Sikes v. Crager (In re Crager)

Summarized by Bruce Weiner , Rosenberg, Musso & Weiner
13 years 6 months ago

Citation:

No citation yet. Case No. 11-30982

Tag(s):

Ruling:

District Court's determination that Chapter 13 plan was not filed in good faith was a final order within meaning of 28 U.S.C. §158(d) and Circuit Court has jurisdiction to hear appeal. There is no rule in the Fifth Circuit that a plan that results in almost all of the payments to the trustee going to the debtor's attorney is not a "per se" violation of the rule that chapter 13 plans must be filed in good faith and the district court erred when it reversed the bankruptcy court's confirmation of the plan. Although the debtor's attorney had the burden to show that his fee was reasonable even when it was within the "no look" guideline" in the district, the chapter 13 trustee's challenge to confirmation and the fees made the fee reasonable.

Procedural context:

District Court reversed the Bankruptcy court's confirmation of the Debtor's chapter 13 plan. the Circuit Court reversed the District Court and affirmed the Bankruptcy court's confirmation of the plan.

Facts:

Debtor's only income was social security disability. She did not have the money to pay an attorney to file a chapter 7 case, so she filed a chapter 13 with all of her fees and costs to be paid to the attorney through her chapter 13 plan. This left little or no payments to go to creditors other than her attorney. The chapter 13 trustee objected both to confirmation of the plan and the attorney's fees. The bankruptcy court overruled both objections, confirming the plan and approving the fees. The district court reversed, and on appeal to the Circuit, the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court and affirmed the bankruptcy court.

Judge(s):

Higginbotham, Haynes, and Higginson.

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