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February 10, 2005
House Introduces Companion Bankruptcy Bill
The House yesterday introduced a companion bill to one introduced by
the Senate last week. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James
Sensenbrenner (R–Wis.) yesterday introduced “The Bankruptcy
Abuse Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2005,” H.R. 685. The
new bill is similar to one passed by the House last year. It does not
include the controversial Sen. Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.)
amendment.
Witness List for Today’s Hearing on Bankruptcy Reform
The witness list for today’s hearing scheduled to begin at
10:15 a.m. includes Kenneth Beine, president and CEO of Shoreline Credit
Union (Two Rivers, Wis.), Malcom Bennett, president of International
Realty & Investments Inc. (Los Angeles), Dave McCall, director,
United Steel Workers of America, AFL–CIO (Columbus, Ohio), R.
Michael Stewart Menzies Sr., president and CEO of East Bank and Trust
Company, (Easton, Md.), Philip Strauss, retired attorney of Family
Support Bureau in the Office District Attorney Office in San Francisco
on behalf of the National Child Support Enforcement Association (San
Francisco), Maria Vullo, partner of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton &
Garrison LLP (New York), Prof. Elizabeth Warren of the Harvard Law
School (Cambridge, Mass.) and Prof. Todd J. Zywicki, visiting professor
of law at Georgetown University Law Center, from George Mason University
(Washington, D.C.). The hearing can be viewed online at
href='http://www.capitolhearings.org/'>www.capitolhearings.org.
Democrats to Push for Hardship Exemption in Bankruptcy Bill
Arguing that a bipartisan bankruptcy bill would punish families
driven into financial distress by illness, three Senate Democrats said
yesterday they will push for an exemption for consumers who seek to
declare bankruptcy because of high medical costs,
CongressDaily reported. Majority Leader Bill Frist
(R–Tenn.) has said he hopes to move the bankruptcy bill to the
floor after the Senate completes its work on the class-action bill.
Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D–Ill.) said the bill would
benefit “greedy” financial institutions while creating a
“debtors’ prison” for families that are unable to pay
their medical bills. “The vast majority of people going to
bankruptcy court are really up against it,” Durbin said.
Supporters say the legislation would preserve bankruptcy protection for
those who genuinely need it, regardless of the cause of their financial
distress, the newswire reported.
Senate Rejects Democratic Amendments to Class-action Overhaul
Legislation
The Senate yesterday rejected two Democratic attempts to modify a
bipartisan bill to overhaul the rules for class-action lawsuits,
CongressDaily reported. Supporters predicted the measure
would win final passage today with no amendments. “The prospects
of finishing this bill tomorrow, hopefully by mid-afternoon or early
afternoon, are very good,” Majority Leader Bill Frist
(R–Tenn.) said after an amendment by Sens. Dianne Feinstein
(D–Calif.) and Jeff Bingaman (D–N.M.) failed on a
61–38 vote, the newswire reported.
SEC Chief, Under Cross-Pressure, Sees Some Modest Changes
William H. Donaldson, chairman of the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), predicted yesterday that the commission would consider
making modest, but not wholesale, changes to some major regulations
adopted after a wave of corporate scandals, the New York
Times reported. Donaldson said that it was part of a plan to make
some rules more “cost effective” without diluting their
impact.
Adelphia’s Stock, Debt Holders Win a Round on Bidding
Data
Adelphia Communications Corp. reached a compromise in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court with its equity and debt holders that allows their representatives
to get access to bidding information in the auction for the cable
operator, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal was
reached at a closed hearing late last week before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
Robert Gerber, at which lawyers representing the unsecured creditors and
equity committees argued that their clients should be able to review the
bids that were submitted on Jan. 31, the online newspaper reported.
Verizon Floats Informal Bid for MCI
Talks between Verizon Communications Inc. and MCI are accelerating as
Verizon has floated an informal acquisition offer in cash and stock for
the long-distance company, people familiar with the situation say, the
Wall Street Journal reported. The informal offer is priced
near Qwest Communications International Inc.’s tentative offer of
$6.3 billion for MCI, which was made recently after months of talks, the
newspaper reported.
Jurors Hear WorldCom’s Ebbers Reassure Investors
Former WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers told investors he was unaware
of “any storms on the horizon” days after his finance chief
warned him about phony accounting entries, jurors heard at his fraud
trial yesterday, Reuters reported. In his third day on the witness
stand, Scott Sullivan, the company’s former CFO, continued to
describe how the company’s books were cooked starting in the fall
of 2000, the newswire reported.
Report Reveals New Bidder for Stelco, Shares Surge
Shares of Stelco Inc. rose sharply yesterday after a report that
Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank was working with a U.S.–based buyout
firm that could make a bid for Canada’s biggest steelmaker this
month, Reuters reported. According to a report in the Globe and
Mail newspaper, TD officials and the buyout firm are expected to
meet with representatives from Stelco’s union this week to discuss
their interest in buying the company.