Securities and Exchange Commission v. Path America, LLC et al

Filing 619

NINTH ORDER REGARDING FEE APPLICATIONS. The Court grants these fees applications ( 612 , 613 , 614 , 615 , 616 ) and approves on an interim basis application amounts for the period of October 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017. Signed by Judge James L. Robart. (PM)

Download PDF
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 8 9 10 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, 11 Plaintiff, CASE NO. C15-1350JLR NINTH ORDER REGARDING FEE APPLICATIONS 12 v. 13 PATH AMERICA, LLC, et al., 14 Defendants, and 15 POTALA SHORELINE, LLC, et al., 16 Relief Defendants. 17 18 Before the court are five quarterly fee applications: (1) the ninth interim fee 19 application of Receiver Michael A. Grassmueck (“the Receiver”) for $7,910.50 in fees 20 and $473.35 in costs (Dkt. # 613); (2) the ninth interim fee application of the Receiver’s 21 general counsel, Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis, LLP (“Allen Matkins”), 22 for $191,598.75 in fees and $4,398.91 in costs (Dkt. # 612); (3) the ninth interim fee ORDER- 1 1 application of Financial Forensics, the Receiver’s forensic accountant, for $6,075.00 in 2 fees and $7.35 in costs (Dkt. # 615); (4) the ninth quarterly fee application for the 3 Receiver’s local counsel, Karr Tuttle Campbell, P.S. (“Karr Tuttle”), for $2,807.50 in 4 fees and $6.25 in costs (Dkt. # 616); and (5) the sixth interim fee application of Peterson 5 Sullivan LLP, tax accountants for the Receiver, for $4,528.85 in fees and $304.60 in 6 costs (Dkt. # 614). As described below, the court GRANTS the fee applications of the 7 Receiver, Allen Matkins, Financial Forensics, Karr Tuttle, and Peterson Sullivan (Dkt. 8 ## 612-16). 9 Counsel for the Receiver filed all of the foregoing motions on February 14 or 15, 10 2018, and properly noted them for the court’s consideration on March 2, 2018. (See id.) 11 Any opposition to the motions was due no later than Monday, February 26, 2018. See 12 Local Rules W.D. Wash. LCR 7(d)(3) (“Any opposition papers shall be filed and served 13 no later than the Monday before the noting date.”). No party filed an opposition to any of 14 the motions. (See generally Dkt.) 15 The court finds that (1) the fees and costs requested in each of the fee applications 16 listed above are reasonable and necessary, (2) the notice of the fee applications was 17 appropriate, (3) the fee applications are made in accordance with the Order Appointing 18 Receiver (see Order Appointing Receiver (“OAR”) (Dkt. # 88) ¶¶ 55-59), and (4) the 19 services provided were of substantial benefit to the Receivership Estate. Each of the 20 foregoing applicants seeks a distribution of only 80% of the approved fees and costs at 21 this time. (See id. ¶ 58 (“Quarterly Fee Applications may be subject to a holdback in the 22 amount of 20% of the amount of fees and expenses for each application filed with the ORDER- 2 1 Court.”); see also Dkt. # 612 at 2; Dkt. # 613 at 2; Dkt. # 614 at 3-4; Dkt. # 615 at 4; Dkt. 2 # 616 at 1-2.) 3 Accordingly, the court GRANTS these fee applications (Dkt. ## 612-16) and 4 APPROVES on an interim basis the following application amounts for the period of 5 October 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017: 6 Applicant: Fees: Costs: Total Allowed: 7 $7,910.50 $473.35 $8,383.85 8 Receiver Michael A. Grassmueck Allen Matkins $191,598.75 $4,398.91 $195,997.66 9 Financial Forensics $6,075.00 $7.35 $6,082.35 10 Karr Tuttle $2,807.50 $6.25 $2,813.75 11 Peterson Sullivan $4,528.85 $304.60 $4,833.45 12 13 14 15 Finally, the court AUTHORIZES the Receiver to disburse the following percentages of the foregoing approved fees and costs at this time: (1) The court AUTHORIZES the Receiver to disburse $6,707.08 to the Receiver, which is 80% of the approved fees and costs; 16 17 (2) The court AUTHORIZES the Receiver to disburse $156,798.13 to Allen Matkins, which is 80% of the approved fees and costs; 18 19 (3) The court AUTHORIZES the Receiver to disburse $4,865.88 to Financial Forensics, which is 80% of the approved fees and costs; 20 21 (4) The court AUTHORIZES the Receiver to disburse $2,251.00 to Karr Tuttle, which is 80% of the approved fees and costs; and 22 ORDER- 3 1 (5) The court AUTHORIZES the Receiver to disburse $3,866.76 to Peterson 2 3 Sullivan, which is 80% of the approved fees and costs. Dated this 12th day of March, 2018. 4 6 A 7 JAMES L. ROBART United States District Judge 5 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ORDER- 4

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?