Invensure Insurance Brokers, Inc.

CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. California
DecidedMarch 4, 2020
Docket8:19-bk-11889
StatusUnknown

This text of Invensure Insurance Brokers, Inc. (Invensure Insurance Brokers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Invensure Insurance Brokers, Inc., (Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 FILED & ENTERED 3 4 MAR 04 2020 5 CLERK U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT Central District of California 6 BY bolte DEPUTY CLERK 7 8 UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA — Santa Ana Division 10 |} Inre Case No. 8:19-bk-11889-SC 11 |} INVENSURE INSURANCE BROKERS, INC., Chapter 11 12 Debtor. 13 ORDER AND MEMORANDUM 14 DECISION SUSTAINING DEBTOR’S OBJECTION TO CLAIM #5 Hearing to be vacated: 16 Date: March 5, 2020 Time: 11:00 a.m. 17 Place: Courtroom 5C 411 W. Fourth Street 18 Santa Ana, CA 92701 19 20 21 Before the Court is Debtor’s Objection filed October 30, 2019 [Dk. 107] to Claim 22 || No. 5. Proof of Claim (“POC”) No. 5 was filed on September 22, 2019 by Duncan E. 23 || Prince and ERM Insurance Brokers, Inc. (“Claimants” or “Creditors”) for $824,710.93, 24 |/an amount which is comprised of two components: 1) a pre-petition, post-judgment 25 || order entered in State Court on May 14, 2019 of $578,847.58 for expert and attorney’s 26 || fees, and 2) post-judgment interest on that order of $245,863.35. 27 Debtor does not object to the May 14, 2019 post-judgment order of $578,847.58 28 || for expert and attorney’s fees, but objects to Claimants’ purported entitlement to post-

1 || judgment interest of $245,863.35. Claimant specifies in its POC that the $245,863.35 is 2 || based on interest calculated as follows: (1) $245,861.38 is for 10% interest on the May 3 2019 award of $575,252.60 for expert and attorney’s fees beginning from the 4 || February 6, 2015 entry of judgment to the date of the filing of the Bankruptcy, May 16, 5 2019, and (2) $1.97 is for 10% interest on the May 14, 2019 award of $3,595.00 in 6 ||attorney’s fees incurred post-appeal beginning from May 14, 2019 to May 16, 2019. 7 Claimants filed an opposition on November 27, 2019 [Dk. 132]. Debtor replied on 8 || December 5, 2019 [Dk. 137]. On December 12, 2019, the Court conducted a hearing, 9 || with Carol Chow, Esq. appearing on behalf of Debtor, and Andrew Weiss, Esq. 10 appearing on behalf of Claimants. Having carefully considered the arguments raised at 11 ||the hearing and the record as a whole, the Court continued the hearing to March 5, 12 2020, and ordered the parties to jointly submit additional exhibits related to the State 13, || Court litigation and subsequent appeals. Pursuant to a scheduling order entered 14 || January 2, 2020 [Dk. 158], the parties were required to file a joint set of exhibits by 15 || January 31, 2020. 16 The Court has received Creditors’ Unilateral Lodgment of Exhibits filed January 17 ||31, 2020 [Dk. 178] and Debtor’s Additional Exhibits filed February 4, 2020 [Dk. 180], 18 || and notes that the Court’s order requiring joint submittal was not followed, without 19 || good cause. Nonetheless, the Court has reviewed all the pleadings and the docket as a 20 || whole, and finds good cause to vacate the March 5, 2020, hearing, and enter this order. For the reasons set forth fully below, the Court hereby finds that Claimants are 22 || not entitled to post-judgment interest of $245,863.35. Thus, Debtor’s objection is 23 || SUSTAINED and Claim No. 5 is reduced to $578,847.58. In reaching its conclusion, the 24 || Court’s analysis turns on whether post-judgment interest ceased to accrue in light of the 25 Claimants’ execution of an acknowledgment of full satisfaction.! 26 27 {| ——_____—_ ' While the December 12, 2019 hearing centered primarily on the issue of whether the Court of Appeals reversed or 28 || modified the February 6, 2015 judgment, after further consideration and analysis, the Court has determined that reaching such a conclusion would not be dispositive. Rather, the dispositive issue before the Court is whether

1 I. Background 2 On July 1, 2013, Claimants initiated a civil action against Debtor in Superior 3 || Court for the State of California for the County of Orange (“State Court”), captioned 4 || Prince v. Invensure Insurance Brokers, Inc., Case No. 30-2013-00638387-CU-BC-CJC. 5 || Ajudgment in favor of Claimants was entered on February 6, 2015. 6 Pre-Judgment Expert Fees? On February 26, 2015, Claimants submitted their memorandum of costs, which 8 included a request for $134,682.53 in expert witness fees. Debtor filed a motion to tax or 9 || strike costs, which sought a complete reduction of the requested expert fees. Claimants 10 || filed an opposition, and Debtor subsequently filed a reply. In its minute order dated 11 || April 28, 2015, the State Court reduced the requested expert fees by $129,409.58, 12 || awarding only $5,272.95 in requested expert fees. 13 Pre-Judgment Attorney’s Fees 14 On April 10, 2015, Claimants filed a motion seeking $445,843.00 in attorney’s 15 || fees. Debtor objected, and Claimants filed an opposition. The State Court ultimately 16 || decided the issue of attorney’s fees in its May 20, 2015 minute order, denying Claimants’ 17 || motion. 18 Actions Taken During and After Appeal 19 Claimants appealed the State Court’s orders on attorney’s and expert fees, filing a 20 || Notice of Appeal on June 18, 2015.3 The Court of Appeal for the State of California 21 || issued an opinion dated May 18, 2018, which reversed and remanded both issues. Back 22 State Court, Claimants filed a motion for reconsideration which sought reversal of the 23 || reduction of $129,409.58 in expert fees and $815,729.00 in attorney’s fees. The parties 24 25 || ———- interest ceased to accrue on the in light of Claimants’ execution of an acknowledgment of full satisfaction as 26 || opposed to partial satisfaction. * Subsequent to the initial motions and resulting minute orders, the issue of pre-judgment expert fees and attorney’s 27 || fees were collapsed and combined at the appellate level and after remand; however, each is discussed separately herein for ease of reference and clarity. 28 ||} According to the Court of Appeal opinion dated May 18, 2018, both parties filed appeals. However, the issues relevant to this proceeding are limited to Claimants’ appeal.

1 || fully briefed the matters, and the State Court conducted a hearing on May 6, 2019. The 2 Court took the matter under submission and, in its minute order dated May 14, 3 2019, awarded Claimants $129,409.58 in requested expert fees (which amount was in 4 || addition to the originally awarded $5,272.95) and $449,438.00 in requested attorney’s 5 || fees (which amount was the $445,843.00 previously requested and denied and the 6 || $3,595.00 incurred in prosecuting the motion for reconsideration). The Issue Presently before the Bankruptcy Court 8 The issue presently before this Court is whether Claimants are entitled to 9 || $245,863.35 in post-judgment interest on the May 14, 2019 award of attorney's and 10 || expert fees accruing from the dates specified in POC No. 5. 11 II. The Accrual of Interest on State Court Post-Judgment Awards is for State Court Pre-Judgment Costs and Fees stops after 13 execution of an Acknowledgement of Full Satisfaction 14 The issue of accrual of interest is generally straight-forward. Under California 15 || Law, interest in the amount of 10 percent per annum ordinarily begins to accrue on 16 || prejudgment costs and attorney’s fees upon entry of a state court judgment. Lucky 17 || United Properties Inv., Inc. v. Lee, 185 Cal. App. 4th 125, 137-38, 110 Cal. Rptr. 3d 159, 18 (2010), as modified on denial of reh'g (June 28, 2010). 19 “Generally, when a judgment includes an award of costs and fees, the amount of 20 || the award is left blank for future determination. After the parties file their motions for 21 and any motions to tax costs, the trial court holds a post judgment hearing to 22 determine the merits of the competing contentions. When the court's subsequent order 23 setting the final amount is filed, the clerk enters the amounts on the judgment nunc pro 24 || tunc." Bankes v.

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Invensure Insurance Brokers, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/invensure-insurance-brokers-inc-cacb-2020.