- Case Type:
- Business
- Case Status:
- Affirmed
- Citation:
- 21-1118 (9th Circuit, Mar 22,2022) Not Published
- Tag(s):
-
- Ruling:
- Finding no error and hence no abuse of discretion, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit (BAP) affirmed the order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon (BC) awarding $14,551.88 as final professional compensation fees to Lane Powell PC (LP) for the services it rendered to the chapter 7 estate of Peter Szanto (DR) in connection with litigation in Singapore to recover certain transfers made by the DR prior to his case's conversion from its original chapter (11) to its current one (7).
- Procedural context:
- Faced with a DR who continued to resist the TR's efforts to recover funds that the DR had transferred pre-conversion-and despite three contempt orders that ultimately culminated in a denial of the DR's discharge-the TR initiated a proceeding in Singapore to enforce the bankruptcy court’s orders (the Singapore Action). As part of this foreign undertaking, the BC authorized the TR to employ David W. Criswell of LP (DWC) to serve as an expert witness in the Singapore Action, over the DR's objections.
In February 2021, LP filed an application in the BC for final compensation. The DR now objected to the requested fees, specifically arguing that LP was barred from seeking compensation in the BC because none of its work occurred in the bankruptcy case and any fees must be awarded by the Singapore court. The DR did deride the application as filled with needless charges, but did not specifically identify one or more objectionable fees.
The BC not only overruled the DR's objections but also independently found P's charged fees to be reasonable and necessary under § 330(a).
The DR timely appealed.
- Facts:
- The appeal was an indirect byproduct of a conversion order. In 2016, the DR filed a voluntary chapter 11 petition, but in 2017, the BC converted his case to a chapter 7 one, with Stephen P. Arnot, later succeeded by Candace Amborn, being appointed as the chapter 7 trustee (TR). Around the time of this conversion, perhaps in anticipation of it even, the DR transferred numerous estate assets, including some portion of his liquid funds to banks in Singapore. After an evidentiary hearing regarding his conduct, the BC held the DR in contempt and further required him to turn over the transferred assets and to grant TR access to the Singapore accounts. When the DR refused, two additional contempt orders and, ultimately, a denial of his discharge followed-as did the Singapore Action. When the TR proposed to hire DWC, the DR sought his disqualification on the basis that he could receive duplicate compensation and was not qualified to render an expert opinion in a foreign court. The BC demurred, holding that DWC's qualifications were the Singapore court's to decide and that it would deal with the issue of duplicate compensation, if relevant, when the final application for compensation came before it. Thereafter, DPW addressed specific questions posed by the Singapore court, about U.S. bankruptcy law, in an expert opinion prepared for and filed in the Singapore Action. Later, sometime in February 2021, Lane Powell filed an application in the BC for final compensation.
- Judge(s):
- Scott H. Gan; Julia W. Brand; and Gary A. Spraker
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