Dec. 10--Fee requests submitted by Albert Riederer as the court-appointed special master for Brooke Corp. are being opposed by The Bank of New York Mellon as "sorely lacking" in detail.

In a court filing Monday, the bank said it was unable to determine whether the requests for $550,000 were reasonable.

Since his appointment as special master in mid-September, Riederer, a former Jackson County prosecutor and Missouri Court of Appeals judge, has essentially run Brooke and its affiliated companies. Brooke and an affiliate filed for bankruptcy protection in October, and Riederer has been winding down the companies' operations.

Brooke had been facing mounting financial and legal difficulties, including a lawsuit filed in September by The Bank of New York Mellon accusing the company of fraudulently diverting funds.

Until its finances started unraveling earlier this year, Brooke was one of the biggest franchisers of property and casualty insurance agencies in the U.S., with about 900 offices. Since the bankruptcy filings, nearly all of the franchise relationships have been terminated.

Riederer's fee requests were made on behalf of himself and a variety of professionals, including lawyers and accountants hired to help him untangle Brooke's finances and run its operations. The $550,000 represents half the amount of fees incurred between his appointment as special master on Sept. 17 and the end of October, when the two Brooke entities filed for bankruptcy.

The court order appointing Riederer as special master said he was entitled to reimbursement of "reasonable fees, costs and expenses."

Included in Riederer's fee requests were:

* $308,421 in attorneys' fees for 822 hours of work performed by the law firm of Husch Blackwell Sanders, which represents Riederer in the Brooke proceedings. The Bank of New York Mellon complained that Husch's fee request had been "redacted to remove all details of work performed."

* Unspecified fees charged by CBIZ Accounting, Tax & Advisory Services LLC. The bank complained that many of the accounting firm's charges seemed duplicative and that $100-an-hour charges for typing, copying and printing "appear excessive on their face."

* Unspecified fees charged by Riederer himself. The bank complained that Riederer had "redacted all billing details, and the non-redacted material is essentially illegible."

Riederer declined to comment on the bank's filing, which also complained that he had failed to explain the job responsibilities of the various professionals working for him.

An attorney for The Bank of New York Mellon, Mark Hyland of Seward & Kissel in New York, said the bank's position was set out in the court documents. Monday was the deadline for the bank to object to the fee requests.

| To reach Dan Margolies, call 816-234-4481 or send e-mail to dmargolies@kcstar.com.

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