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August 17, 2006
Bush
to Sign Pension Reform Bill Today
President Bush plans to sign
the pension reform bill today, calling it ''the most comprehensive
reforms to America's pension system in over 30 years,” the
Associated Press reported today. The bill seeks to strengthen
traditional defined-benefit plans and require companies to tell workers
more about the health of their pension programs. It aims to boost the
30,000 defined-benefit plans run by employers that are now underfunded
by an estimated $450 billion. Those plans must reach 100 percent
funding, up from the current 90 percent requirement, in seven years.
Companies with pensions that are “at risk” of being
classified as underfunded must contribute at a faster rate and face
certain restrictions, such as a ban on increasing benefits.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Pensions-Overhaul.html?pagewanted…'>Read
more.
size='3'>Gulf Coast Continues to Grapple
with Insurance Suits
Thousands of
size='3'>Mississippi
size='3'>homeowners are suing their insurers, saying they were unfairly
denied compensation for damage caused a year ago by Hurricane
Katrina’s destructive winds, the Wall Street
Journal reported today.
size='3'>The homeowners are citing the wind damage, which is covered by
most insurance policies, in their claims while insurers have denied them
citing the floods were the primary cause of the storm damage. Flood
insurance policies are usually obtained through a federally-backed
program and not individual insurance companies. The outcomes will affect
the price and availability of disaster insurance as insurers say rates
may rise if they lose the cases in order to cover billions in unexpected
liabilities. They could also decide to scale back such
coverage. Judge L.T. Senter
issued the first verdict in one of the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Mississippi
size='3'>cases, ruling that the insurer did not have to pay most of the
policyholder's claim, just the portion that could be attributed to wind
damage. Insurance companies have settled 90 percent of Katrina-related
cases nationwide, with 1.24 million homeowners receiving $17.6 billion,
according to the Insurance Information Institute. Many of these claims
were for properties located inland.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115577858407337921.html?mod=hps_us_page…'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Airlines
name='3'>Delta's Comair to Meet Flight Attendants Next
Week
Comair, a unit of Delta Air
Lines Inc. will meet with its flight attendants on Aug. 23-24 in a bid
to resolve a dispute over cost cuts and has reopened negotiations with
pilots and maintenance workers, Reuters reported yesterday. The
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents Comair's
roughly 1,000 flight attendants, said it is prepared to call for a
strike if the negotiations fail. Comair, which along with Delta is
operating under bankruptcy protection, was given court approval last
month to void a contract with its flight attendants and impose terms on
those workers. Flight attendants are contesting the ruling. The regional
carrier was originally seeking $8.9 million in annual savings from its
flight attendants, but has since lowered that target to $7.9 million,
said Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-airlines-comair.html?p…'>Read
more.
name='4'>Pan Am to Officially Emerge
from Bankruptcy
Pan Am World Airways said
Wednesday that it would collect $30 million from the government
of
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Libya
size='3'>and make final payments to creditors by the end of the year,
officially ending the company's bankruptcy, the Associated Press
reported yesterday. Pan Am, which filed for bankruptcy and ceased
operations in 1991, had pursued civil and criminal action against the
Libyan government following the deadly December 1988 bombing of Pan Am
flight 103 over
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Scotland
size='3'>. The successful criminal prosecution of a Libyan agent in 2004
allowed the civil lawsuit to move forward. Pan Am instead reached a
settlement with the Libyan government that provides the airline's
liquidation trust with the funds to be distributed later this
year.
href='http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060816/pan_am_bankruptcy.html?.v=1&printer=1'>Read
more.
name='5'>Sypris Puts Pressure on Dana in Contract
Dispute
Sypris Technologies Inc.,
which provides over $200 million a year in parts to Dana Corp.,
wants a decision regarding its multi-million dollar contracts with the
bankrupt auto parts supplier,
size='3'>Portfolio Media reported yesterday.
In court documents filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in
size='3'>Manhattan
asked the judge for a motion that would require Dana to decide the
status of the contracts by Oct. 3. Since Dana declared bankruptcy in
March, Sypris has repeatedly asked it whether it will continue the
supply contracts. The delay could cost Sypris millions of dollars in
unnecessary damages, the company said. A hearing on the matter is
scheduled for Aug. 28, with objections due Aug. 23.
Judge
Approves Calpine Proposal to Settle Claims under $2
Million
Calpine Corp. will be
able to reduce attorneys' fees and end some legal wrangling following a
judge's decision allowing it to settle claims of $2 million or less in
its bankruptcy case, the
size='3'>Wall Street Journal reported today.
Judge Burton R. Lifland of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in
size='3'>signed an order Tuesday allowing the energy company to move
ahead with settlement procedures designed to cut expenses and maximize
value for creditors. Under the settlement rules, Calpine will settle any
amount that is $250,000 or less without action by the court. For claims
ranging between $250,000 and $2 million, Calpine or one of its units may
settle the dispute by providing notice to the U.S. Trustee's office and
law firms that represent secured lenders, unsecured creditors,
shareholders and second-lien debtholders. If no objections are filed by
the various parties after a 10-day period, then Calpine can proceed with
the settlement.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115575337008237427.html?mod=us_business…'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='7'>Congoleum Submits Amended Reorganization
Plan
Congoleum Inc. has filed
an amended chapter 11 plan, bringing the flooring company one step
closer to exiting bankruptcy,
size='3'>Portfolio Media reported yesterday.
The amended plan brings an end to months of infighting over how to
address the flood of asbestos-related personal-injury claims the company
faces. The company has already dealt with disputes with some of its
insurers who will contribute to a trust fund, which was established
under the chapter 11 plan to compensate individuals who have been harmed
by its products containing asbestos. However, other insurers had
contended that the company’s plan allowed asbestos claimants to
collect too easily. In order to assess its liability to asbestos
claimants, Congoleum decided to file a lawsuit against the insurers
in
Jersey
suit centers around whether Congoleum or its insurers acted improperly
by negotiating an international settlement of asbestos claims before the
company filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
name='8'>Silicon Graphics Bids for Chapter 11 Control
Three weeks after a
federal bankruptcy judge approved Silicon Graphics Inc.’s
disclosure statement, the high-performance computer maker is seeking to
retain control over its chapter 11 case while creditors vote on its
reorganization plan,
size='3'>Portfolio Media reported yesterday.
In court documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for
the Southern
District of New York, the company requested that Bankruptcy Judge
Burton R. Lifland
to allow an extension of its exclusive filing period from
Sept. 5 to Dec. 29. SGI also asked for approval to extend its exclusive
solicitation period from Nov. 4 to Feb. 28, 2007. A hearing on the
request is scheduled for Aug. 30.
name='9'>Owners in
w:st='on'>Rhode
Island
Bankrupt
A court has accepted a
bankruptcy petition from the owners of a
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Rhode Island
size='3'>nightclub where 100 people died in a 2003 fire, freeing them
from potential civil liability, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
While their chapter 7 petition was accepted yesterday, Jeffrey and
Michael Derderian, owners of The Station nightclub, said they would
continue making voluntary payments to the families of four employees who
were killed in the fire. The Derderians are among dozens of defendants
who have been sued in federal court by fire survivors and relatives of
those killed. Their bankruptcy lawyer, Christopher
Lefebvre, said the bankruptcy petition would
have minimal impact on the civil case since the Derderians had limited
assets to pay survivors and victims' families.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/16/AR20060…'>Read
more.
name='10'>Copeland Sports Files for Chapter 11
Copeland Sports filed for
chapter 11 and made a $25 million debtor-in-possession credit facility
agreement with Wells Fargo Retail Finance, the
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Los Angeles Business Journal
reported yesterday.
The company said it intends to immediately close several
underperforming stores and focus on core operations. San Luis Obispo,
Calif.-based Copeland Sports operates 31 specialty sporting goods stores
in
size='3'>California
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Oregon
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Nevada
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Utah
href='http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2006/08/14/daily32…'>Read
more.
name='11'>Gemini Air Cargo Emerges from Chapter 11
Gemini Air Cargo has
emerged from chapter 11 after eliminating nearly $50 million in debt,
the Washington Business
Journal reported yesterday. Under the terms of
its restructuring, the Dulles, Va.-based air cargo carrier says its
largest lender, Bayside Capital, agreed to exchange its secured loans
for a combination of new debt and majority ownership of the reorganized
company. Gemini provides airport-to-airport service to the air freight
community and airline customers, primarily under renewable long-term
contracts. The company has offices in
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Miami
size='3'>,
size='3'>Jamaica
N.Y.,
size='3'>Toronto
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Brussels
size='3'>Belgium
sites in
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Germany
size='3'>.
href='http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/08/14/daily35…'>Read
more.
International
name='12'>U.K. Consumer Bankruptcy Rate Set to Double by
2009
A British government
report estimated that up to 28,000 people each quarter will declare
themselves bankrupt by March 2009, almost twice as many as the record
numbers currently going insolvent, the London Independent
reported today. The Department for Trade and Industry's
third annual report on consumer debt warned that even without an
economic downturn, the number of people going bankrupt each quarter
would rise from about 16,000 today to 28,000 in three years. However,
the report rejected claims that a relaxation in bankruptcy laws had
resulted in the significant increase in the number of insolvencies
recorded this year. While the number of bankruptcies and individual
voluntary arrangements totaled 26,000 in the second quarter, 74 percent
more than the previous year, the report said most borrowers did not even
know the restrictions on people becoming insolvent had been
relaxed.
href='http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article1219742.ece'>Read
more.
w:st='on'>
name='13'>Uzbekistan
size='3'> Launches Bankruptcy Proceedings Against
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>Gold Venture
Authorities in
size='3'>Uzbekistan
had launched bankruptcy proceedings against a joint venture of Newmont
Mining, the latest step in a process that the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>gold giant has described as an expropriation attempt, Agence
France Press reported yesterday. State creditors of the
Zarafshan-Newmont Joint Venture, which has a massive open-pit mine in
the deserts of western
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Uzbekistan
size='3'>, will meet on Sept. 19 to discuss the company's tax debts. The
open-pit mine, one of the largest in the world and formerly the largest
gold mine in the Soviet Union, is a key foreign currency earner
for
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Uzbekistan
size='3'>.
href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060816/bs_afp/uzbekistanusbritain_0608161…'>Read
more.