In re Bemporad Carpet Mills, Inc.
Decision Date | 20 November 1970 |
Docket Number | No. 29291.,29291. |
Parties | In the Matter of BEMPORAD CARPET MILLS, INC., Bankrupt. Clinton J. MORGAN, Appellant, v. WALTER E. HELLER & CO., Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Clinton J. Morgan, pro se.
Charles Gowen, William H. Izlar, Jr., R. William Ide, III, King & Spalding, Atlanta, Ga., for appellee.
Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, and DYER and INGRAHAM, Circuit Judges.
Morgan, an attorney, ably represented the trustee in bankruptcy for a bankrupt corporation.1 He now contends that the District Court failed to provide adequate compensation, in the form of contingency fees, for successful litigation on behalf of the bankrupt. We affirm.
The essential facts are not in dispute. On behalf of the bankrupt, Morgan spent approximately 1033 hours on protracted litigation. His efforts significantly increased the value of the estate, and consequently the amount available to creditors. Morgan also spent 120 hours of non-litigation time working for the bankrupt, the compensation for which is not contested in this appeal. The District Court awarded $58,990.00 attorneys fees, including a $25,000 contingency award.2 The court noted that the total fee slightly exceeds ten percent of a total estate of one-half million dollars. It likewise provides more than $50.00 per hour, if computed on an hourly basis. Morgan, however, argues that the award should have approximated twenty-five percent of the bankrupt estate, or $129,283.46 (including the uncontested $25,00 per hour for 120 hours of non-litigation time).
Id. at 432-433. Several factors inhere in the District Court's award: time spent, the intricacy of the problems involved, the size of the estate, the opposition met, the results achieved. All should be considered in light of the economical spirit of the Bankruptcy Act. Jacobowitz v. Double Seven Corp., 9 Cir. 1967, 378 F.2d 405, 408; see Sumner Sollitt Co. v. Adelman, 7 Cir. 1969, 413 F.2d 996, 997. Of course, there can be no precise, rigid measure of reasonableness; the...
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