Now that corporate franchisor Waffle House Inc. has purchased the restaurants formerly owned by Nashville-based SouthEast Waffles LLC, the attorneys who guided SouthEast Waffles through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy are seeking approval for a final installment of almost $188,000 in fees and expenses.
The law firm of Harwell Howard Hyne Gabbert & Manner last week submitted its application to Nashville's U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Combined with interim payments awarded to the firm over the past year, the last installment will bring H3GM's total compensation on the case to just over $737,000.
The Chapter 11 case, filed in August 2008, involved sometimes-bitter disputes among the company, two of its top officers who accused each other of wrongdoing, and its various creditors. After Waffle House Inc. submitted its plan to buy the assets out of bankruptcy, competing plans came into play from a group that included golfer Phil Mickelson and from the embattled Tangredi family of Nashville restaurateurs.
Although the billing of the bankruptcy estate is complete, various law firms will continue to bill hours to creditors and other clients involved in the case. It remains open while a liquidation agent deals with potential claims by or against the bankruptcy estate involving former CEO Jim Shaub, former CFO Becky Sullivan and other parties.
Eleven lawyers from H3GM put in time on the SouthEast Waffles matter during the most recent six-month billing period. Their hourly rates range from $170 for a first-year associate to more than $400 an hour for senior partners including the lead attorneys on the case, Glenn Rose and Barbara Holmes. Between them, Rose and Holmes have billed more than 430 hours on SouthEast Waffles this year.
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