Attorney Fees
Firm’s Take in Hip-Hop Bankruptcy Is Zilch
Posted Apr 15, 2008, 06:20 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A federal bankruptcy judge has refused to award fees to a New York City law firm representing hip-hop media company Source Enterprises Inc.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez issued a “stinging 38-page decision” denying requested fees of $526,000 to Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, the New York Law Journal reports.
Gonzalez said the law firm should not have represented Source because its outstanding legal bills of $200,000 before the bankruptcy filing made it a debtor and represented a conflict of interest. He discounted claims that the firm had waived the amount and said it later sought payment from Source affiliates.
The "manner in which Windels represented the debtor and the firm's eventual singular concentration on fees, as opposed to its role as counsel, caused harm to the debtor sufficient to support a denial of all fees sought," Gonzalez wrote in the opinion (PDF posted by the New York Law Journal).