In re Energy Partners, Ltd.
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
409 B.R. 211 (2009)
After Energy Partners, Limited (Energy) (debtor) obtained court approval to pay Parkman Whaling (Parkman) $75,000 for a company valuation used in its reorganization plan, creditor Birch Run objected to that valuation as too low and submitted its own substantially higher valuation, and both valuations were included in Energy's second reorganization plan. The equity holders' committee then sought to hire Tudor Pickering (Tudor) for a third valuation at roughly $1 million in nonrefundable fees, including a $500,000 upfront nonrefundable payment and $25,000 per day in expert-witness fees, while the unsecured noteholder committee sought similarly to retain Houlihan Lokey (Houlihan) for a fourth valuation.
Whether proposed employment terms for a third and fourth professional company valuation, costing roughly thirteen times more than an earlier valuation already on record, are reasonable under bankruptcy law when two existing valuations already provide the estate with competing figures.