Joseph J Porada, Jr.

United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois·Decided December 14, 2020·No. 17-36268·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION In re: ) ) Case No. 17bk36268 JOSEPH J PORADA, JR. ) ) Chapter 11 Debtor. ) ). Honorable Timothy A. Barnes FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF ORDER AWARDING TO RATHJE & WOODWARD, LLC, SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR JOSEPH J PORADA, JR., FOR ALLOWANCE AND PAYMENT OF INTERIM COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES TOTAL FEES REQUESTED: $63,543.00 =TOTALCOSTS REQUESTED: $72.55 TOTAL FEES REDUCED: $ 1,001.00 TOTAL COSTS REDUCED: $ 0.00 TOTAL FEES ALLOWED: $ 62,542.00 TOTAL COSTS ALLOWED: $72.55 TOTAL FEES AND COSTS ALLOWED: $62,614.55 ‘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): $ 871.00 ‘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. In 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: $ 130.00 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 hght 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. IIL. 1987) (Schmetterer, J.) (ting 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)).

S> C.D. Dated: December 14, 2020 Se Timothy Bares United States Bankruptcy Judge

300 Roosevelt Road Suite 300 Wheaton, IL 60187 USA Ph: 630-668-8500 Fax:630-668-9218 JosephPorada November 4,2020 P.O. Box 31232 Chicago,IL File#: JSW17373 60631-0232 Inv#: Settle RE: State Court Litigation/Appeal/ Bankruptcy Case No.17-36268 DATE DESCRIPTION HOURS AMOUNT LAWYER Oct-09-18 Draft motion to file reply brief instanter. 0.30 78.00 DPH Oct-18-18 Confer with T. Elliott and D. Hollander (.30); cite 4.50 675.00 NW check brief (3.10); format, finalize and efile same (.90); serve on opposing counsel (.20). Nov-26-18 Prepare for hearing on Rathje application for 0.80 260.00 CLP compensation; review case filings regarding same. Nov-27-18 Prepare for and participate in hearing on Rathje 1.10 357.50 CLP application for compensation. Mar-08-19 Review fee petition. 0.30 97.50 TDE Mar-19-19 Review fee petition; telephone conference with 0.50 162.50 TDE opposing counsel re same. Apr-03-19 Review fee petition; telephone conference with client 0.60 195.00 TDE re same; execute stipulation. May-14-19 Review documents for production. 0.90 292.50 TDE May 20-19 Review documents for production and prepare for 0.80 260.00 TDE production. Jun-06-19 Review document demand; forward same to client. 0.20 65.00 TDE Jun-19-19 Correspondence with T. Banich; locate and review 0.20 65.00 TDE assignment documents. Jun-21-19 Draft response to R. Minetz. 0.40 130.00 TDE Jul-15-19 Tax matters and Tax liability estimates review with 0.40 130.00 JSW T. Banich and J. Porada. Sep-05-19 Review documents for production. 0.30 97.50 TDE DISBURSEMENTS Oct-18-18 UPS –Delivery to Clerk of Appellate Court 22.24 Oct-31-18 Westlaw –Online Research 3.48 Westlaw –Online Research 24.33 Nov-06-18 Pacer Research 0.50 Nov-19-18 Pacer Research 2.20 Nov-26-18 Pacer Research 4.20 Dec-12-18 Pacer Research 8.10 Jan-16-19 Pacer Research 0.90 Aug-12-19 Pacer Research 2.30

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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)