End in Sight in National Finances Bankruptcy Case

The oldest active file in Fayetteville’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court is finally going to get an opinion.

At nearly 15 years and counting, National Financial Services Inc.’s bankruptcy case contains a staggering 65,000 claims and paid $8 million in disbursements to creditors. Three trials and appeals landed at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But Judge Robert F. Fussell told attorneys in both camps that he planned to hand down an opinion by mid to late February.

The latest holdup was a $380,000 dispute between the company’s sole shareholder, Larry Shaffer, and former Rose Law Firm partner and case trustee Allen W. Bird II.

Bird has received $246,880 in fees and is asking for $41,036 more. Shaffer, who got $250,000 from the bankruptcy estate, doesn’t believe Bird should get any of the money that’s left. More than $2.7 million worth of administrative fees accrued during the mess.

Steve Soule, a shareholder with the Hall Estill Hardwick Gable Golden & Nelson law firm in Tulsa, Okla., represents Shaffer. The law firm of Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP of Little Rock represents Bird.

Bird left the Rose firm Sept. 1 to enter private practice, the same day post-trial briefs were filed.