Unger v. Noxon Chemical Products Co.
Unger v. Noxon Chemical Products Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from an order of the District Court for the District of New Jersey, sitting in bankruptcy, denying a petition for allowance of counsel fees. The appellants are both attorneys who had claims against Noxon Chemical Products
We are of the opinion that when Unger appeared for himself as a petitioning creditor he was not in fact or in law acting in the capacity of an attorney, inasmuch as that term means one authorized to act for another. As a petitioning creditor, he appeared in the capacity of a claimant. There was therefore no abuse of discretion in the denial of a fee to Unger as attorney for himself as a claimant. He was, however, entitled to a fee as attorney for the appellant Kahn under section 64b (3) of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C.A. § 104(b)(3) which provides for the payment of one reasonable attorney’s fee for professional services actually rendered to the petitioning creditors in involuntary cases. The measure of the allowance is a matter within the discretion of the judge of the bankruptcy court, provided that the allowance is reasonable. The order of the court is reversed with direction to award a reasonable fee to Unger limited to compensation for his services as attorney for Kahn, the intervening creditor.
Order reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNGER v. NOXON CHEMICAL PRODUCTS CO., Inc.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published