Jean-Claude Fotso and Berthe Fotso

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
at Greenbelt
IN RE: 	:
:
JEAN-CLAUDE FOTSO 	: 	Case No. 05-29843PM
BERTHE FOTSO 	: 	Chapter 7
:
Debtors 	:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - :
MEMORANDUM OF DECISION
This case comes before the court upon the Application of Richard S. Stolker and the law
firm of Richard S. Stolker, P.A., former counsel for the Debtors, for an order authorizing
compensation of fees and reimbursement of expenses advanced. Counsel seeks compensation in
the amount of $12,177.50 and reimbursement of expenses in the amount of $346.69 and that
these sums be allowed as a first priority under § 507(a)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code in effect at
the time of the filing of the case. Counsel seeks allowance of compensation as an administrative
expense under § 503(b) of the Bankruptcy Code. Because administrative expenses may not be
allowed a Chapter 7 debtor’s attorney, the period for which such expenses are allowable extends
from June 15, 2006, through February 7, 2007, the period during which this case was a case
under Chapter 13. This allowance is subject to any administrative priority under Chapter 7.
11 U.S.C. § 726(b). All of this is largely academic, because the Debtors paid $10,500.00
directly to Mr. Stolker. This decision is limited to what is allowable to counsel for his services
rendered the Debtors while this case was under Chapter 13.
Debtors’ bankruptcy case was originally filed by another attorney under Chapter 7 on
September 2, 2005. Following the filing of a Complaint objecting to Debtors’ discharge by the
Chapter 7 Trustee, and the employment by the Chapter 7 Trustee of counsel, Debtors original
Date signed May 08, 2007
Entered: May 09, 2007 Case 05-29843 Doc 133 Filed 05/09/07 Page 1 of 3

counsel filed a motion to withdraw because of irreconcilable differences with her clients. That
motion was granted by an Order entered January 12, 2006. On June 12, 2006, Mr. Stolker filed a
motion to convert this case to a case under Chapter 13 and thereafter filed Amended Schedules
and an Amended Statement of Financial Affairs. The case was converted to Chapter 13 by Order
of the court on June 15, 2006. While Mr. Stolker did not file a Statement of Compensation as
required by Local Rule 2016-1(b) and Bankruptcy Rule 2016(b), the Amended Statement of
Affairs disclosed at the answer to Question 9 a payment of $500.00 to him in May, 2006. The
Statement did not disclose the $10,000.00 paid to him by the Debtors prior to that date, as it
should have pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 329(a). The court trusts that such an omission will never
occur again.
In the course of the Chapter 13 portion of this case, confirmation of Debtors’ Plan was
bitterly opposed by a creditor, and the confirmation hearing was specially set for hearing apart
from the regular Chapter 13 calendar. In due course, Debtors and the protesting creditor entered
into a Stipulation and Settlement resulting in the filing of an Amended Plan, but, for reasons best
known to themselves, the Debtors filed a motion to reconvert this case to a case under Chapter 7
that Mr. Stolker urged unsuccessfully to his clients was an ill-advised move and not to their best
interests. The court reluctantly granted the motion to reconvert the case, noting in its
Memorandum that this causes the worst of all results in a bankruptcy case, liquidation of
Debtors’ non-exempt assets, and quite possibly the denial of their discharge.
In the course of the hearing on Mr. Stolker’s Application for compensation, Mr. Fotso
appeared in support of the Application and stated that he had paid Mr. Stolker $14,000.00 in
connection with the representation. The Debtor also expressed his absolute satisfaction with the
quality of work rendered by Mr. Stolker. This is particularly relevant to this Application. As
may be seen from Mr. Stolker’s Supplement to his Application, the largest part of his bill is
attributable to the defense of two adversary proceedings, both seeking the denial of Debtors’
discharge. These are Adversary Proceeding No. 05-9069 filed by Carol Blair and Harold Blair, a
Complaint objecting to Debtors’ discharge, and a similar Complaint filed by the United States
Trustee, Adversary Proceeding No. 05-9115. Those objections to discharge are set for trial on
August 8, 2007.
During the pertinent period that this case was under Chapter 13, Mr. Stolker shows 25.5
hours devoted to the case. His hourly charge is $275.00, so if the Application is allowed in full,
this would result in an allowance of $7,012.50. The difficulty with this exercise is that the
Case 05-29843 Doc 133 Filed 05/09/07 Page 2 of 3

1 This calculation is reached by deducting the sums already received by Mr. Stolker from
the amount sought by him in Docket Entry #132.
benefit of these services to the Debtors cannot be ascertained with any confidence in the
correctness of the result until the determination of the adversary proceedings. If discharge is
denied, there is no benefit whatsoever to Debtors. Likewise, of little benefit was the sojourn in
Chapter 13, but Debtors’ conversion of the case was their own idea and contrary to the advice of
Mr. Stolker. The court, as handicapped as it is in its determination of reasonable compensation,
will give Mr. Stolker the benefit of the doubt, particularly since he faces the responsibility of a
forthcoming trial. The court will allow a Chapter 13 administrative expense of $6,850.00 to
counsel, as well as reimbursement of out of pocket expenses of $346.69.
If the Chapter 13 Trustee is holding funds of the Debtors, he is to pay $2,024.19 to
Mr. Stolker and refund the balance to the Debtors.1 The Trustee shall prepare and appropriate
order to implement this decision.
cc:
Nancy S. Grigsby, C/13 Trustee, P.O. Box 958, Bowie, MD 20718
Richard S. Stolker, Esq., 110 N. Washington Street, #320, Rockville, MD 20850
Jean/Berthe Fotso, 131 Cabinwood Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20904
Janet M. Nesse, Esq., Former C/7 Trustee, 1150 18th Street, N.W., #800, Washington, DC 20036
Roger Schlossberg, Esq., C/7 Trustee, 134 West Washington Street,
P. O. Box 4227, Hagerstown, MD 21741
End of Memorandum
Case 05-29843 Doc 133 Filed 05/09/07 Page 3 of 3