Expedited discovery. No jury trial. Written proffers in place of live testimony. Welcome to the wonderfully strange world of bankruptcy litigation.

On March 26, The Honorable Andrew S. Hanen, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, affirmed a Bankruptcy Court’s $5 million fee award to Baker Botts for successfully defending its fee application in the ASARCO LLC bankruptcy case.

Under Delaware law, do creditors of an insolvent limited liability company have the same standing as creditors of insolvent corporations to pursue derivative claims against directors on behalf of the LLC? Most commentators, and some courts, have assumed that the answer was “yes.” However, the Delaware Court of Chancery in CML V LLC v. Bax, No. 5373-VCL, 2010 WL 4517795 (Del. Ch. Nov. 3, 2010), determined that the plain language of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act (the LLC Act) denies derivative standing to such creditors.

Section 330 of the Bankruptcy Code provides a statutory framework for compensation of professionals who are paid from the bankruptcy estate. Compensation awarded under section 330 is afforded administrative expense status under section 503(b)(2) and given second priority in the distribution of an estate pursuant to section 507(a)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code.