18 U.S.C. § 155 — Fee agreements in cases under title 11 and receiverships

submitted 78 years ago by ch. 645 to r/title-18-CRIMES-AND-CRIMINAL-PROCEDURE · 122 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

It is illegal for a party in a bankruptcy or receivership case, or their attorney, to secretly agree with another party or attorney to fix fees paid from the estate's money. The agreement must be made knowingly and for a dishonest purpose. Violators can be fined or jailed for up to a year, or both.

This section applies to anyone acting as a debtor, creditor, receiver, trustee, or representative in a bankruptcy case under title 11, or a receivership handled by or supervised by a U.S. court, including their attorney. It is illegal for that person to knowingly and fraudulently make any agreement, spoken or unspoken, with another party or attorney in the same case, if the purpose is to fix the fees or other pay that will come out of the estate's assets for services in the case. Anyone who does this can be fined under this title, jailed for up to one year, or both.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

Whoever, being a party in interest, whether as a debtor, creditor, receiver, trustee or representative of any of them, or attorney for any such party in interest, in any receivership or case under title 11 in any United States court or under its supervision, knowingly and fraudulently enters into any agreement, express or implied, with another such party in interest or attorney for another such party in interest, for the purpose of fixing the fees or other compensation to be paid to any party in interest or to any attorney for any party in interest for services rendered in connection therewith, from the assets of the estate, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Source credit: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 690; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 4, 63 Stat. 90; Pub. L. 95–598, title III, § 314(f)(1), (2), Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2677; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1948Enacted · Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 645 · 62 Stat. 690
1949Amended · Act of May 24, 1949, ch. 139 · 63 Stat. 90
1978Amended · Pub. L. 95-598 · 92 Stat. 2677
1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-322 · 108 Stat. 2147

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 645 on 1948-06-25.

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