FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF ORDER AWARDING TO PATRICK S. LAYNG, ATTORNEY FOR UNITED STATES TRUSTEE, ALLOWANCE AND PAYMENT OF FINAL COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES

TIMOTHY A. BARNES, Bankruptcy Judge.

The attached time and expense entries have been underlined to reflect disallowance in whole or in part. The basis for each disallowance is reflected by numerical notations that appear on the left of each underlined entry. The numerical notations correspond to the enumerated paragraphs below.

(1) No Benefit to the Estate — TOTAL of disallowed amounts: $129.48

The court denies requests for fees relating to services that do not benefit the estate or that are not necessary to the administration of the case. 11 U.S.C. § 330(a)(4)(A). An attorney's internal work prior to retention to determine whether the attorney's firm satisfies the disinterestedness requirement of section 327 of the Bankruptcy Code does not provide benefit to the estate and is not compensable.

(2) Duplication of Services — TOTAL of disallowed amounts: $4,416.74

The Court denies the allowance of compensation for services that duplicate those of another professional or paraprofessional. See 11 U.S.C. § 330(a)(4)(A)(i). Reduction in fees is warranted if multiple attorneys from the same firm appear in court on a motion or argument or for a conference, unless counsel adequately demonstrates that each attorney present contributed in some meaningful way. In re Pettibone, 74 B.R. 293, 307 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1987) (Schmetterer, J.) ("A debtor's estate should not bear the burden of duplication of services. If found in the record, such duplication shall be disallowed by the court as unnecessary."). In this case, the court found no explanation for the third attorney at the trial.

ITEMIZATION OF FEES AND COSTS REQUESTED BY THE UNITED STATES TRUSTEE

NOW COMES PATRICK S. LAYNG, the United States Trustee for Region 11 (the "U.S. Trustee"), by his attorneys, Jeffrey S. Snell, M. Gretchen Silver, and Elizabeth Brusa, and pursuant the Court's Order dated April 11, 2018, submits his itemization of the fees and costs he requests relating to his Motion for Sanctions in the above-captioned case.

The U.S. Trustee does not request attorney fees for many aspects of this litigation.1 The time itemized below was recorded by the U.S. Trustee's counsel substantially contemporaneous with the task performed and/or was objectively verified by counsel based on other records. With the exceptions of Robert Schaller's deposition, the October 25, 2017 hearing on pretrial motions, and the trial itself, the U.S. Trustee has limited his requests to the time of one attorney for each task, irrespective of how many attorneys actually participated.2 The hourly rates at which compensation is sought are calculated using a Department of Justice formula designed to capture the Department's actual costs per hour, and reflect the hourly rates in effect at the time each given task was performed.3

Throughout the below itemization, attorneys' names are abbreviated with initials, as follows:

The fees and costs requested by the U.S. Trustee fall into seven categories and total $52,363.46.

I. Fees relating to Robert Schaller's Rule 9011 Motion served upon the U.S. Trustee on November 8, 2016.

After the U.S. Trustee filed his Motion for Sanctions against Robert Schaller in the above-captioned case, Schaller served a Rule 11 motion upon the U.S. Trustee and his counsel. The U.S. Trustee requests fees for the following time expended in connection with Schaller's motion:

II. Fees relating to attempted deposition of Elton Tabor

During discovery in the above-captioned case, the U.S. Trustee attempted to conduct a deposition of Elton Tabor. The deposition was originally scheduled for March 27, 2017, by subpoena issued February 23, 2017. The original deposition was rescheduled after a series of communications from Robert Schaller's counsel that began one week prior to the scheduled deposition date. The effort to depose Mr. Tabor was eventually abandoned after several attempts to schedule the deposition proved unsuccessful. The U.S. Trustee requests fees for the following time relating to the attempted deposition of Mr. Tabor:

III. Fees relating to Motion to Compel [Dkt. 55]

On April 12, 2017, the U.S. Trustee filed his Motion to Compel Robert Schaller to produce documents in response to a February 1, 2017, Request for Production propounded under Rule 34. (See Dkt. 55.) The U.S. Trustee requests fees for the following time relating to the Motion to Compel:

IV. Deposition of Robert Schaller and Related Discovery Issues

The U.S. Trustee conducted a deposition of Robert Schaller on June 1, 2017. In advance of the deposition, time had to be expended to pair emails and attachments produced in .pdf format by Robert Schaller during discovery. The U.S. Trustee requests fees for the following time relating to the deposition and discovery issues:

V. Pretrial Matters

In advance of the trial in this matter, the U.S. Trustee's counsel expended considerable time preparing exhibits, his pretrial statement, his motion in limine and objection to Robert Schaller's pretrial statement, and his omnibus response to Schaller's objection and four separate motions in limine. The U.S. Trustee requests fees for the following time relating to these efforts:

VI. Trial

The U.S. Trustee requests fees for the following time expended in connection with the trial on the Motion for Sanctions that commenced November 6, 2017:

VII. Transcript Costs

The U.S. Trustee requests reimbursement of the following out-of-pocket costs incurred in connection with the Motion for Sanctions in the above-captioned matter:

WHEREFORE, the U.S. Trustee requests the Court enter an order awarding the above fees and costs and providing any other and further relief as is just.