ML020420323
| ML020420323 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 01/15/2002 |
| From: | Fogelman M Pacific Gas & Electric Co, Steefel, Levitt & Weiss |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, US Federal Judiciary, Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California |
| References | |
| 01-30923 DM | |
| Download: ML020420323 (11) | |
Text
1 MARK FOGELMAN (State Bar No. 50510)
HARVEY L. LEIDERMAN (State Bar No. 55838) 2 STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS A Professional Corporation 3 One Embarcadero Center, 30th Floor San Francisco, California 94111 4 Telephone: (415) 788-0900 Facsimile: (415) 788-2019 5
Special Counsel to Debtor and Debtor in Possession, 6 PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 7
8 UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 11 In Re: Case No. 01-30923 DM 12 PACIFIC GAS AND EU ECTRIC Chapter 11 Case COMPANY, a California corporation, 13 Debtor and Debtor in Possession.
14 Date: February 26, 2002 Time: 9:30 a.m.
15 Federal I.D. No. 94-0742640 Place: 235 Pine Street, 22nd Floor San Francisco, CA 16 17 18 FIRST INTERIM APPLICATION FOR COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES 19 RY SPECIAT. COTINSEL FOR DEBTOR-IN-POSSESSION, STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS 20 TO THE HONORABLE DENNIS MONTALI, UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE:
21 Applicant is the law firm of Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, a Professional Corporation 22 ("Applicant" or "Steefel, Levitt & Weiss"). Pursuant to an order of this Court entered on July 31, 23 2001, this Court approved Applicant's employment as counsel for Pacific Gas and Electric 24 Company, the debtor and debtor-in-possession herein (the "Debtor" or "PG&E"). Attached 25 hereto as Exhibit "A" is a true and correct copy of the Order Authorizing Employment of Counsel 26 for Debtor.'
27 'This exhibit is not attached to the service copies of parties on the Special Notice List. Those parties may obtain copies of the Order Authorizing Employment of Counsel for Debtor 28 (continued...)
FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS)
Case No. 01-30923 DM ~ 1 r'
15830:6287644.1 /
idnj- K b r
1 This is Applicant's first interim application for compensation and reimbursement of 2 expenses. Applicant seeks an order pursuant to Section 331 of the Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C.
3 § 331)2 approving and allowing total compensation of $286,467.27 for services rendered and 4 reimbursement of expenses, for the period from July 1, 2001, through November 30, 2001 5 (comprised of $281,740.00 in fees and $4,727.27 in costs advanced on the Debtor's behalf).
6 Pursuant to the Order Establishing Interim Fee Application and Expense Reimbursement 7 Procedure entered herein on July 26, 2001 and its amended order entered herein on November 8, 8 2001(collectively, the "Interim Compensation Orders"), this Court authorized procedur:s for the 9 interim award of compensation and reimbursement of expenses to professionals, including 10 Steefel, Levitt & Weiss. In accordance with the Interim Compensation Orders, Applicant filed 11 Interim "Cover Sheet" Applications seeking payment of fees and reimbursement of expenses in 12 the following amounts, none3 of which have yet been paid:
13 Month Fees Expenses Total 14 July 2001 $24,513.75 $147.30 $24,661.05 15 August 2001 $13,061.10 $382.78 $13,443.884 16 September 2001 $59,380.58 $2,038.51 $61,419.09 17 18 (... continued)
(approving Steefel, Levitt & Weiss as special counsel) through the Debtor's website for this 19 proceeding, which is located at hJtLdixy.pge.com/court docs/pdf/00001721.pdf, or by written request to Anne Ogonowski, Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, One Embarcadero Center, 30th Floor, San 20 Francisco, CA 94111-3917.
21 2 Unless otherwise specified, all section references herein are to the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code).
22 3Applicant's Cover Sheet Applications for July, August, September, 23 2001, were filed on or about December 13, 2001, and hence the October and November, objection period for those Cover 24 Sheet applications expires today, January 15, 2002. Applicant is not aware of any objections to those Cover Sheet applications.
25 4 This number ("$13,443.88") is correct, and was stated correctly on Applicant's August, 26 2001, Cover Sheet Application, but was incorrectly stated as "$13,243.88" on subsequent applications due to a typographical error. The total indicated above is corrected to reflect this correct number.
28 FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEE*FL, LEVITT & WEISS) 2 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 October 2001 $55,803.35 $1,300.92 $57,104.27 November 2001 $88,082.10 $857.76 $88,939.86 3 Total $240,841.59 $4,727.27 $245,568.86 4 Pursuant to the Interim Compensation Orders, these amounts reflect 90% of the total fees for 5
services rendered on or before July 31, 2001, and 85% of the total fees for services rendered after 6
July 31, 2001, plus 100% of the costs expended on the Debtor's behalf during the application 7
period.
8 By this Application, Steefel, Levitt & Weiss hereby seeks approval of 100% of the fees 9.
and expenses incurred for this period (including the amounts held back), in the following 10 amounts:
Month Fees Expenses Total 12 July 2001 $27,237.50 $147.30 $27,384.80 13 August 2001 $15,366.50 $382.78 $15,748.78 14 September 2001 $69,859.50 $2,038.51 $70,998.01 15 October 2001 $65,651.00 $1,300.92 $66,951.92 16 November 2001 $103,626.00 $857.76 $104,483.76 17 $286,467.27 Total $281,740.00 $4,727.27 18 time records for 19 As required by the Interim Compensation Order, Applicant has filed its 20 this period separately from this Application.
rendered 21 During the period covered by this Application, Steefel, Levitt & Weiss has 22 valuable services to the Debtor, as more specifically set forth herein.
23 INTRODUCTION AND CURRENT STATUS of 24 PG&E, an investor-owned utility providing electric and gas services to millions of the Bankruptcy 25 California residents and businesses, filed its petition for relief under chapter 11 manage its 26 Code in this Court on April 6, 2001, and continues to operate its business and Code.
27 properties as a debtor in possession under sections 1107 and 1108 of the Bankruptcy 28 FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 3 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 PG&E has required representation in civil and regulatory litigation matters before the 2 California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC"), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 3 ("FERC") and state and federal cours and arbitration, panels. and the provision of advice and 4 coordination respecting those, activities and the proceeding before this Court, Steefel, Levitt &
5 Weiss has provided such representation and advice to the Debtor pie-petition pursuant to the 6 Order of the Bankruptcy Court approving Steefel, Levitt & Weiss's employment as special 7 counsel for the Debtor. (See Exhibit "A".)
8
SUMMARY
OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 9 1. Regulatory Litigation 10 Although Steefel, Levitt & We.-iss has attempted to segregate its time entries into specific 11 categories, all of its time appears properly to, be reflected in the category of regulatory litigation.
12 All of its work for the debtor during the relevant application period has involved advising the 13 Debtor with respect to civil and reguhaxory litigation proceedings before the California Public 14 Utilities Commission necessitating special regulatory ard energy expertise, and representing the 15 debtor in such potential and pending proceedings before the Conimission, including 16 administrative support for representation of the Debtor in relation to such regulatory proceedings.
17 The specific matters in which Applicant provided legal services during the application 18 period are as follows:
19 (a) Gas Accord II 20 Applicant advised and repre-serted the Debtor in the Gas Accord II proceeding before the 21 California Public Utilities Commissior, a proceeding which involved proposing a market 22 structure and rules for the northern California natural gas industry for the period beginning 23 January 1, 2003. The services provided involved meetings and strategy sessions, preparing the 24 application and numerous additional pleadings in response to the pleadings of other parties, as 25 well as coordinating to ensure that the positions taken were consistent with those taken in the 26 Bankruptcy Court and before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
27 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 28 99.70 $38,274.00 $662.75 FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 4 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
I (b) Wild Goose Storage Expansion Application 2 Applicant advised and represented the Debtor in the Wild Goose Storage Expansion 3 Application proceeding before the California Public Utilities Commission, a proceeding which 4 involved an independent storage providers proposal'to expand its storage facility in a way that 5 sought to require the expansion of PG&E's natural gas backbone transmission system at PG&E 6 ratepayer expense. The services provided involved meetings and strategy sessions, preparing the 7 protest and testimony, working with staff and consultants, preparing and filing numerous 8 proceedings, discovery and discovery disputes, and litigating the matter in an eight-day 9 evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.
10 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 11 417.05 $152,037.50 $2,407.89 12 (c) Distributed Generation Standby Rate-Case 13 Applicant advised and represented the Debtor in the Distributed Generation Standby Rate 14 Case before the California Public Utilities Commission, a proceeding which involved proposing 15 standby rates for distributed generation. The services provided involved meetings and strategy 16 sessions, preparing the application and additional pleadings in response to the pleadings of other 17 parties.
18 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 19 55.40 $20,472.00 $148.90 20 (d) Petition for Rulemaking to Amend a General Order 21 Applicant advised and represented the Debtor in the connection with drafting a petition for 22 rulemaking in regard to an issue involving the application and possible amendment of a General 23 Order of the California Public Utilities Commission. The services provided involved meetings 24 and strategy sessions, researching and preparing the petition and redrafting it a number of times 25 when circumstances have changed, as well as coordinating with other parties.
26 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 27 171.70 $50,840.00 $1,451.85 28 FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEEFEL, LEVFITT & WEISS) 5 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 (e) Omnibus Agency Application 2 Applicant advised and represented the Debtor in the connection with drafting an 3 application for filing before the California Public Utilities Commission regarding the application 4 of the Commission's Gernera! Orders nid obtaining Commission approvals. The services 5 provided involved meetings and strategy sessions, researching and preparing the application, 6 redrafting it ir, light of review comments, and coordinating with other parties.
7 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 8 35.55 $9,278.00 $35.70 9 (f) Omnibus Generator Application 10 Applicant advised and represented the Debtor in the connection with drafting an 11 application for filing before the California Public Utilities Commission regarding the application 12 of the Commission's GenerFJ Orders and obtaining Commission approvals. The services 13 provided involved meetings and strategy sessions, researching and preparing the application, 14 redrafting it following review comments, and coordinating with other parties.
15 Total Hcurs Total Fees Total Expenses 16 23.70 $6,149.00 $18.10 17 (g) Midway-Sunspet Applir.ation 18 Applicant advised and represn(.,ted the Debtor in the connection with drafting an 19 application for filing before the Caiforna Public Utilities Commission regarding approval under 20 Public Utilities Code section 851. The services provided involved meetings and strategy sessions, 21 researching and preparing the application, and coordinating with other parties.
22 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 23 7.75 $2,014.00 $2.08 24 (h) Amador Application 25 Applicant advised and represented the Debtor in the connection with drafting an 26 application for filing before the California Public Utilities Commission regarding approval under 27 Public Utilities Code section 851. The services provided involved meetings and strategy sessions, 28 researching and preparing the application, and coordinating with other parties.
FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 6 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 2 8.10 $2,025.00 $0.00 3 (i) Almanor Application 4 Applicant advised and represented the Debtor in the connection with drafting an 5 application for filing before the California Public Utilities Commission regarding approval under 6 Public Utilities Code section 851. The services provided involved meetings and strategy sessions, 7 researching and preparing the application, and coordinating with other parties.
8 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses 9 2.60 $650.00 $0.00 10 With respect to this category, the number of hours spent and the amount of compensation i1 and expenses requested are as follows:
12 Total Hours Total Fees Total Expenses Total Claim 13 821.55 $281,740.00 $4,727.27 $286,467.27 14 15
SUMMARY
OF FEES AND EXPENSES 16 Between July 1 and November 30, 2001, Applicant has expended 821.55 hours6.365741e-4 days <br />0.0153 hours <br />9.093915e-5 weeks <br />2.09275e-5 months <br /> in the 17 performance of the services described above. A gummary of Steefel, Levitt & Weiss's attorney 18 and legal assistant time and their respective standard hourly billing rates for the period from 19 July 1, 2001, through November 30, 2001, is as follows:
20 Attorneys Total Hours Hourly Rate Total Fees 21 Shareholders 22 Mark Fogelman 547.65 $390.00 $213,583.50 23 Harvey L. Leiderman 2.50 $415.006 $938.00 24 5 The resume of each professional is attached as Exhibit "B" to this application. This exhibit Those parties may 25 is not attached to the service copies of parties on the Special Notice List.
obtain copies of the resumes comprising this exhibit through Steefel, Levitt & Weiss's website 26 (www.steefel.com), or by written request to Anne Ogonowski, Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, One Embarcadero Center, 3 0&Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111-3917.
27 have been billed out erroneously at the rate of (continued...
28 6 A portion of28Mr. Leiderman's time appears to FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSAT ION (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 7 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 Judy V. Davidoff 1.10 $375.00 $412.50 2 Timothy A. Tosta L.30 $450.00 $585.00 3 Associates 4 Lori Anne Dolqueist 233.4.0 $250.00 $58,350.00 5 Arezoo Montazeri 28.20 $225,00 $6,345,00 6 Miriam Montesinos 7.10 $210.00 $1,491.00 7 Legal Assistants 8 Lee Williams 0.30 $115.00 $34.50 9 Based on these hours and rates, the value of the legal services rendered by Applicant 10 during the period covered by this application is $281,740.00, for which Applicant requests 11 payment.
12 Applicant has also incur-red and advanced costs in the sum of $4,727.27 on PG&E's 13 behalf, for which Applicant requests reimbursement as follows:
14 Filing Fees $220.20 15 Transcript Fees $276.00 16 Document Retrieval $2.17 17 Taxis $24.00 18 Working Meals $3.49 19 Messenger $49.50 20 Computer-Assisted Research $3,577.04 21 Postage $7.38 22 Reproduction (non-routine) $479.70 23 Long-distance telephone $69.58 24 Federal Express $18.21 25 26 (...continued)
$325.00. Applicant makes no claim for the additional amount that should have been billed out at 27 Mr. Leiderman's correct rate.
28 FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 8 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 Attached hereto as Exhibit "C" is a copy of Steefel, Levitt & Weiss's standard 7
2 engagement letter which contains, in general terms, the firm's normal expense policies. The 3 expenses listed above are all in conformity with the Bankruptcy Court's "Guidelines for 4 Compensation and Expense Reimbursement of Professional and Trustees" ("the Guidelines").
5 Wherever necessary, Applicant's expense policies have been modified to comply with the 6 Guidelines. All of the expenses listed above are at actual cost, except non-routine reproduction, 7 which is charged at $0.10 per page.
8 Accordingly, the aggregate value of services rendered and costs advanced during the 9 period covered by this Application is $286,467.27.
10 No agreement or understanding exists between Applicant and any other person or entity 11 for a division of the compensation sought herein.
12 The Certification/Declaration of an attorney designated by Applicant pursuant to 13 Guideline No. 8 is attached.
14 15 Date: January 15, 2002 Respectfully 16 STEEFEL, LEVrIT & WEISS 17 Ay*Professional Corporation ,
18 Br 19 Mark Fogelman Attorneys for Special Counsel to Debtor and 20 Debtor in Possession, PACIFIC GAS AND 21 ELECTRIC COMPANY 22 23 24 257 2 This exhibit is not attached to the service copies of parties on the Special Notice List. Those 26 parties may obtain copies of the standard engagement letter comprising this exhibit by written request to Anne Ogonowski, Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, One Embarcadero Center, 30th Floor, San 27 Francisco, CA 94111-3917.
28 FIRST INTERM APP. FOR COMPENSATIGN (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 9 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 CERTIFICATION 2 1. I am an attorney duly licensed to practice in the State of California and before this 3 Court. I am a shareholder at the low firm of Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, a Professional Corporation 4 ("Applicant"), special counsel to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the Debtor in the above 5 captioned bankruptcy case (the "Debtor"). I make this declaration from personal knowledge 6 (except as to any matters stated as to information and belief, and as to such matters, I arn 7 informed and believe they are true) and could, if called as a witness, competently testify to the 8 matters set forth herein.
9 2. By this declaration, I submit in declaration form the information required pursuant 10 to Guideline No. 8 of the Guidelines for Compensation and Expense Reimbursement of 11 Professionals and Trastees issued by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District 12 of California (the "Guidelines").
13 3. I am an attorney designated by Applicant to sign this Application on its behalf. I 14 have read and reviewed the Application, including without limitation the Introduction, Summary 15 of Professional Services, Summary of Fees and Expenses and the invoices/billing statements filed 16 separately, and, to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, the fees and expenses 17 requested in said Introduction, Summaries and invoices/billing statements are true and correct and 18 accurate for professional services rendered and costs advanced by Steefel, Levitt & Weiss on 19 behalf of the Debtor.
20 4. To the best of my knowledge, information and belief formed after reasonable 21 inquiry, the compensation and expense reimbursement sought in the Application is in conformity 22 with the Guidelines.
23 5. The compensation and expense reimbursement requested in the Application are 24 billed at rates, and in accordance with practices, no less favorable than those customarily billed to 25 clients of Applicant.
26 6. No agreement or understanding exists between Applicant and any other person or 27 entity for a division of the compensation sought herein.
28 FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 10 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1
1 7. Attached to the Application as Exhibit "D" is a true and correct copy of a letter 2 dated January 15, 2002, from Steefel, Levitt & Weiss (under my signature) to the Debtor's 3 designated responsible individual for this Chapter 11 case, advising the Debtor of its review and 8
4 objection rights and responsibilities in accordance with the Guidelines. To the best of my 5 knowledge, information and belief, such letter was transmitted by hand delivery on January 15, 6 2002.
7 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the 8 foregoing is true and correct. This declaration was executed in San Francisco, California, on 9 January 15, 2002.
10 11 M~ar ogelman 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8 This exhibit is not attached to the service copies of parties on the Special Notice List.
26 Those parties may obtain copies of the January 15, 2002, letter to the Debtor comprising this exhibit by written request to Anne Ogonowski, Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, One Embarcadero 27 Center, 30th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111-3917.
28 FIRST INTERIM APP. FOR COMPENSATION (STEEFEL, LEVITT & WEISS) 11 Case No. 01-30923 DM 15830:6287644.1