOICE NUMBER