Free Objection - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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Paul Sala, State Bar #11693 ALLEN & SALA, P.L.C. 1850 N. Central Ave. Suite 1150 Phoenix, Arizona 85004 Ofc: (602) 256-6000 Fax: (602) 252-4712 Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Jill Ford, Chapter 7 Trustee for Technology Systems International, Inc. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA In re: Solinvest Group, Ltd., Plaintiff, vs. Technology Systems International, Inc., et al., Defendant. OBJECTION TO AMENDED MOTION FOR ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS RENDERED BY SOLINVEST GROUP (REGARDING DENNIS BROVARONE) United States District Court Case No. 02-2641-PHX-ROS

Jill Ford, the Chapter 7 Trustee ("Trustee") for Defendant Technology Systems International, Inc. et al., by and through her undersigned attorneys, hereby respectfully objects to the Amended Motion (`Motion") for Attorney Fees and Costs by Solinvest Group LTD., a British Virgin Islands entity ("Plaintiff"). This objection specifically concerns the fees and costs for services rendered by attorney Dennis Brovarone. On November 4, 2005, the Plaintiff filed an amended motion for attorney fees and costs. Plaintiff seeks a total attorney fee award for legal services rendered by attorney Brovarone in the amount of $23,420.00 ($16,200.00 in District Court fees and $7,200.00 in Bankruptcy Court fees). See Affidavit of Dennis Brovarone in Support of Amended Motion for Attorney Fees and Costs, pages 4-5, ¶s 19, 22 & 24. The Trustee objects to the fee application produced by Dennis Brovarone for the following reasons: /// ///
\\BFS-9000\Documents\6000\6100\6137-Ford\203-Technology Systems International, Inc\District - Solinvest Group, Ltd v Technology Systems International, Inc\Objection to D.Brovarone Document 75 Case 2:02-cv-02641-ROS fee app.doc

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I.

Mr. Brovarone is not authorized to practice law in the State of Arizona. Mr. Brovarone is a contract attorney for the Plaintiff. In his Affidavit in Support of

Amended Motion for Award of Attorney Fees and Costs ("Affidavit") he represents that he was admitted to practice law in the State of Colorado in 1986. However, nowhere in the Affidavit does he represent that he is a licensed member of the Arizona State Bar. See, page 2, ¶4. Moreover, the State Bar records do not indicate that Mr. Brovarone is a member of the Arizona bar. Mr. Brovarone is also not authorized to practice law before the United States District Court of Arizona or the Arizona Bankruptcy Court. The Trustee's review of the Court dockets

indicates that Mr. Brovarone has not moved before either court to be admitted Pro Hac Vice. The Trustee contends that since Mr. Brovarone is not authorized to practice law before either the District Court or the Bankruptcy Court, the Plaintiff cannot be awarded fees for Mr. Brovarone's "legal services." As such the Court must deny any award of fees and costs claimed by Mr. Brovarone. II. Mr. Brovarone's services rendered are duplicative to those rendered by attorney Michael Simes. The vast majority of legal services preformed by Mr. Brovarone concern telephone conferences with attorney Michael Simes, reviewing electronic mail messages from attorney Simes and reviewing pleadings involved in the District and Bankruptcy Court. In so far that Mr. Brovarone reviewed electronic mail messages from attorney Simes and reviewed pleadings forwarded to him by attorney Simes without further action, these actions are duplicative and without value or benefit to the litigation involved. The Trustee contends that the Defendant should not be held responsible for these fees and the Plaintiff's request for award of these fees should be denied. III. Mr. Brovarone's time records are inaccurate and inadmissible. Mr. Brovarone admits in his affidavit that he did not maintain timekeeping records for any of the fees requested in the motion. Instead, Mr. Brovarone has requested an award of fees based on his own reconstructed time. This reconstruction presumably occurred in the fall of 2005, but relates to dates as far back as October 9, 2002. Mr. Brovarone's reconstruction of

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services dating back three years is not only inaccurate but would be inadmissible to support the requested fees. IV. The Trustee incorporates her objections to the Simes Fee Application. In addition to the above objections, the Trustee renews and incorporates all of her objections discussed in the Objection to Amended Motion for Fees and Costs based on services rendered by attorney Michael Simes into this objection. These objections include but are not

limited to: 1) The Plaintiff's request for fees rendered by Mr. Brovarone in connection to the bankruptcy proceedings is contrary to the October 18, 2005 Order of the District Court; 2) Mr. Brovarone fails to distinguish and separate time entries for work done in the District Court from work done in the Bankruptcy Court; 3) Mr. Brovarone includes time entries for services rendered that do not concern either the District Court or Bankruptcy Court litigation; and, 4) the fees requested are excessive and unreasonable based on the type of services rendered. V. Conclusion. For the foregoing reasons, the Trustee requests that Plaintiff's amended motion for fees and costs for services rendered by Mr. Brovarone should be denied DATED: January 2, 2006. ALLEN & SALA, P.L.C. /s/ PS #11693 Paul Sala 1850 N. Central Ave. Suite 1150 Phoenix, Arizona 85004 Counsel for Trustee Jill Ford COPIES of the foregoing emailed on January 2, 2006 to: Michael Simes, Esq. Michael Simes, LLC 903 S. Rural Road, Suite 101-323 Tempe, AZ 85281 [email protected] Jeffrey M. Proper, Esq. JEFFREY M. PROPER, PLLC 3550 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1200 Phoenix, AZ 85012 [email protected] /s/ Sherry Gomez

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