Buckmeyer et al v. Pham et al

Filing 37

ORDER. Signed by Judge James Ware on May 2, 2011. (jwlc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 5/2/2011)

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1 2 3 4 5 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 8 ComUnity Lending, Inc., 9 NO. C 10-00930 JW NO. C 10-00931 JW Plaintiff, ORDER REQUIRING SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING v. 10 Defendants. For the Northern District of California United States District Court Mai Christina Pham, et al., 11 12 13 / Katherine Buckmeyer, et al., 14 15 16 Plaintiffs, v. ComUnity Lending, Inc., 17 Defendant. / 18 19 Presently before the Court are Appellants’ Appeals from the Bankruptcy Court’s 20 Memorandum Decision and Order on Motions to Determine Administrative Priority of Attorneys’ 21 Fees Claim.1 Appellants appeal a ruling of the Bankruptcy Court refusing to treat this Court’s award 22 of attorney fees to appellants as a priority administrative claim, even though the losing party’s claim 23 for attorney fees arising out of the same proceeding was treated as an administrative priority claim.2 24 25 26 27 1 (See Notice of Appeal, hereafter, “Pham Appeal,” Docket Item No. 1-1 in No. C 10-00930 JW; Notice of Appeal, hereafter, “Buckmeyer Appeal,” Docket Item No. 1 in No. C 10-00931 JW.) Both Appeals are “identical appeal[s] of the same ruling.” (See Appellant’s Opening Brief at 1, hereafter, “Buckmeyer Brief,” Docket Item No. 7 in No. C 10-00931 JW.) 2 28 (See Buckmeyer Brief at 1; Appellants’ Opening Brief at 1, Docket Item No. 7 in No. 1000930 JW.) 1 A full statement of the facts of the underlying case can be found in the Court’s December 11, entered judgment in favor of Plaintiffs and against Defendant ComUnity, declaring that certain 4 disputed funds were not assets of a bankruptcy estate, but instead belonged to participants in a Non- 5 Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan.4 On February 9, 2009, the Trustee filed a Notice of Appeal 6 to the Ninth Circuit.5 On April 24, 2009, the Court granted Plaintiffs’ Motions for Attorney Fees, 7 but denied Plaintiffs’ request that the Court adjudicate the priority of any costs or fees awarded.6 On 8 February 16, 2010, the Bankruptcy Court held that Plaintiffs’ fee awards were not entitled to 9 priority.7 On March 4, 2010, Plaintiffs appealed the Bankruptcy Court’s decision regarding the 10 priority of fee awards to this Court.8 On October 8, 2010, the Ninth Circuit reversed this Court’s 11 For the Northern District of California 2008 Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment.3 On January 30, 2009, the Court 3 United States District Court 2 order granting Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment and vacated this Court’s “judgment and the 12 order awarding Plaintiff their attorneys’ fees.”9 That action is now set for trial on June 7, 2011. 13 In light of the procedural posture of these cases, on or before May 13, 2011, the parties shall 14 file a Joint Statement explaining whether the Appeals in No. C 10-00930 JW and No. C 10-00931 15 JW are moot as the result of the Ninth Circuit’s October 8, 2010 opinion. 16 17 Dated: May 2, 2011 JAMES WARE United States District Chief Judge 18 19 20 (See Docket Item No. 59 in No. 08-00201 JW.) 4 (See Docket Item Nos. 71 and 72 in No. 08-00201 JW.) 5 21 3 (See Docket Item No. 73 in No. 08-00201 JW.) 22 23 6 24 (See Order Granting Motion for Attorney Fees; Denying Motion to Determine Priority, Docket Item No. 105 in No. 08-00201 JW.) 25 7 (See Buckmeyer Brief at 6.) 26 8 (See Buckmeyer Appeal; Pham Appeal.) 27 9 (See Docket Item No. 121 at 6 in No. 08-00201 JW.) 28 2 1 THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT COPIES OF THIS ORDER HAVE BEEN DELIVERED TO: 2 Barry Milgrom bmilgrom@luce.com Hong-Nhung Thi Le nle@luce.com Jeffrey L. Fillerup jfillerup@luce.com Jessie L.B. Hill jlbhill@aol.com John Stephen Wesolowski john.wesolowski@usdoj.gov Matthew Brooks Borden borden@braunhagey.com Neil S. Tardiff info@smithtardiff.com Robert Anthony Franklin rfranklin@murraylaw.com Ronald Scott Kravitz Rkravitz@LinerLaw.com 3 4 5 6 7 Dated: May 2, 2011 Richard W. Wieking, Clerk 8 9 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 By: /s/ JW Chambers Susan Imbriani Courtroom Deputy

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