class=Section1>
class=MsoNormal>Bankrupt
Austin,
Texas-Based
Online
Furniture
Retailer
Promises
Privacy
In an
apparent bid
to stave
off a lawsuit
from state
Attorney
General
John Cornyn,
the
bankruptcy trustee
for
Austin's Living.com
has
pledged that
information about
the
company's former
customers
won't
be sold
without
their
consent, according
to the
Tribune
Business
News. In a settlement filed Monday, Living.com's trustee,
Dallas reorganization
consultant
Lisa
Poulin,
agreed to
notify
customers
via e-mail
of any
plan to
transfer
their
names, addresses
or
telephone numbers
to another
company
and to
offer them
the chance
to opt
out of any
such
deal.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> In addition, the company will destroy
any personal
financial
information,
such as
credit card
numbers.
style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>The
settlement, which
must be
approved
by the
U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in
Austin,
was filed
jointly
with a
lawsuit from
Cornyn
that seeks
an
injunction to
keep
Living.com
from
selling its
database
of customer
information — considered
one of the
bankrupt
Internet
retailer's
most
valuable assets
— without
customers'
consent.
Living.com
filed for
chapter
11 on Aug.
29.
Supreme Beef
Processors
and Packers
File for
Bankruptcy
A
meatpacking company
that
supplied millions
of pounds
of beef
to the
nation's
school
lunch programs
and fought
against
tougher
food safety
regulations, filed
for
chapter 11 bankruptcy
on
Tuesday, according
to a
newswire report.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> Supreme Beef Processors and Packers
said it
would lay
off 300
workers
and shut
down
plants in Dallas
and
Ladonia on Friday.
style='font-weight:normal'>Supreme
Beef chief
executive
Steve
Spiritas said
the company
could
not continue
to operate
under a
"campaign
of
harassment, intimidation
and
disinformation"
by the U.S.
Department
of
Agriculture (USDA).
The
agency
last fall
pulled inspectors
from the
Dallas plant
—
effectively shutting
it down —
after the
plant failed
to meet
the new
safety standards.
A federal
judge, however,
tossed out
the new
food safety
rules,
saying it
was not
a fair
measure of
a plant's
sanitation.
The
USDA has
appealed to
the U.S.
5th Circuit
Court
of Appeals
in New
Orleans.
Bankruptcy Judge
Awards
Anna Nicole
Smith $449
Million
A federal
bankruptcy
judge
awarded former
Playboy
Playmate
and Guess?
Jeans
model Anna
Nicole
Smith $449
million
in a court
battle
with the
son of
her late
90-year-old
husband
over his
$1.6
billion estate,
according
to a Reuters
report.
U.S. Bankruptcy
Judge
Samuel
Bufford said
the amount
Smith
is due
could change,
depending
on punitive
damages
that he
would
consider in
a separate
court
case over
the fortune
of the
late oil
baron J.
Howard
Marshall.
That case
is set to
begin
today in
Houston.
The
former Vicki
Lynn Hogan
met Marshall
in 1991 at
the Houston
strip club
where
she
worked.
She
married
him in
1994 when
he was 89
and she
was
26.
Their marriage
ended 14
months
later with
the billionaire's
death.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> Pierce Marshall, the elder Marshall’s
son,
said he
would appeal.
His
attorneys
argued in
court
that,
while the
elder
Marshall may
have
lavished Smith
with gifts
and attention,
he did not
leave
her money
in any
of his six
wills.
Smith
came forward
to claim
that her
wheelchair-bound
husband
repeatedly
vowed to
leave her
half of
his estate.
She
sought
that money
in Houston
probate
court and
in
bankruptcy court
in Los
Angeles,
arguing
that Pierce
Marshall
interfered
with her
inheritance.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> Marshall's older son, Howard Marshall
III,
is also
suing for
part of
the estate
in the
Texas case.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> Smith filed for bankruptcy protection
in 1996
after she
lost an
$850,000
judgment
brought
against
her by a
former
female
assistant
alleging
sexual
harassment.
class=MsoBodyText>Attorney
Indicted
for Bankruptcy
Fraud
style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
An
attorney was
indicted
yesterday
in federal
court
on one
count of
bankruptcy
fraud
for
concealing an
interest
in a Milton,
Mass.
condominium
in his
bankruptcy
proceeding, according
to a
newswire report.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> The indictment alleges that Paul
B. Morley
filed a
personal
bankruptcy
petition
in October
1996,
and that
he failed
to claim
any ownership
interest
in the
condominium in which
he
actually held
a
one-fifth interest.
The
indictment
alleges
that Morley,
along with
his siblings,
received
an interest
in the
Milton condo
in 1989
from his
aunt.
Several months
before
filing the
bankruptcy, he obtained
a loan
secured by
a mortgage
on the
Milton
condo and
later
deeded his
interest
in the
Milton
condo to
his son
for no consideration.
The
indictment
alleges
that while
he
continued to
assert
that he had
no
interest in the
Milton
condo, Morley
caused his
son to
deed his
interest
back to
him.
The
Milton
condo was
then sold
with
Morley signing
his name
to the
deed and
receiving
the
benefit of the
approximately $43,000,
his share
of the
sale
proceeds.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> He faces a maximum sentence of five
years in
prison, to
be followed
by three
years of
supervised
release,
a $250,000
fine,
and
restitution.
style='display:none;mso-hide:all'>
class=MsoNormal>Fine
Air
Services Files
Chapter
11
Fine Air
Services
Corp.,
along with
its
subsidiaries,
yesterday
filed
for
chapter 11 in
the U.S.
Bankruptcy
Court for
the Southern
District
of Florida,
according
to a newswire
report.
Fine Air
will
continue to
operate as
a scheduled
air cargo
carrier
with no
interruption
of service
between
the United
States,
South
America, Central
America,
and the
Caribbean.
Fine Air,
the largest
air cargo
carrier
serving
Miami International
Airport,
intends
to
restructure its
debt and
obtain
financial
liquidity
in order
to implement
a
long-term solution
to the
financial
challenges
it now
faces.
style='mso-spacerun: yes'> The company has sought authorization
from the
court to
obtain
post-filing financing
of up to
$55 million
from Banc
of America,
its
current lending
institution.
