In re: BROOKSTONE HOLDINGS CORP., et al., Debtor., 592 B.R. 27

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-What is clear in First Merchants is that a "professional" is limited to those occupations which control, purchase or sell assets that are important to reorganization, is negotiating the terms of a plan of reorganization, and has discretion to exercise his or her own personal judgment; [2]-Applying this test to the case at bar, the court was satisfied that the service provider's services, while clearly valuable and important, were not sufficiently central to the development and implementation of debtor's reorganization to support a finding that it was a "professional" within the meaning of 11 U.S.C.S. § 327(a); [3]-Because the undisputed record clearly established that the service provider was not hired to conduct an auction on behalf of debtor, it had not been engaged as an "auctioneer" for the purposes of § 327(a); [4]-It was not acting as an "other professional."