In re Pan American Hospital Corporation
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida
312 B.R. 706 (2004)
Affiliated debtors Pan American Hospital Corporation and Pan American Medical Center, Inc. (Pan American) sought court approval to employ the law firm Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin (Kluger) as bankruptcy counsel, using two risk-minimizing devices to secure Kluger's payment: a retainer held throughout the case, and a shortened 60-day fee-application period instead of the standard 120 days. The court initially approved both, but the United States trustee objected to the retainer, arguing the shortened fee-application period alone adequately protected Kluger and that Pan American needed the retained cash for its reorganization.
Whether, in a bankruptcy case, a court may approve administrative expenses if the expenses are reasonable and balance the interests of all the parties to the bankruptcy.