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Source: Erie Times-News, Pa.文件倉Sept. 14--Marla Snavley needed financial help in the summer of 2012. She was struggling to put her affairs in order two years and six months after the unexpected death of her 56-year-old husband, Larry, who had headed the Reliable Furniture Co. in Warren.Marla Snavley, 59, had never been active in the family business. Now she was left to run it on her own.It faltered, and she sold most of its assets in the spring of 2012.Compounding Marla Snavley's financial concerns were claims that taxing authorities filed against property titled to her husband.Her worries prompted her to contact a bankruptcy lawyer, Jason J. Mazzei, who is based in Pittsburgh and has 23 offices throughout the state, including in Erie, Meadville and Warren, where Snavley lives.According to unchallenged evidence, Snavley at the time felt weak, confused and distraught as she dealt with her husband's death, in March 2010, and the administration of his estate, for which he left no will.Snavley followed Mazzei's advice by filing for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy, or liquidation, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Erie on Aug. 17, 2012.Snavley paid Mazzei $8,200. That covered an upfront attorney fee of $7,894 and a filing fee of $306.Her actual debts -- the amount of money a government-appointed bankruptcy trustee determined she owed to creditors outright -- totaled $6,371, according to court records.Snavley could have avoided bankruptcy had she used the money she paid Mazzei to satisfy the $6,371 debt on her own. Taking that approach also would have saved her $1,829."She has paid more to attorney Mazzei than it would have cost her just to pay her actual creditors," the bankruptcy trustee for Snavley, Erie lawyer John Melaragno, who is overseeing her case, said at a hearing in May.Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas P. Agresti offered this assessment at the hearing: "The conduct was inexcusable."Snavley is on her way to getting all her money back from Mazzei -- and possibly getting her bankruptcy reversed.Under pressure from Melaragno and Agresti, who also called Mazzei's conduct "unconscionable," Mazzei in March refunded $7,894 in fees to Snavley, who will get the money from her bankruptcy estate, and Mazzei agreed to pay an additional $14,582.The bankruptcy estate, which Melaragno controls, will use the additional money to pay, among other things, the rest of the legal fees, Melaragno's trustee fees and the fees of another Erie lawyer, Thomas Minarcik, who stepped in as Snavley's substitute counsel. Snavley would also get $6,371 from Mazzei's overall payment to pay off her debts if she gets her bankruptcy filing reversed.Agresti scheduled a hearing on Oct. 3 t存倉 review the settlement and to decide on Melaragno's request that the judge reverse the bankruptcy by revoking the discharge of Snavley's debts in her Chapter 7 case. That rare action would put her in the same position she was before she filed for bankruptcy."A simple cost-benefit analysis leads to the conclusion that this bankruptcy filing resulted in no benefit to the debtor," Melaragno wrote in court records. "Mazzei's advice to file a bankruptcy for this debtor was ill-advised and solely motivated by Mazzei's desire to charge and receive a significant fee."Making the debtor wholeMazzei, who got his law degree in 1999, had no comment after he left the federal courthouse in Erie following the hearing on Aug. 13. He did not respond to a request for comment last week.In court on Aug. 13, he told Agresti that he would agree to the settlement, despite initially indicating he would fight Melaragno's claims that he handled the case improperly."Whatever the court decides I will accept," Mazzei said. "I just want to make the debtor whole."In December, Mazzei filed a motion challenging Melaragno's allegations. In the motion, which Mazzei later withdrew, he admitted that Snavley was "weak, confused and emotionally distraught," but also said he provided Snavley "with counsel and guidance" and that "it was determined that an orderly liquidation under Chapter 7 was the best option" for her.Snavley declined to comment through her new lawyer, Minarcik.Mazzei could face scrutiny beyond Snavley's case.Agresti has declined Melaragno's request that Agresti complain about Mazzei to the Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court. But Agresti said Melaragno could file such a complaint.A call for justiceMelaragno declined to comment, other than to say he had never before experienced a case like Snavley's in his nine years as a bankruptcy trustee in Chapter 7 cases. Melaragno in that capacity acts as a watchdog by reviewing bankruptcy filings. He also sells property and otherwise disposes of assets to liquidate Chapter 7 estates.Those involved in Marla Snavley's case will gather for what could be the final time in court on Oct. 3. Once the settlement is done, Agresti will entertain the reversal request -- a request he acknowledged, at the May 10 hearing, is not typical in Bankruptcy Court.However, Agresti also said, the Snavley case is not typical, either."This case," he said, "cries out for some justice."ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) 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