Erndogg
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Former Hawaiian Air trustee seeks $8 million success fee
[font=Trebuchet MS, Verdana]By Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Former Hawaiian Airlines' Trustee Joshua Gotbaum is seeking $8 million for his efforts in leading the state's largest airline out of bankruptcy, drawing heavy criticism from the airline and its labor unions.
In court papers filed last night, Gotbaum said that he's entitled to the fee given Hawaiian's successful emergence from bankruptcy in June in which creditors were paid in full and where shareholders saw their stock values rise.
The so-called success fee is on top of $1.4 million in salary and expenses that he's already received from Hawaiian.
Gotbaum's fee represents about 11 percent of Hawaiian's 2004 operating income and is more than double the amount paid to the highest compensated local chief executive officer last year.
"Hawaiian's bankruptcy has turned out amazingly well for its creditors, its shareholders and its extraordinary employees," Gotbaum said in a news release. "Now the judge must decide what's right for Hawaiian's trustee."
But the chairman of Hawaiian's parent company, Larry Hershfield, called the fee request "outrageous," adding the the airline would oppose it.
"Given current industry conditions and a realistic analysis of who-did-what during the bankruptcy, we think the the requests are outrageous," he said.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris has scheduled a Sept. 21 hearing on fees requested by Gotbaum and the airline's outside consultants.
Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner had no immediate comment and Chuck Choi, attorney for Hawaiian's unsecured creditors, also had no immediate response.
Kirk McBride, chairman of the 380-member Hawaiian unit of the Airline Pilots Association, called Gotbaum's fee request "an outrage," saying the former trustee was well-compensated during the period he worked at Hawaiian.
Gotbaum's bankruptcy court-approved compensation included $50,000 a month in salary plus $10,000 a month in living and other expenses.
McBride noted that the $8 million success fee is equivalent to about 20 percent of the annual payroll of Hawaiian's pilots.
"This is a slap in the face of the pilots of Hawaiian who made significant structural changes in their contract to ensure the success of the company," McBride said."I don't believe Gotbaum's tenure this warrants this sort of success fee." Gotbaum's attorney, Sidney Levinson of Los Angeles, argued that the success fee was reasonable given the difficulties faced by the airline, which include a lawsuit against the airline's former Chairman John Adams, a tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service and negotiations over aircraft leases. All three disputes were successfully resolved during the bankruptcy, Levinson said.
I would have posted this on the Hawaiian recall thread, but I was outraged by the greed that this Joshua Gotbaum displays with his request!!!!
This is the same guy that misappropriated numerous $$$ from the 9-11 fund (ex-CEO) and came out nowhere after the original trustee resigned for medical reasons. Hawaiian had already been set to exit not long after this character came along.
But he draged out the process a year and a half more by forcing concessions out of the employees. Hopefully the BK judge sees through his BS and gives him no where the figure he is requesting.
We need to rid these vultures from our industry!!!
[/font]
[font=Trebuchet MS, Verdana]By Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Former Hawaiian Airlines' Trustee Joshua Gotbaum is seeking $8 million for his efforts in leading the state's largest airline out of bankruptcy, drawing heavy criticism from the airline and its labor unions.
In court papers filed last night, Gotbaum said that he's entitled to the fee given Hawaiian's successful emergence from bankruptcy in June in which creditors were paid in full and where shareholders saw their stock values rise.
The so-called success fee is on top of $1.4 million in salary and expenses that he's already received from Hawaiian.
Gotbaum's fee represents about 11 percent of Hawaiian's 2004 operating income and is more than double the amount paid to the highest compensated local chief executive officer last year.
"Hawaiian's bankruptcy has turned out amazingly well for its creditors, its shareholders and its extraordinary employees," Gotbaum said in a news release. "Now the judge must decide what's right for Hawaiian's trustee."
But the chairman of Hawaiian's parent company, Larry Hershfield, called the fee request "outrageous," adding the the airline would oppose it.
"Given current industry conditions and a realistic analysis of who-did-what during the bankruptcy, we think the the requests are outrageous," he said.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris has scheduled a Sept. 21 hearing on fees requested by Gotbaum and the airline's outside consultants.
Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner had no immediate comment and Chuck Choi, attorney for Hawaiian's unsecured creditors, also had no immediate response.
Kirk McBride, chairman of the 380-member Hawaiian unit of the Airline Pilots Association, called Gotbaum's fee request "an outrage," saying the former trustee was well-compensated during the period he worked at Hawaiian.
Gotbaum's bankruptcy court-approved compensation included $50,000 a month in salary plus $10,000 a month in living and other expenses.
McBride noted that the $8 million success fee is equivalent to about 20 percent of the annual payroll of Hawaiian's pilots.
"This is a slap in the face of the pilots of Hawaiian who made significant structural changes in their contract to ensure the success of the company," McBride said."I don't believe Gotbaum's tenure this warrants this sort of success fee." Gotbaum's attorney, Sidney Levinson of Los Angeles, argued that the success fee was reasonable given the difficulties faced by the airline, which include a lawsuit against the airline's former Chairman John Adams, a tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service and negotiations over aircraft leases. All three disputes were successfully resolved during the bankruptcy, Levinson said.
I would have posted this on the Hawaiian recall thread, but I was outraged by the greed that this Joshua Gotbaum displays with his request!!!!
This is the same guy that misappropriated numerous $$$ from the 9-11 fund (ex-CEO) and came out nowhere after the original trustee resigned for medical reasons. Hawaiian had already been set to exit not long after this character came along.
But he draged out the process a year and a half more by forcing concessions out of the employees. Hopefully the BK judge sees through his BS and gives him no where the figure he is requesting.
We need to rid these vultures from our industry!!!
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