The court criticised the remuneration claimed by the insolvency office-holder were work had been carried out at too senior a level, and the calculation was an uncritical application of the time spent, and where there were more and lengthier meetings and excessive reviews than the administration warranted. Chief Registrar Baister set out the approach he would adopt to fixing the applicant administrators’ remuneration: ‘I shall examine the main work streams and some of their subcategories and consider the time spent and whether it was justified; I shall have regard, insofar as I can, to the level at which work has been done; I shall consider the benefit of the work done and, to any extent appropriate, whether it was necessary. I shall then look at the larger picture and consider the case in terms of value. In doing so I shall have regard to the factors set out in the rules and to other factors peculiar to this case. I shall bear in mind that time spent is a measure not of the value of the service rendered but of the cost of rendering it. I do not propose, therefore, to allow myself to be influenced to any real extent by the final figures which the administrators claim, since, it seems to me that, prima facie, they reflect the cost of time rather than the value of the service provided. I shall resolve any doubts I have against the administrators.’
Judges:
Chief Registrar Baister
Citations:
[2005] BPIR 28
Citing:
Cited – In Re Independent Insurance Co Ltd (No 2) 2003
Ferris J was required to consider the insolvency office-holders’ remuneration, assisted by a solicitor with wide insolvency experience, whose report sets out the general principles then accepted by the insolvency profession as the yardstick for . .
Cited – Mirror Group Newspapers Plc v Maxwell and Others (No 2) ChD 15-Jul-1997
The Court reminded insolvency practitioners of fiduciary duties to creditors when refusing application for further payment on account of costs. Ferris J considered the principles applicable to fixing the remuneration of receivers of the estate of . .
Cited by:
Cited – Brook v Reed CA 25-Mar-2011
The court was asked ‘What relation should the costs and remuneration bear to the circumstances, and in particular the size, of the bankruptcy?’ The bankrupt had considered that the costs first awarded to the trustee in bankruptcy and the trustee’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insolvency, Costs
Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.430875
