Judge Awards Life Partners' Trustee Moran $5.5M in Fees

The judge presiding over the Life Partners Holdings Inc. case praised trustee Tom Moran's efforts in running the bankrupt company, approving a compromise agreement that pays him $5.5 million in fees.

"Mr. Moran was the right man for the job," Judge Russell Nelms of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth said at a Thursday, March 16, court hearing. David Bennett, a partner with the Thompson & Knight LLP law firm of Dallas who represents Moran, said he thought the U.S. Trustee had asked Moran what he charged in other cases and that's how the fee was arrived at. This was the first bankruptcy case for Moran who has acted as a receiver in life settlement cases.

"His experience in the life settlement business was extra valuable in this estate," Bennett said. "He was able to learn the bankruptcy process and assemble the folks to get the necessary result. At the end of the day, he was the lead fiduciary." As to his reaction to the judge's decision: Bennett said, "We're gratified."

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