Bankruptcy Fees Are Awhirl In Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has certainly been a financial boon for many involved law and investment banking firms.
Christopher Scinta and Linda Sandler, in their April 13, 2009 article “Lehman Brothers Law Firm Weil Gotschal Seeks $55 Million in Fees” (available for viewing at Bloomberg.com), report that Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, led by partner Harvey Miller, is seeking approval of $55 million in fees from the bankruptcy court in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy case, which covers debtor bankruptcy work for the period September 15, 2008-January 31, 2009. Partners and “of counsel” attorneys charged an average of about $824 per hour, according to the fee bankruptcy filings.
Others must be equally delighted by the bankruptcy. Lazard Freres & Co., Lehman’s investment banker which helped sell various Lehman assets for about $1.54 billion, is seeking $6.6 million in compensation for the same period of time. Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP, representing Lehman’s unsecured creditors’ committee, is seeking $12.1 million in fees, while Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin Capital Inc., the committee’s investment banker, has asked for $2.2 million for work performed during the same rough time frame.
A hearing on these requests has been set before the bankruptcy court for May 13, 2009. (Both the U.S. Trustee’s Office and bankruptcy court have quite a lot of control over fee approval, with the former being able to object to requests (with its objections given substantial weight in many instances) and the latter being the ultimate arbiter of what fees get paid and when.)
Lynn LoPucki, a UCLA law professor and frequent critic of the bankruptcy process, has estimated that Weil could see as much a
s $209 million in fees from this case and that, overall, bankers, accountants and lawyers might obtain judge-approved charges of $906 million.
UCLA School of Law
Oxford Street Properties and Affiliates Awarded $1 Million in Attorney’s Fees in Los Angeles Rehabilitation Project Arbitration.
JAMS arbitrator Richard Chernick recently ordered Rehabilitation Associates and Fedora Investment Corp., represented by Hollywood sole practitioner Lance J. Robbins, to pay $20 million to Oxford Street Properties and certain affiliates relating to fraud and economic duress claims arising from the attempted rehabilitation of the disused 102-year-old Main Mercantile Building in downtown Los Angeles into loft-style apartments. Mr. Chernick also awarded the prevailing parties $10 million in punitive damages and $1 million in attorney’s fees.
Mr. Robbins is apparently a landlord himself who has gained some press attention in the past based on citations for violating city building codes, as reported by Mindy Farabee in her April 17, 2009 article, “Property Firm Is Awarded $30 Million in Loft Debacle,” appearing in the Los Angeles Daily Journal.
General Contractor Mepco Wins About $765,000 in Fees From Saddleback Valley Unified School District in San Diego Litigation.
Mepco Services, a Downey-based general contractor hired to renovate Esperanza Special Education School in Mission Viejo, recently won a San Diego County Superior Court action against the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.
Specifically, the school district was ordered to pay about $1.4 million to Mepco for a troubled renovation at the Mission Viejo special-education school. Also, Mepco was awarded about $765,000 in legal fees on April 16, 2009 by San Diego County Superior Court Judge Frederic Link—even after some photocopying charges were ordered stricken from the fee/cost requests.
For more details on this case, see Scott Martindale’s April 16, 2009 article published in The Orange County Register’s Local section.