In re K & R Mining, Inc.

105 B.R. 394, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1682
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedOctober 3, 1989
DocketBankruptcy No. 687-00790
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 105 B.R. 394 (In re K & R Mining, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re K & R Mining, Inc., 105 B.R. 394, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1682 (Ohio 1989).

Opinion

JAMES H. WILLIAMS, Chief Judge.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

Before the court are the applications of Thompson, Hiñe & Flory (applicant) for final allowance of compensation and reimbursement of expenses. Applicant, as counsel for the debtor, seeks the allowance of $116,017.50 in attorney’s fees and $10,-450.59 in reimbursement of expenses as full and final compensation. Objections were filed by the United States Trustee, James R. Kandel, the Chapter 7 Trustee, E.T. Coal, Inc. and the State of Ohio, Division of Reclamation.

Upon the conclusion of the hearing the court requested the submission of memo-randa and the parties have complied.

FACTS

K & R Mining, Inc. (Mining) and K & R Processing, Inc. (Processing) each filed for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code on May 26, 1987. Orders approving the employment of applicant as attorney for the debtors and debtors in possession were entered by the court [396]*396on May 27, 1987. At the inception of the cases, applicant received a retainer of $60,-000.00 from the debtors.

On November 27, 1987, applicant filed its first requests for compensation and expenses seeking $15,169.50 in fees and $1,460.07 in expenses in Processing and $30,095.50 in fees and $3,003.45 in expenses in Mining. Following a hearing on the applications, the court approved and allowed the payment of $12,000.00 in fees and $1,460.07 in expenses in Processing and $24,000.00 in fees and $3,003.45 in expenses in Mining. Such amounts were to be paid from the $60,000.00 retainer being held by applicant. The remaining amounts requested were deferred until a hearing on a final application for compensation and expenses.

Applicant filed second requests for compensation on February 29, 1988, seeking $7,475.00 in fees and $445.23 in expenses in Processing and $26,894.50 in fees and $1,446.27 in expenses in Mining. At the ensuing hearing, the court allowed only the payment of the expense reimbursement sought in each case. Again, such amounts were to be paid from the retainer. Additionally, the court allowed fees of $12,-675.00 in Mining and $5,500.00 in Processing but deferred allowance of payment of those sums. As before, the remaining amounts requested were deferred until a hearing on a final application.

Mining and Processing were substantively consolidated into case No. 687-00790 on July 12, 1988. Thereafter, on February 1, 1989, the ease was converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding with James R. Kandel being appointed the Chapter 7 Trustee.

Applicant has now filed its third and final requests for the allowance of compensation and the reimbursement of expenses seeking $33,573.00 in fees and $3,226.17 in expenses in Mining and $12,810.00 in fees and $869.40 in expenses in Processing for the period from January 1, 1988 to March 10,1989. Additionally, applicant also seeks approval of all prior amounts deferred or amounts not paid. Finally, applicant seeks authority to apply the balance of the retainer, $17,644.98, to the compensation and expenses granted by the court with the balance of its fees and expenses being allowed as a Chapter 11 administrative expense.

Out of the variety of objections raised to the applications, essentially two issues emerge: First, inasmuch as the fees and expenses of applicant are Chapter 11 administrative expenses, the objectors assert that they should not be paid ahead of the Chapter 7 expenses or in greater proportion than other Chapter 11 administrative expenses. Second, and most importantly, the parties object to applicant applying the balance of the retainer it holds to its approved fees and expenses. The Chapter 7 Trustee and U.S. Trustee argue that the retainer, being property of the bankruptcy estate, should be turned over to the Chapter 7 Trustee to be distributed pursuant to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code.

DISCUSSION

A.

Case law has consistently held that a pre-petition retainer is property of the bankruptcy estate. As stated by the court in In re Kinderhaus Corporation, 58 B.R. 94, 97 (Bankr.Minn.1986):

A prepetition retainer taken by a debt- or’s attorney for services to be rendered and costs to be incurred during the pend-ency of a bankruptcy case is held in trust, except to the extent that attorney’s fees are allowed by the Court and ordered paid pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 330 and § 331, until the case is closed or until the Court orders otherwise. Such a retainer, taken prior to the filing of the petition, becomes property of the estate upon commencement of the case, subject however, to the terms of the trust. See, 11 U.S.C. § 541(d).

Accord, In re Chapel Gate Apartments, Limited, 64 B.R. 569 (Bankr.N.D.Texas 1986); In re C & P Auto Transport, Inc., 94 B.R. 682 (Bankr.E.D.Calif.1988).

The terms of the trust, however, remain subject to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and Rules and only the court has the power and authority to deter[397]*397mine whether, and to what extent, such retainer is to be paid to counsel for the debtor. See, In re Tri-County Water Association, Inc., 91 B.R. 547 (Bankr.S.D.1988).

As to the effect on a retainer of the conversion of a Chapter 11 case to one under Chapter 7, the court in In re Burnside Steel Foundary Company, 90 B.R. 942, 944 (Bankr.N.D.Ill.1988) noted:

[T]he typical retainer paid to a debtor’s attorney in a Chapter 11 case is intended to secure future payment of attorney’s fees awarded by the Court. In the event the Court orders such an award, and the debtor does not have the cash to pay the award, the retainer insures payment. If the case fails and is converted to Chapter 7, the retainer enables the debtor’s attorney to avoid the subordination of the Chapter 11 expenses of administration to those incurred in administering the Chapter 7 estate mandated by section 726(b) of the Bankruptcy Code.
The reason why this result obtains is simple. The debtor’s attorney who receives a prepetition retainer to insure payment of fees to be earned in the Chapter 11 case (or post petition retainer authorized by court order) becomes a secured creditor, secured by a possessory security interest in cash.... There is nothing theoretically different between the attorney who receives a retainer against future fees and a landlord who takes a cash security deposit to secure the payment of future rent. The reason that the retainer succeeds in avoiding the subordination requirements of section 726(b) is that section 726 only affects distribution priorities among holders of unsecured claims, and an attorney with the retainer is, to the extent of the retainer, the holder of a secured claim.

The United States Trustee and the Chapter 7 Trustee maintain that applicant cannot be a secured creditor of the debtor because it would then hold an interest adverse to the estate and not be disinterested pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 101(13).1

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

Related

ITXS, Inc. v. F & S Hayward, LLC (In Re ITXS, Inc.)
318 B.R. 85 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 2004)
In Re Printcrafters, Inc.
208 B.R. 968 (D. Colorado, 1997)
In Re North Bay Tractor, Inc.
191 B.R. 186 (N.D. California, 1996)
In Re Junco, Inc.
185 B.R. 215 (E.D. Virginia, 1995)
In Re Eastern Charter Tours, Inc.
167 B.R. 995 (M.D. Georgia, 1994)
In Re Genlime Group, L.P.
167 B.R. 453 (N.D. Ohio, 1994)
In Re Dees Logging, Inc.
158 B.R. 302 (S.D. Georgia, 1993)
In Re Adam Furniture Industries, Inc.
158 B.R. 291 (S.D. Georgia, 1993)
In Re CF & I Fabricators of Utah, Inc.
131 B.R. 474 (D. Utah, 1991)
In Re Doors and More, Inc.
127 B.R. 1001 (E.D. Michigan, 1991)
Depositors' Committee v. Financial Management Task Force, Inc.
809 P.2d 1095 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 1991)
In Re McDonald Bros. Construction, Inc.
114 B.R. 989 (N.D. Illinois, 1990)
Matter of K & R Min., Inc.
105 B.R. 394 (N.D. Ohio, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
105 B.R. 394, 1989 Bankr. LEXIS 1682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-k-r-mining-inc-ohnb-1989.