In Re Stephen Raymond Strand Kristie Gale Strand, Debtors, Bruce Leichty v. William T. Neary, United States Trustee

Bruce Leichty (“Leichty”), in his capacity as counsel for a Chapter 7 trustee, appeals the bankruptcy court’s order, which, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 330 , awarded only half of the compensation he requested in his final fee application. The bankruptcy court did not award the full amount requested because it concluded that Leichty pursued litigation that was not reasonable or necessary in its entirety. We hold that the bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion in making this determination.

BACKGROUND

On June 13, 1997, Stephen and Kristie Strand (“the Strands”) voluntarily filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Robert Hawkins (“the Trustee”) was then appointed Chapter 7 trustee pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 701 (a)(1). On December 18, 1997, the Trustee filed an application, and received approval, to employ Leichty to represent him in the bankruptcy matter.’ Leichty proceeded to file three adversary proceedings in an attempt to recover assets for the estate. This appeal involves only the lawsuit he filed against the Internal Revenue Service (“the IRS”).

The IRS litigation was prompted by the IRS’s attempt to offset $28,459 in overpay-ments by the Strands against an assessed penalty in the…