Irving I. Bass, Trustee v. Quittner, Stutman & Treister, Irving I. Bass, Trustee v. Gendel, Raskoff, Shapiro & Quittner

These are consolidated appeals from two orders of the District Court, sitting as a court of bankruptcy and exercising jurisdiction conferred by section 2(a) (21) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 11 (a) (21). The challenged orders reversed determinations of the Referee that there should be no allowance of attorneys’ fees to the appellees herein. The appellees are two law firms, one of which will be called Gendel, and the other Quittner. Our power of review rests upon 11 U.S.C. § 47 (a).

Appellant is the trustee in bankruptcy of McDaniel’s Markets, a California corporation. Pursuant to notice given to all known creditors of the future bankrupt, a meeting attended by a “substantial portion” of them was conducted on July 6, 1961. A committee of ten creditors was chosen at the meeting, and the committee selected Quittner to act as its legal counsel. At that time an offer to purchase the assets of McDaniel’s Markets, made by Food Giant Markets, was pending, and the creditors in attendance contemplated that a sale could not be accomplished except through the device of a general assignment for the benefit of creditors. The Quittner firm represented the creditors’ committee in…