Unsecured creditors and other stakeholders sometimes challenge the reasonableness of fees incurred by estate professionals in a bankruptcy case. Whether this is to augment unsecured creditor recoveries or serve as a check on...more
The Supreme Court two years ago ruled in Baker Botts v. Asarco that bankruptcy professionals entitled to compensation from a debtor’s bankruptcy estate had no statutory right to be compensated for time spent defending against...more
On March 8, 2017, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware issued a decision in In re Nortel Networks Inc., et al., 2017 Bankr. LEXIS 674 (Bankr. D. Del. Mar. 8, 2017), that addresses the issue of whether an...more
QUESTION: I was appointed receiver for an apartment building. I operated the property for six months, then the defendant filed bankruptcy. ...more
Estate professionals are under continued scrutiny. Unlike other professionals, getting paid is not simply a matter of sending a bill. The bankruptcy court, appropriately so, closely oversees the amount and timing of payment...more
Either from our prior posts, or from the great posts from Stone and Baxter’s Plan Proponent blog or from Bracewell’s Basis Points blog, we all know the Supreme Court’s holding in ASARCO: a strict interpretation of Section...more
On March 16, 2016, Judge Shannon of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware rejected a proposed fee structure for Baker Botts L.L.P., which was proposed counsel to the debtors in In re New Gulf Resources, LLC. ...more
You may recall the holding and analysis of ASARCO from Jay’s previous post, here. At bottom, ASARCO followed a strict interpretation of Section 330(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, holding that professionals are allowed to charge...more
The Supreme Court’s decision last term in Baker Botts v. Asarco, in which the Court ruled that professionals that are paid from a debtor’s bankruptcy estate cannot be compensated for time spent defending their fee...more
On June 15, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case of Baker Botts L.L.P. v. ASARCO LLC, 135 S. Ct. 2158 (2015), denying compensation to two law firms for the fees they incurred in defending objections to...more
In Baker Botts LLP v. ASARCO LLC, 2015 DJDAR 6509, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Section 330(a)(1) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code does not authorize an award of attorney fees for defending a fee application....more
In 2005, ASARCO LLC, a copper mining, smelting and refining company, was in financial trouble and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Relying on §327(a) and §1107(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, ASARCO retained two law firms to...more
“Our basic point of reference when considering the award of attorney’s fees is the bedrock principle known as the American Rule: Each litigant pays his own attorney’s fees, win or lose, unless a statute or contract provides...more
On June 15, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States made clear that attorneys and other professionals hired under §327(a) of the Bankruptcy Code are not entitled to fees for their time spent litigating a §330(a)(1) fee...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has provided new stimulus to the use of mediation in disputes over attorney fees in its June 15, 2015, decision in Baker Botts LLP v. Asarco. Baker Botts was employed by the bankruptcy debtor estate...more
The Supreme Court has not handled its recent major bankruptcy decisions well. The jurisdictional confusion engendered by its 2011 decision in Stern v. Marshall was only partially clarified by this term’s opinion in Wellness...more
By no means do we think that we might reliably predict the outcome of such a politically charged case as King v. Burwell, No. 14-114, the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act. But for those who like to read tea...more
On June 15, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Baker Botts L.L.P. v. ASARCO LLC, No. 14-103, holding that § 330(a)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code does not permit bankruptcy courts to award fees that § 327(a) professionals incur...more
Currently before the Supreme Court is Baker Botts, L.L.P. v. ASARCO, L.L.C. ,in which the Court will determine whether bankruptcy judges have discretion to award compensation for the defense of a fee application under 11...more
Lawyers in probate and fiduciary matters, and in bankruptcy and receivership matters, are frequently entitled to seek payment of their fees from a corpus of trust or estate funds. Unlike in employment litigation and civil...more
Baker Botts L.L.P. et al. v. ASARCO L.L.C., currently pending before the Supreme Court of the United States, is of particular interest to bankruptcy practitioners because this decision will have far-reaching effects regarding...more