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December 27, 2005
name='1'>Judge
Orders Lucent to Pay $224 Million
A federal
bankruptcy judge
has ruled that Lucent Technologies must pay $224 million, plus other
costs,
to the creditors of Winstar Communications, the Associated Press
reported Friday.
The judge found that Lucent induced the company, which is now defunct,
to purchase
unneeded telecommunication equipment. Lucent said on Thursday that it
would
appeal the ruling but would take a $300 million charge in its first
quarter,
which ends Dec. 31. The ruling was issued Wednesday by Judge
Joel B.
Rosenthal of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.
Winstar,
which had been based in Herndon, Va., filed for chapter 11 protection
in Wilmington
in April 2001.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/technology/23lucent.html'>Read
more.
id='2'>Calpine's
Chapter 11 Case Could Cost Utility
Great Plains Energy
Inc.,
the parent company of Kansas City Power & Light Co., said that a
bankruptcy
filing by Calpine Corp. could reduce next year's earnings by as much
as $4 million,
the Associated Press reported Friday. Calpine, a power producer and
marketer
based in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in New
York for permission to reject eight power-supply agreements. Among
those is
a contract with Great Plains subsidiary Strategic Energy. Calpine said
in its
filing that it would lose $1.2 billion if forced to supply power
through the
expiration of all eight contracts. The company signed the contracts
between
2001 and 2003, when natural gas, the main fuel for its power plants,
was less
expensiver than it is today.
id='3'>Peoria
Wants Hotel Bankruptcy Denied
The city of Peoria,
Ill.,
filed motions Friday asking a bankruptcy judge to shoot down Chase
Ingersoll's
latest tactic to keep the embattled Grandview Hotel open, the
Peoria Journal-Star
reported Saturday. Ingersoll, the hotel's owner, filed for chapter 11
bankruptcy
on Thursday. Such a move, he believed, would require the hotel to
remain open,
as a stay of all legal action goes into effect when bankruptcy is
filed. That's
not the case, the city stated on Friday. In two motions, City Hall
asked a U.S.
bankruptcy judge to throw out Ingersoll's petition for chapter 11
protection
and also to lift the stay, which would then allow the hotel's closure
to proceed
as ordered. Ingersoll, who has fought the hotel's closure for almost
two months,
disagrees.
href='http://www.pjstar.com/stories/122405/TRI_B8GCJQDF.065.shtml'>Read
more.
id='4'>Nevada's
White Pine County Considering Bankruptcy
County officials in
rural
White Pine County are considering declaring bankruptcy to block the
Southern
Nevada Water Authority from drawing groundwater and piping it to Las
Vegas.
County Commission Chairman John Chachas said filing for chapter 9
bankruptcy,
a rarely used protection for municipalities, might delay state action
on pending
water rights applications, the Associated Press reported Friday. The
commission
plans a special meeting Wednesday at which Reno attorney George
Benesch is expected
to report on the bankruptcy idea that Chachas and Commissioner Brent
Eldridge
raised Dec. 14. Benesch represents the county on water issues. White
Pine County
declared a severe financial emergency earlier this year and became the
first
Nevada county ever to hand over budgetary control to the state
Department of
Taxation.
href='http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/dec/23/122310410…'>Read
more.
id='5'>N.Y.
Asian Mall Project Seeks Bankruptcy
The debt-plagued
developers
of an Asian-themed mall in Arbor Hill, N.Y., are using bankruptcy
protection
to save their property from being lost on the auction block, the
Albany
Times-Union reported Saturday. Nine Dragons City Center LLC filed
for chapter
11 protection, which postpones a planned sheriff's auction of its
North Pearl
Street construction site today to satisfy a $155,000 debt to Clifton
Park, N.Y.,
construction company Bast Hatfield. Nine Dragons owes about $600,000
to Bast
Hatfield and 19 other creditors, according to a bankruptcy petition
filed last
week in federal court. The development company lists as its only asset
the 1.5-acre
site, which it values at $1.2 million.
href='http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=433114&category=BUSI…'>Read
more.
id='6'>Delta
Air Plans to Shut Down Two-Thirds of Orlando Gates
Delta Air Lines
said Friday
it plans to shut down 16 of its 24 gates at Orlando International
Airport, Florida's
busiest, on Jan. 18 as part of attempts to emerge from bankruptcy
protection,
the Associated Press reported Friday. Delta passengers make up about
23 percent
of the total traffic through the airport, said Carolyn Fennell, the
airport's
spokeswoman, who was optimistic that the gates would soon be snapped
up by other
airlines who seek a greater beachhead at the airport. Delta's lease on
the gates
was signed through 2008.
id='7'>Syndicated
Food Service Files for Chapter 11
Syndicated Food
Service International
Inc. Friday announced in a press release that on Dec. 14, it filed for
protection
under chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern
District of Indiana,
according to PRNewswire. The company will continue to operate its
business as
debtor-in-possession under the jurisdiction of the court and in
accordance with
the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and orders of the
court. The
company also announced that it has submitted for approval by the court
a motion
for an order authorizing the company to sell all of the capital stock
and ownership
interests in the company's three remaining operating subsidiaries:
Beasley Food
Service Inc., Beasley Transportation Inc. and Syndicated Bloomington I
LLC.
href='http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/…'>Read
more.
id='8'>Foamex
Plan Filed
Foamex
International filed
a reorganization plan and related disclosure statement with a U.S.
bankruptcy
court, BankruptcyData.com reported yesterday. Under the proposed plan,
Foamex's
financial restructuring will be primarily achieved through a
debt-for-equity
conversion resulting in the reduction of approximately $500 million of
total
indebtedness from pre-petition amounts. Foamex's existing common stock
will
be cancelled, and no distribution will be available for current
shareholders.
Read more.
Asbestos
id='9'>N.H.
Suing Windham Co. over Asbestos
New Hampshire has
sued a
Windham construction company it says may have contaminated the site of
the former
Benson's Wild Animal Farm in Hudson, N.H., with asbestos, the
Boston Telegraph
reported yesterday. According to court records, George R. Cairns and
Sons was
hired to restore the wetlands at the former theme park. But state
officials
say the company either used contaminated soil from elsewhere, or
failed to inspect
the existing soil before doing the work. Glenn Cairns, the company's
vice president,
denies the company is responsible. He says the contamination was only
discovered
about a year after his company completed the restoration work.
According to
court records, the company says state workers oversaw the restoration
project
and had the same opportunities to notice problems, but did not. It
also says
inspecting the soil for contaminants wasn't part of its contract. The
company
has argued that the soil likely was contaminated before it began work
at the
site. The state wants the company to remove the asbestos, then restore
the wetlands.
id='10'>Frivolous
Lawsuits Hurt Asbestos Victims
Mass litigation
involving
asbestos has had a significant impact on our courts and on our
businesses, an
opinion piece in the West Virginia Herald-Dispatch reported
yesterday.
These mass litigations continue to clog our court systems and make it
problematic
for the truly injured or impaired to have their "day in
court." The
current asbestos litigation system is broken and is hurting victims,
workers,
businesses and economic development in West Virginia.
href='http://www.herald-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051226/OPIN…'>Read
more.
International
id='11'>Japanese
Gov’t. Backs U.S. $25,000 in Asbestos Compensation
Japan's government
adopted
a plan to pay nearly 3 million yen in compensation to the bereaved
families
and victims of asbestos-related health problems, the Associated Press
reported
today. The package was put together earlier this month by Japan's
ruling parties,
amid criticism that the government was too slow to ban the potentially
cancer-causing
substance. The recent disclosure of hundreds of cancer deaths linked
to asbestos
in Japan has triggered mounting concern about the material's
widespread use
in the country. Japan has lagged behind other industrialized nations
in banning
asbestos, only prohibiting its most common form, white asbestos, in
October
last year. Government ministers adopted the compensation plan at a
meeting early
Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said. The policy increases
one-time
compensation by 200,000 yen to 2.8 million yen for each victim or
family and
offer a one-off funeral fee of 200,000 yen.
id='12'>Japanese
Firm Vows to Pay Asbestos Victims
The president of
machinery
manufacturer Kubota Corp. apologized Sunday for the high incidence of
cancer
afflicting people living near the firm's plant here and promised to
compensate
them, The Asahi Shimbun reported yesterday. The cancers are thought to
have
been caused by asbestos used at the plant. Daisuke Hatakake, speaking
to cancer
patients and their families, said Kubota will offer the same
compensation to
each victim as it offered workers. Workers or their families received
up to
32 million yen.
id='13'>German
Grand Prix Circuit Nears Bankruptcy
The German grand
prix has
been thrown into serious doubt with news that the Hockenheim circuit
is nearly
broke, Wheels24.co.za reported yesterday. Chartered accountant firm
Ernst &
Young has advised that the circuit in southwestern Germany does not
have the
means to sustain track operations. The recently reported lease
buy-back of part
of the venue has apparently only postponed bankruptcy for months. By
the time
of the July 30 grand prix, Hockenheim may be in dire trouble. Worse
still, "the
politicians do not want to help” according to German paper the
Bild.