NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

________________ No. 08-4879

________________ In Re: Summit Metals, Inc., Debtor

Ambrose M. Richardson, III, Appellant

________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (D.C. Civil Action No. 1-08-cv-00005) District Judge: Honorable Sue L. Robinson

________________ Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) January 5, 2011 Before: AMBRO and FISHER, Circuit Judges and SÁNCHEZ, * District Judge (Opinion filed: January 14, 2011)

________________ OPINION

________________

* Honorable Juan R. Sánchez, District Cour t Judge, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.AMBRO, Circuit Judge Appellant Ambrose M. Richardson, III, se eks, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 503(b), administrative expense priority treatment in a District of Delaware bankruptcy case for

what he characterizes as fees and costs that he has incurred since 1995 in connection with numerous legal proceedings involving Richar d E. Gray and several corporate entities Gray has owned and/or controlled. 1 Gray filed a bankruptcy pe tition on behalf of Summit Me tals, Inc. (“Summit”) in December 1998. In February 20 05, Richardson filed an applic ation in that case seeking administrative expense priority status un der 11 U.S.C. § 503(b) for approximately $877,000 in expenses and fees relating to his involvement in the above-noted proceedings. The U.S. Trustee, the Chapter 11 Trustee in the case, and the committee representing Summit’s unsecured creditors (the “Committee”) all opposed this application. The Bankruptcy Court held a two-day hearin g on the merits of the application and also requested post-hearing briefing. In De cember 2007, the Bankrupt cy Court issued an

1 These corporate entities include Summit Meta ls, Inc. (“Summit”), the debtor in the current bankruptcy proceedings; its predeces sor in interest, The Chariot Group, Inc. (“Chariot”); Energy Savings Products, Inc. (“ESP”), a subs idiary of Chariot; and B.F. Rich, an operating comp any owned by ESP. The relevant legal proceedings identified in the record and the parties’ briefs are the following: litigation related to Chariot that wa s pending in state court prior to the Summit bankruptcy; bankruptcy advers ary proceedings filed by Gr ay, on behalf of Summit, against Richardson; a bankruptcy adversar y proceeding filed against Gray by the Committee of Unsecured Cred itors; the bankruptcy case of ESP; and criminal proceedings against Gray. 23 order granting in part and denying in part Richardson’s application. 2 Richardson appealed the order to the District Cour t, which affirmed. He timely filed a pro se appeal to this Court, and the U.S. Trustee and the Chapter 11 Trustee filed briefs in opposition. After reviewing the parties’ briefs and rele vant portions of the record, we conclude that the District Court correctly applied th e relevant legal standards, and affirm for substantially the reasons stated by that Court. Simply put, we have nothing to add to the careful opinion of District Judge Robinson affirming th e thoughtful analysis of Bankruptcy Judge (now Chief Judge) Carey.

2 Richardson was allowed administrative e xpense priority treatment for $2,533.65 in out-of-pocket expenses that he incurred in hi s capacity as a member of the Committee in Summit’s bankruptcy case.