The Court of Appeals held that judgment against chapter 7 debtor for former wife s attorney fees in divorce action was nondischargeable maintenance, even though payable directly to attorney. Appellate Court deferred to the Bankruptcy Court for judgments pertaining to the competitiveness and development of its local legal community and found no abuse of discretion in Bankruptcy Court's reducing chapter 13 debtor's attorney fee request.
Decisions regarding an award of attorney fees are subject to the abuse of discretion standard.
To be clearly erroneous, after reviewing the record, the Appellate Court must be left with the definite and firm impression that a mistake has been committed. Finally, the appellate review is limited in deference to the bankruptcy judge's familiarity with the work performed by the professional. The lodestar method is the appropriate approach for determining reasonable compensation under 11 U.S.C. 330. Here the Bankruptcy Court conducted a lodestar analysis and specifically referred to and applied the Johnson criteria in determining the reasonable number of hours for the services provided and the reasonable hourly rate for such services. The Appellate Court held that the lower court may consider customary fee charges, and found that it was not unreasonable to reject full hourly rate for travel time.