Fallen auto mogul Denny Hecker will have to wait to learn if he'll keep or forfeit a $1 million consulting fee from Midwest Motors, the firm that bought his Inver Grove Toyota dealership nearly a year ago.

The money is important to the bankrupt Hecker, who faces 25 federal fraud and conspiracy charges. He has said he has no other income beyond the consulting fee. Objections from creditors and the bankruptcy trustee and backtracking by a skittish Midwest Motors halted payments and kept the issue lingering in court since July.

Hecker, his attorney, the bankruptcy trustee and creditors expected a ruling Wednesday. But in a surprise move, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel refused to rule or even hear arguments on the matter.

Kressel said he was only concerned with whether a settlement agreement reached this week by the trustee and Midwest Motors was a good deal for Hecker's bankruptcy estate.

The settlement would reduce and redistribute Midwest Motor's consulting fee to Hecker, paying the trustee $65,000, two of Hecker's creditors $350,000 combined, and Hecker nothing beyond a $100,000 loan he secured early on from Midwest Motors executives. Hecker has objected.

Kressel agreed that the deal would be good for the bankruptcy estate, but said arguments about who should get funds must wait. The trustee first must seek dismissal of Hecker's objections, he said.

Before leaving court, Hecker's attorney John Neve said, "They were trying to cram a settlement down our throats and we need a trial. It sounds like we will get one."

At issue is a $1 million "personal services agreement" fee that Midwest Motors originally agreed to pay Hecker when it bought his Toyota dealership last year. Hecker filed for bankruptcy on June 4, 2009, and later insisted the $1 million (to be paid in monthly installments of $20,833 over four years) should be exempt from bankruptcy proceedings.

Bankruptcy trustee Randy Seaver and creditors disagreed, saying that the fee was not really in exchange for any services Hecker rendered but was merely a "diversion of the purchase price of Inver Grove Toyota."

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725