Bird Shot Down, Again
by June 24, 2002 12:00 am 83 views
Former Rose Law Firm lawyer Allen W. Bird lost his appeal of the longest running U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruling in Arkansas’ western division.
On June 10, U.S. District Court Judge Jimm Hendren of Fayetteville, affirmed Judge Robert F. Fussell’s July 2001 order that Bird “knowingly committed fraud” while serving as trustee for the $8.5 million Chapter 11 reorganization of NWFX Inc.
The marathon case began in August 1986. NWFX received a final accounting of its estate in July 2001, when Fussell began questioning Bird’s credibility. Fussell ordered Bird to pay about $199,000 back to the estate for improperly billed fees.
Bird was also stuck with his and the prestigious Rose Firm’s $330,000 legal tab to Wright, Lindsey & Jennings of Little Rock. The Rose Firm had to eat additional billings.
Fees for a bankruptcy trustee’s counsel are normally paid for by the estate, and there was about $380,000 left in NWFX’s coffers even before the case’s final accounting.
But Fussell wrote that Bird had “committed misconduct of the highest order,” and therefore was personally liable for certain expenses.
Bird and his attorneys appealed. Larry Shaffer, sole shareholder of Fayetteville-based NWFX when it was forced into bankruptcy, was represented by Hall Estill Hardwick Gable Golden & Nelson of Tulsa. Shaffer is now president of National Financial Resource Group Inc. in Springdale.
A detailed history of the case is available by searching for “NWFX” at www.arkansasbusiness.comr