§2176 — Title 48 Territories and Insular Possessions | U.S. Code

Summary

After giving notice to interested parties and the United States Trustee and holding a hearing, a court may pay professionals hired by the debtor, the Oversight Board, a committee under 11 U.S.C. 1103, or a court-appointed trustee under 11 U.S.C. 926. The court can award reasonable pay for actual, necessary work and reimburse real, necessary expenses. The court can reduce the amount asked for, on its own or after a motion. To decide what is reasonable, the court looks at things like time spent, hourly rates, whether the work was needed or helpful at the time, how quickly it was done compared to the task’s difficulty, whether the person is board certified or has restructuring experience, and customary fees charged by similar skilled lawyers in non-bankruptcy cases. The court will not pay for needless duplicate work or services unlikely to help the debtor or the case. Any final award must be reduced by interim payments under section 2177, and excess interim payments may have to be returned. Fee work for preparing the fee request should be billed at the level of skill actually needed to prepare it.

Title 48, §2176

Territories and Insular Possessions — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)After notice to the parties in interest and the United States Trustee and a hearing, the court may award to a professional person employed by the debtor (in the debtor’s sole discretion), the Oversight Board (in the Oversight Board’s sole discretion), a committee under section 1103 of title 11, or a trustee appointed by the court under section 926 of title 11—

(1)reasonable compensation for actual, necessary services rendered by the professional person, or attorney and by any paraprofessional person employed by any such person; and

(2)reimbursement for actual, necessary expenses.

(b)The court may, on its own motion or on the motion of the United States Trustee or any other party in interest, award compensation that is less than the amount of compensation that is requested.

(c)In determining the amount of reasonable compensation to be awarded to a professional person, the court shall consider the nature, the extent, and the value of such services, taking into account all relevant factors, including—

(1)the time spent on such services;

(2)the rates charged for such services;

(3)whether the services were necessary to the administration of, or beneficial at the time at which the service was rendered toward the completion of, a case under this chapter; 11 See References in Text note below.

(4)whether the services were performed within a reasonable amount of time commensurate with the complexity, importance, and nature of the problem, issue, or task addressed;

(5)with respect to a professional person, whether the person is board certified or otherwise has demonstrated skill and experience in the restructuring field; and

(6)whether the compensation is reasonable based on the customary compensation charged by comparably skilled practitioners in cases other than cases under this subchapter or title 11.

(d)The court shall not allow compensation for—

(1)unnecessary duplication of services; or

(2)services that were not—

(A)reasonably likely to benefit the debtor; or

(B)necessary to the administration of the case.

(e)The court shall reduce the amount of compensation awarded under this section by the amount of any interim compensation awarded under section 2177 of this title, and, if the amount of such interim compensation exceeds the amount of compensation awarded under this section, may order the return of the excess to the debtor.

(f)Any compensation awarded for the preparation of a fee application shall be based on the level and skill reasonably required to prepare the application.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (c)(3), was so in the original, but probably should have been a reference to “this title”, meaning title III of Pub. L. 114–187, June 30, 2016, 130 Stat. 577, which is classified generally to this subchapter. Pub. L. 114–187 does not contain chapters.

§2176 Compensation of professionals

Summary

Title 48, §2176

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Citations & Metadata