NOT PRECEDENTIAL 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 Court Judge, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 

sitting by designation. 
AMBRO, Circuit Judge

 Appellant Ambrose M. Richardson, III, seeks, 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 Richard E. Gray and several corporate entities 

Gray has owned and/or controlled.1

 

Gray filed a bankruptcy petition on behalf of Summit Metals, Inc. (“Summit”) in 

December 1998. In February 2005, Richardson filed an application in that case seeking 

administrative expense priority status under 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 hearing on the merits of the application and 

also requested post-hearing briefing. In December 2007, the Bankruptcy Court issued an 

 1

 These corporate entities include Summit Metals, Inc. (“Summit”), the debtor in the 

current bankruptcy proceedings; its predecessor in interest, The Chariot Group, Inc. 

(“Chariot”); Energy Savings Products, Inc. (“ESP”), a subsidiary of Chariot; and B.F. 

Rich, an operating company owned by ESP. 

The relevant legal proceedings identified in the record and the parties’ briefs are the 

following: litigation related to Chariot that was pending in state court prior to the Summit 

bankruptcy; bankruptcy adversary proceedings filed by Gray, on behalf of Summit, 

against Richardson; a bankruptcy adversary proceeding filed against Gray by the 

Committee of Unsecured Creditors; the bankruptcy case of ESP; and criminal 

proceedings against Gray. 

2 
3 

 

order granting in part and denying in part Richardson’s application.2

 Richardson 

appealed the order to the District Court, 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 relevant portions of the record, we conclude 

that the District Court correctly applied the 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 the thoughtful analysis of 

Bankruptcy Judge (now Chief Judge) Carey. 

2

 Richardson was allowed administrative expense priority treatment for $2,533.65 in 

out-of-pocket expenses that he incurred in his capacity as a member of the Committee in 

Summit’s bankruptcy case.