DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
046067P.pdf 03/16/2005 Fiegen Law Firm v. Habbo Fokkena
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 04-6067
Northern District of Iowa
Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. Bankruptcy court properly applied Eighth
Circuit law in determining unearned portion of attorney's retainer is an
asset of the estate; bankruptcy court erred, however, in determining
prepetition fees and expenses were not payable out of the retainer;
bankruptcy court did not err in finding counsel was not entitled to
payment of postpetition fees and expenses from the unapplied portion of
the security retainer or from other assets of the estate; bankruptcy court
applied the wrong standard for determining the reasonableness of the
prepetition fees, and on remand, it should determine the reasonable value
of the services under Section 329 of the Code
[PUBLISHED] [Federman, Author, with Schermer and Venters,
Bankruptcy Judges]