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November 9, 2005
name='1'>New
Pension Provisions Get Ways and Means Airing Today
The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to approve pension
legislation,
moving a proposed massive overhaul of the nation’s pension
laws closer to
a House vote, CongressDaily reported today. The
chairman’s mark that
Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) released yesterday
gives companies
slightly more time to meet tougher pension-funding targets than
previous versions
of the bill and includes new provisions aimed at boosting employee
retirement
savings. A spokesman for House Education and the Workforce Chairman
John Boehner
(R-Ohio) said that the Ways and Means bill was "very
similar" to
the version that Boehner’s committee passed.
The Ways and Means bill also includes language that would make
permanent
provisions set to expire in 2010 that increase the annual
contribution limits
for IRAs and other pension plans. The provisions also provide
"catch-up"
contributions for people 50 and older, and provide incentives for
small employers
to offer pension plans. The bill makes permanent the
"saver’s credit"
and permits employers to automatically enroll employees in 401(k)s
and other
plans in order to encourage participation in such plans. It also
allows for
the creation of insurance plans that combine long-term care and life
insurance
and changes flexible spending account rules to allow participants to
carry
over $500 from year to year. The pension-funding rules track the
version that
cleared the Education and the Workforce committee, although the Ways
and Means
version gives companies an additional year to fully fund their
pension plans
and to begin using a tougher "yield curve" formula for
calculating
pension contributions.
id='2'>Charter
Exculpatory Provisions Preclude Bankruptcy Trustee from Suing on
Breach of
Duty of Care
In a ruling
recently handed
down by the Second Court of Appeals in Pereira v. Farace, the
court held
that a bankruptcy trustee could not prosecute a corporate
debtor’s claims against
its former directors for breach of the duty of care where the
corporation’s
charter contained a provision shielding its directors from such
liability.
href='http://www.mondaq.com/i_article.asp_Q_articleid_E_36006'>Read
the full article.
id='3'>Ex-Police
Chief Elected San Diego Mayor
A former police
chief was
elected mayor of scandal-plagued San Diego with a campaign that
trumpeted his
record of turning around troubled organizations, the Associated Press
reported
today. Republican Jerry Sanders will inherit a $1.37 billion pension
deficit
that has triggered federal investigations of the nation’s
seventh-largest city
and fueled talk of bankruptcy.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/09/AR20051…'>Read
more.
id='4'>Losses
May Put Blockbuster into Bankruptcy
Amy Glynn, an
analyst for
rating agency Standard & Poor’s said that Blockbuster was
outperforming
its industry and "moving in the right direction but we see
near-term pressure,"
TopTechNews reported yesterday. She widened her estimate of
2005 losses
and lowered her forecast for 2006 profit. Blockbuster Inc., the
nation’s largest
movie-rental chain, posted a $491.4 million third-quarter loss as the
elimination
of most late fees continued to chip away at revenue and the growth of
the company’s
online service stalled. The company’s shares tumbled more than 5
percent.
href='http://www.toptechnews.com/news/Blockbuster-Posts-Large-Losses/story.xh…'>Read
the full story.
id='5'>Parmalat
Shareholders Pick Bondi
Nearly 98 percent
of Parmalat
shareholders backed a slate for the board made up of high-profile
figures including
bankruptcy administrator Enrico Bondi, supported by Lehman Brothers
and funds
holding a total 7.6 percent stake, Reuters reported yesterday. The
shareholders
who voted represent only 16.9 percent of Parmalat’s total
capital and only part
of those who deposited shares ahead of the meeting. The board, which
is expected
to elect Bondi as chief executive at its first meeting, will sit until
2008,
a potential blow for suitors who have eyed Parmalat’s industrial
assets and
hoped a board led by banking shareholders could split off or discard
damages
claims, lowering the group’s price.
href='http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/08/news/international/parmalat_bondi.reut/…'>Read
more.
id='6'>New
Orleans Exec Gives Senate Testimony
An executive from
the New
Orleans area’s largest general contracting company joined other
members
of the Associated General Contractors of America today in urging
Congress to
limit liability risks of disaster first responders, BizNewOrleans.com
reported
yesterday. Warren Perkins, vice president/risk management for Boh
Brothers Construction
Co., told members of a U.S. Senate’s subcommittee that
contractors who
jumped in to help during a grave emergency should not be penalized for
doing
so. Perkins and other representatives of first responders testified
today before
the Superfund and Waste Management Subcommittee of the Environment and
Public
Works Committee, chaired by Senator John Thune (R-S.D.).
href='http://bizneworleans.com/109%2BM5348654b648.html'>Read
more.
id='7'>American
Remanufacturers Files for Chapter 11
American
Remanufacturers
Inc. said that it filed for chapter 11 protection from its creditors,
the latest
in a string of auto-parts makers that have filed for bankruptcy this
year, the
Associated Press reported yesterday. In its Monday filing in the U.S.
Bankruptcy
Court in Delaware, the privately held company, which is headquartered
in Anaheim,
Calif., listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and debts of more
than $100
million. The company and its five subsidiaries make new and
remanufactured axles,
brakes and power steering components for the North American repair
market. American
Remanufacturers employs about 1,650 people. It had 2005 total sales
through
August of $278 million. Some of the lenders, led by units of Black
Diamond Commercial
Finance LLC, agreed to provide a $31 million debtor-in-possession
loan, provided
the company put itself up for auction.
href='http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310AP_American_Remanufacturers_…'>Read
more.
id='8'>Two
Days Left to File in Covington Diocese Case
There are only two
days left
to file for money from the Diocese of Covington, Ohio, sex abuse
settlement
fund, WCPO-TV reported yesterday. Hundreds have filed so far and any
additional
claims must be postmarked by midnight tomorrow. The settlement fund is
$40 million
right now, but it could triple that depending on the outcome of court
cases
involving insurance companies.
id='9'>Stark
Appeals Dismissal of Bankruptcy Petition Against INEX
Vancouver-based
Inex Pharmaceuticals
Corp. announced yesterday that it received notice that Stark Trading
and Shepher
Investments International Ltd. will appeal the decision of the Supreme
Court
of British Columbia dismissing the bankruptcy petition brought forward
by Stark,
TechFinance.ca News Service reported yesterday. The Supreme Court of
British
Columbia dismissed the bankruptcy petition on Oct. 27. INEX said that
it has
not received any details of the legal basis for Stark’s appeal.
Stark is the
majority holder of certain promissory notes issued by Inex
International Holdings,
a subsidiary of INEX. The promissory notes are not due until April
2007 and
can be repaid in cash or in shares, at INEX’s option, at
maturity.
href='http://www.techfinance.ca/m-topnews%2Bnews%2Btnid-712-tnd-20051108.html'>Read
more.
id='10'>Asarco
Workers End Strike with Company in Chapter 11
Copper producer
Asarco LLC
and striking workers reached agreement on a new contract, ending a
four-month
strike, company and union officials said yesterday, according to
Associated
Press reports. The agreement will extend terms of collective
bargaining agreements
that were in effect when workers at five Arizona facilities and one in
Amarillo,
Texas, went on strike July 2. After the strike began, Asarco filed for
bankruptcy
reorganization.
Airlines
id='11'>Flyi
Says Older Carriers Played Tough
Although
Independence Air
once billed itself as a nimble alternative to the major airlines, the
Dulles,
Va.-based company suggested in a bankruptcy filing this week that it
was ultimately
beaten by those same legacy carriers, the Washington Post
reported today.
Flyi Inc., the airline’s parent, says that an "extremely
aggressive"
competitive response by United Airlines and US Airways was partly
responsible
for sending the company into chapter 11 bankruptcy protection even as
the larger
carriers themselves were in financial trouble. Over the next few
weeks, the
future of Independence Air will be sorted out at the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in
Wilmington, Del., where Flyi has already filed more than 1,000 pages
that offer
insights into its past troubles and future plans.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/08/AR20051…'>Read
more.
id='12'>Delta
Puts Off Third-Quarter Results for Five More Days
Delta Air Lines Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection on
Sept. 14,
said yesterday that it is delaying the release of its third-quarter
results
for another five days.The nation’s third-largest carrier,
which normally would
have reported its results for the July-September period in late
October, had
planned to release its results Wednesday.
In other news,
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113153690959792198-search.html?KEYWORDS…'>Delta
unveiled plans to tap China’s travel market, part of an
international
expansion by the U.S. airline aimed at helping turn around its
troubled finances.
id='13'>Adelphia
Files Draft Reorganization Plan
Adelphia
Communications Corp.
filed a draft fourth amended plan of reorganization with the U.S.
Bankruptcy
Court for the Southern District of New York, Reuters reported
yesterday. Adelphia,
based in Greenwood Village, Co., also said that it filed a draft of an
amended
disclosure statement with the court. The filings are in response to
objections
to approving Adelphia’s disclosure statement, the company said
in a statement.
id='14'>Court:
Conseco Founder Must Repay Company
A three-judge panel
of the
Indiana Court of Appeals yesterday unanimously upheld a lower
court’s ruling
ordering Conseco Inc. founder Stephen Hilbert to pay $72 million to
his former
company. The debt stems from company-backed loans that Hilbert
borrowed in the
late-1990s to buy Conseco stock, which became worthless during its
bankruptcy
reorganization in 2003.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/08/AR20051…'>Read
more.