Jones Day Lawyers Seek Chrysler Fees Before Other Professionals
By Linda Sandler
May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Jones Day partner Corinne Ball, who is charging bankrupt Chrysler LLC $900 an hour for her counsel, asked a judge to make sure her law firm gets paid before other professionals.
Jones Day’s fees and expenses “are hereby granted superpriority status,” the law firm said in a draft order prepared for the signature of Judge Arthur Gonzalez and filed April 30 by Ball in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, citing a section of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code related to such payments.
“I have never seen a request for superpriority under Section 364 for a professional,” said bankruptcy law professor Stephen Lubben at Seton Hall University’s law school in Newark, New Jersey, who keeps a database for fees. “I don’t see how every large trade creditor wouldn’t ask for similar protection if it’s granted to Jones Day in this instance.”
Chrysler paid Washington-based Jones Day $18.9 million in retainers from November to May, partly to try to keep itself out of bankruptcy. In court, Jones Day has 120 to 150 days to ask the judge to approve monthly fees that will already have been paid by Chrysler, according to the court filing.
Charlotte Powell, a spokeswoman for Jones Day, declined to comment.
The case is In re Chrysler LLC, 09-50002, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporters on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 7, 2009 11:19 EDT |
