Jones Day firm bills Chrysler $20.3 million

Chrysler LLC’s law firm Jones Day won a New York judge’s approval to charge the bankrupt company $20.3 million in fees for the four months through Aug. 31, with about $65,000 more coming from Fiat SpA-run Chrysler Group LLC.

Washington, D.C.-based Jones Day, which has a deal with the new Chrysler to pick up part of its fees, got its bill approved with conditions after the U.S. Treasury challenged $5 million charged by Jones Day and other Chrysler advisers, including $1.25 million to guard lenders’ assets.

The old Chrysler, known as Old Carco LLC, need not pay Jones Day any amounts disapproved by the government, which loaned the bankruptcy estate money to wind down, Judge Arthur Gonzalez said in a court filing Tuesday. Jones Day’s fee requests from now on must specify how much it’s billing the bankrupt estate versus the reborn automaker, and the latter “shall remain subject to review and approval of this court,” he said.

Charlotte Powell, a Jones Day spokeswoman, said she couldn’t immediately comment.

Jones Day’s bill included its share of $37,932.50 for looking after Chrysler’s company cars that belong to secured lenders and $118,292.50 for “administration or liquidation” of other collateral, according to the filing. Jones Day is in discussions with the Treasury “regarding the source of payment of these amounts,” the judge said in the filing.

The case is In re Chrysler LLC, 09-50002, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).