NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - A Delaware bankruptcy judge

on Wednesday rejected a Brown Rudnick attorney's request to

increase his hourly fees from $1,000 to $1,500 in a PFAS

bankruptcy case, saying that no client would approve such a

steep fee hike in the middle of a case.

Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in

Wilmington said the firm, which represents the court-appointed

creditors committee in the bankruptcy of fire-protection company

Kidde-Fenwal, did not justify the sudden increase for partner

Gerard Cicero in its latest fee application.

"There may be a reason, but a 50% increase of someone's

rates is not something that any client I ever had would have

accepted," Silverstein said at a court hearing. "If he's behind

market, I don't think he gets to catch it all up at one time."

Silverstein, who before joining the bench in 2015 worked at

the law firm Potter, Anderson & Corroon, allowed Cicero to be

paid at his previous $1,000 per hour rate for his latest work in

the case.

She pointed out that those fees will be charged to the

bankrupt company, Kidde-Fenwal, as part of the court's

appointment of an official committee to represent the company'

creditors.

She will allow Brown Rudnick to come back later to provide

more support for the higher rate, but she said she would be

"skeptical" of any such request.

Cicero declined to comment. Brown Rudnick did not

immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kidde-Fenwal, a subsidiary of Carrier Global Corp ( CARR ), filed for

bankruptcy protection in June, after being named in over 4,000

lawsuits alleging that its firefighting foam products had

contaminated water sources around U.S. airports and military

bases with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known

as PFAS or "forever chemicals."

Kidde-Fenwal sold the firefighting foam products from 2007

to 2013.

Cicero has billed only 22.6 hours since his rates went up in

January 2024. Over seven months in 2023, he billed for 321.8

hours of work at $1,000 per hour.

Brown Rudnick's top partners on the Kidde-Fenwal case are

charging $2,250 per hour.

Hourly lawyer rates reaching $2,000 were nearly unheard of

just a decade ago, but bankruptcy fees have risen sharply in

recent years.

Top attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis are charging $2,465 per

hour on bankruptcy cases involving its clients Rite Aid ( RADCQ ), WeWork

and Yellow Corp ( YELLQ ), while Sullivan & Cromwell's top lawyers are

charging $2,375 an hour for their representation of bankrupt

crypto exchange FTX.

The case is In re Kidde-Fenwal Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court

for the District of Delaware, No. 23-10638.

For Kidde-Fenwal: Derek Abbott of Morris, Nichols, Arsht &

Tunnell; and Justin DeCamp of Sullivan & Cromwell

For the creditors committee: David Molton, Jeffrey Jonas of

Brown Rudnick.

Read more:

Kidde-Fenwal creditors sound alarm on parent companies' PFAS

liability

3M's $10.3 billion PFAS settlement gets preliminary approval

Litigation over 'forever chemicals' is growing: Is your

company the next defendant?