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December 10, 2004
3rd Circuit Rejects Defendant’s ‘Pre-Packaged’
Bankruptcy
The 3rd Circuit has rejected a corporate defendant’s bid to
resolve all of its outstanding asbestos claims by establishing a $1.2
billion trust, the Legal Intelligencer reported. In
re Combustion Engineering Inc. is the first appellate court
ruling on a growing trend among asbestos defendants to pre-package a
bankruptcy by filing a disclosure statement and reorganization plan that
has already been voted upon by impaired creditors. Read the article at
href='http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1102543069728'>www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1102543069728.
America West Won’t Make Offer to Acquire ATA Holdings
America West Holdings Corp. said it won’t make an offer to buy
ATA Holdings Corp., a low-cost carrier operating under bankruptcy
protection, Bloomberg News reported. The decision follows a failure to
reach acceptable terms with enough of ATA’s aircraft lessors, the
parent of Phoenix-based America West Airlines said. AirTran Holdings
Inc. has a pending agreement to buy some ATA assets, and Southwest
Airlines Co. intends to bid by a court-imposed deadline today.
Clifford Chance Offer Scuttled in Brobeck Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali on Thursday rejected Clifford
Chance’s offer to settle claims that its actions led to Brobeck,
Phleger & Harrison’s demise, the Recorder
reported. Instead of accepting a deal between Clifford Chance and the
Brobeck estate trustee, Montali set a Dec. 17 auction in his courtroom
to determine the proper price to settle or pursue those claims.
Montali’s move was good news to Brobeck’s creditors and to
ex-partners who blame Clifford Chance for Brobeck’s implosion.
Read the full article at
href='http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1102543080668'>www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1102543080668.
TransCanada to Proceed with PG&E Hydro Plant Purchase
TransCanada Corp., Canada’s biggest pipeline company by
revenue, said it will proceed with a $433 million purchase of power
plants from a bankrupt unit of PG&E Corp. to expand its electricity
business in the northeastern U.S., Bloomberg News reported. The sale
price, originally set at $505 million in September, will be reduced by
$72 million after the sale of one of the plants to the Town of
Rockingham, Vt., TransCanada said yesterday. No other qualified
competing bids for the 13 dams and 41 hydroelectric generating stations
were received by a U.S. bankruptcy court, TransCanada said, the newswire
reported.
Skilling Seeks to Name Names
Former Enron Corp. President and CEO Jeffrey Skilling is trying to
name dozens of ex-colleagues and business associates involved in his
criminal conspiracy case, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Attorneys for Skilling have asked Houston federal judge Sim Lake to make
public the names of 114 people who the government alleges in a sealed
document were co-conspirators, the online newspaper reported.
US Air Needs Cuts to Entice Investors
US Airways Group Inc. probably will need more cost cuts or a boost in
revenue to attract the $250 million in equity it says it needs to leave
bankruptcy next year, the company said yesterday, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a bankruptcy court hearing, current and former senior
officials of the seventh-largest U.S. carrier said the restructuring
plan, which includes a bid to cut union labor costs by nearly $1
billion, would probably be insufficient to pass muster with potential
investors.
Recognize Faults, Rise Again, Pope Tells U.S.
Church
The American Roman Catholic Church must recognize its failings in the
priestly sexual abuse scandal and rise up again with determination to
heal the deep wounds, Pope John Paul told U.S. bishops today,
Reuters reported. The Pope, addressing a group of bishops from
Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, said the leaders of the United
States Catholic Church had to first renew themselves spiritually in
order to truly renew their Church. 'I have shared the deep pain which
you and your people have experienced in these last years,' the Pope
said. The sexual abuse crisis erupted in 2002 when it was discovered
that many U.S. bishops had simply moved priests known to have abused
minors to new parishes instead of defrocking them or reporting them to
the authorities. Since then, some U.S. dioceses have been forced to file
for bankruptcy protection from lawsuits by abuse victims seeking
millions of dollars, the newswire reported.