Simpson Thacher Achieves Victory at Trial for Berenson & Company in Fee Dispute
12.21.07
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Simpson Thacher represented Berenson & Company, LLC in a fee dispute in connection with its work in the Portrait Corporation of America bankruptcy case.
Berenson is a financial advisory and investment banking firm that provided financial advisory services to Portrait in connection with Portrait's chapter 11 case. At the end of the case, Berenson requested allowance and payment of the fees to which it was entitled under its engagement letter with Portrait. The Portrait Liquidating Trust -- successor to the Creditors' Committee -- objected to Berenson's entitlement to certain of these fees. At the conclusion of an intense 6-week discovery period, the Bankruptcy Court conducted a trial on December 18 and 19. At the end of the two day bench trial, SDNY Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin ruled from the bench in favor of our client, Berenson, awarding Berenson all of the fees requested, plus attorneys' fees incurred in connection with the litigation. Berenson believed strongly that the allegations in the Trust's objection were totally unfounded and enjoyed the opportunity to establish this fact at trial.
The trial team consisted of William Russell, Ken Ziman, Elisha Graff, Ellen Frye, Linton Mann and paralegals Cyrena Terricone and Sean Weekes. The Simpson team was assisted by John Menz and Patrick Bonner of Menz, Bonner & Komar, LLC.