Case No. 02-02B0869 (Jointly Administered)United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.
March 6, 2002
ORDER AUTHORIZING EMPLOYMENT AND RETENTION OF PROFESSIONALS UTILIZED BY DEBTORS IN THE ORDINARY COURSE OF BUSINESS
JOHN H. SQUIRES, United States Bankruptcy Judge
This matter having come before the Court on the motion, dated March 6, 2002 (the “Motion”),[1] of the above-captioned debtors and debtors-in-possession (collectively, the “Debtors”), ror an order authorizing (i) the employment and retention of professionals utilized by Debtors in the ordinary course of business (collectively, the “Ordinary Course Professionals”), and (ii) the payment of interim compensation and reimbursement of expenses to such Ordinary Course Professionals in the manner customarily made by the Debtors; and the Court having reviewed the Motion and the Declaration of William E. MeDonough in Support of Chapter 11 Petitions and First Day Orders, sworn to on March 5, 2002; and the Court having determined that the relief requested in this Motion is in the best interests of the Debtors, their estates, their creditors and other parties-in-interest; and it appearing that notice of the Motion was good and sufficient under the particular circumstances and that no other or further notice need be given; and upon the record herein; and alter due deliberation thereon; and good and sufficient cause appearing therefor, it is hereby
ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED THAT:
1. The Motion be, and it hereby is, GRANTED.
2. Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 327 and 105, the Debtors be, and they
hereby are, authorized and empowered to employ and retain the Ordinary Course Professionals listed on the attached Exhibit A.
3. Subject to the limitations set forth below, the Debtors are authorized to pay, without formal application to the Court by any Ordinary Course Professional, the full billed amounts of the interim fees and disbursements of each Ordinary Course Professional upon submission to the Debtors of an invoice setting forth in reasonable detail the nature of the services rendered after the Petition Date and calculated in accordance with such Professional’s standard billing practices (without prejudice to the Debtors’ right to dispute any such invoices); provided,however, that no compensation paid to an Ordinary Course Professional shall be final until the retention of such Professional is authorized as a final matter pursuant to the provisions below.
4. Payments to an Ordinary Course Professional shall be subject to the approval of the Court in accordance with 11 U.S.C. § 330 and 331 if payments to such Professional exceed $30,000 in any one month or $300,000 during the entire case; provided, however, that as set forth in the Motion, the services provided by Morgan, Lewis Bockius, LLP (“Morgan Lewis”) such interim fees and disbursements shall not exceed a total of $40,000 per month. The compensation paid to the Professionals described in the foregoing sentence shall nonetheless become subject to the approval of the Court in accordance with 11 U.S.C. § 330 and 331
if it exceeds the limits set forth therein. In all other respects, such Professionals shall be treated as an Ordinary Course Professional and their retention shall be governed by this Order.
5. Approximately every one-hundred twenty (120) days, the Debtors shall file a statement with the Court and serve such Statement upon the United States Trustee, counsel to any official committee(s) appointed in these cases (collectively, the “Committee(s)”), and counsel to the Debtors’ prepetition and postpetition lenders (the “Lenders”). The Statement shall include the following information for each Ordinary Course Professional: (a) the name of the Ordinary Course Professional; (h) the aggregate amounts paid as compensation for services rendered and reimbursement of expenses incurred by the Ordinary Course Professional during the 120 days; and (c) a general description of the services rendered by the Ordinary Course Professional.
6. Within five (5) days after entry of this Order, the Debtors shall serve this Order upon each Ordinary Course Professional. Not later than thirty (30) days after entry of this Order, each Ordinary Course Professional who is an attorney shall file with the Court, and serve upon the United States Trustee, counsel to any Committee(s), counsel to the Lenders, and counsel to the Debtors, a verified statement pursuant to F.R.Bankr.P. 2014, substantially in the form of the statement attached hereto as Exhibit B (the “Disclosure Statement”), including an explanation of prepetition services rendered and postpetition services to be provided to the Debtors.
7. The United States Trustee, the Committee(s), and the Lenders shall have twenty (20) days after the receipt of such statement, or such other time as may be agreed to by the Ordinary Course Professional or ordered by the Court (the “Objection Deadline”), to object to the retention of the Ordinary Course Professional. Objections, if any, shall be served upon (i) the Ordinary Course Professional, (ii) the United States Trustee, (iii) counsel to the Committee(s), (iv) counsel to the Lenders, and (v) counsel to the Debtors, on or before the Objection Deadline. If any such objection cannot be resolved within twenty (20) days of service, the matter shall be scheduled for hearing before the Court at the next regularly-scheduled omnibus hearing or other date otherwise agreeable to the Ordinary Course Professional, the Debtors and the United States Trustee, the Committee(s), or the Lenders (whichever objected to the retention of the Ordinary Course Professional). If no objection is submitted on or before the Objection Deadline, or if any objection submitted is timely resolved as set forth above, then without further order of the Court the employment, retention and compensation of the Ordinary Course Professional shall be deemed approved.
8. The Debtors are authorized, without need for further hearing or order of the Court, to employ and retain Ordinary Course Professionals not presently listed in Exhibit A (“Additional Ordinary Course Professionals”) by filing with the Court a supplement to Exhibit A (the “Supplement”). The Supplement shall list the name and estimated monthly fee of the Additional Ordinary Course Professional, along with a brief description of the services to be rendered and shall otherwise comply with the terms of this Order. For purposes of complying with the Disclosure Statement requirement above, the 30-day requirement for the Additional Ordinary Course Professionals who are attorneys shall run from the filing of the Supplement with the Court, but all other requirements shall remain the same.