- 3 -
initiation, investigation, and prosecution of the whistle-blower
case. According to Proulx, petitioner had failed to pay him what
he was due pursuant to the contract between them.1 As a result
of the lawsuit, in October 1998 Proulx was awarded a $231,463
judgment against petitioner. In accordance with California law,
following the judgment Proulx initiated proceedings that gave
rise to a lien on petitioner’s nonexempt personal property,
including, as it turned out, the proceeds from the reward.
Aware that the fourth installment of the reward was soon
due and potentially subject to the above-referenced lien, on
January 25, 1999, petitioner initiated a voluntary chapter 13
bankruptcy proceeding in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Southern District of California (the first bankruptcy
proceeding). On February 2, 1999, Proulx filed an Ex Parte
Application for Order to Pay Trustee (the ex parte application)
in the first bankruptcy proceeding seeking an order from the
bankruptcy court authorizing the U.S. Government to pay the
chapter 13 trustee the final reward installment due petitioner
from the whistle-blower case.
1 The terms of the contract are unclear but apparently
involved a contingency fee based upon petitioner’s recovery.
If the contract was reduced to writing, the document was not
made part of the record in either the lawsuit or this proceeding.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 10, 2007