GlobeSt.com UPDATE; Judge OKs $200,000 Salary to Earl as Firm Struggles in Chapter 11

ORLANDO-Despite his company’s first-half loss of $14.24 million, Robert I. Earl, the British-born chairman/CEO of locally based Planet Hollywood International Inc., will be receiving his $200,000 annual salary as the global restaurant chain struggles to emerge from its second Chapter 11 reorganization workout in three years.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur B. Briskman, however, denied Earl’s other request for $400,000 in consulting fees. Earl will also receive a car allowance, health and life insurance in a benefits package valued at a minimal $25,000 per year, lawyers following the bankruptcy case but not directly associated with it, tell Globe St.com.

“It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, how a firm trying to reduce expenses is still able to pay its top man that amount of money,” an Orlando bankruptcy lawyer not associated with the Chapter 11 filing tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.