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Lott, Daschle Close to Agreement to Allow Senate to Work
Together
Senate Republicans and Democratic leaders are close to an informal
agreement that could allow the chamber to work together this summer,
which could enable the bankruptcy bill to once again move forward,
according to the CQ Daily Monitor. Majority Leader Trent Lott
(Miss.) said he will allow votes on some of President Clinton's judicial
nominees and some Democratic legislative initiatives if Minority Leader
Tom Daschle (S.D.) removes his roadblocks to Senate action on fiscal
2001 appropriation bills. 'I think we both feel that it's important to
make the effort to reduce the acrimony and to work at seeing if there is
a way to accomodate both his and our agenda,' said Daschle. The leaders
spent yesterday telling reporters that they have moved a long way toward
patching up their bruised relationship. Lott told fellow Republicans
earlier this week they will have to cast votes that Democrats may use as
campaign issues, but he said Democrats can expect the same treatment.
'There's a mutuality of interest,' said Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.).
'President Clinton has the right to fill some more seats on the
judiciary before his term is up, and Lott has to move appropriations
bills.' Lott and Daschle, who have had a generally cordial relationship
in recent years, faced each other in a heated floor fight on May 17.
Furious with Lott's restrictions on Democratic amendments and a
procedural vote that imposed even tighter restrictions, Daschle
effectively halted Senate progress on spending bills. Lott conceded that
a new working arrangement won't be as simple as a handshake. 'Our
conferences have got to help us out,' he said.
Bankruptcy Business Goes Up as High-tech Start-ups Go Down
With alluring high-tech start-ups on their last legs, bankruptcy lawyers
may get a leg up in business, according to the Delaware Law
Weekly. Among the reasons cited are that many Internet start-ups
have burned through operating cash reserves and that they face
increasing losses, fierce competition from long-established retailers
and tightened loan requirements from venture capital firms. With many
dot-com businesses failing, bankruptcy experts say that there is a
strong likelihood that e-company restructuring might be the next big
thing in chapter 11 practice, particularly in the Wilmington, Del.,
area. 'I think you are going to see a lot more of the dot-coms [filing],
absolutely,' said Scott D. Cousins of Greenberg Traurig's
Wilmington office. 'We're involved in quite a few [discussions] and
whether they're going to actually file or not, but I think there's going
to be a lot of them coming.' Third- and fourth-quarter numbers will be
the deciding factor in crumbling dot-coms, according to Laura Davis
Jones of the Wilmington office Pachulski Stang Ziehl Young & Jones
PC. 'At this point, a number of dot-coms are looking at alternatives and
exploring their options.' Alternatives, Jones said, include
'restructuring, whether to do out-of-court sale of assets, selling the
stock of the company to someone else and trying to build from there or
moving on to a new company.' Any increase in chapter 11 filings could
find Wilmington practitioners straining to take on new work, and some
Delaware firms could find themselves in difficult circumstances when it
comes to servicing some of their new Internet clients.
USA Today Posts Financial Q & A Online
USA Today's online business section posts financial questions and
answers weekly. This week, California lawyer and author of the Ask a
Lawyer book series Steve Strauss answers consumers' questions about
bankruptcy. Read the full text
HREF='http://www.usatoday.com/small/ask/ask.htm'
TARGET='window2'>here.
Court Denies Visa and MasterCard Early Dismissal
A federal judge denied efforts by Visa and MasterCard International to
obtain an early dismissal in the Justice Department's antitrust case
against them, according to The Wall Street Journal. U.S. District
Judge Barbara S. Jones said Visa and MasterCard had presented 'what I
consider to be strong factual arguments' that their conduct did not
unduly hurt competition or consumers, but the government's 'heavy record
of factual allegations' ought to be considered at trial. The government
said the case was needed to allow banks that now issue only Visa and
MasterCard to offer American Express Co. and Discover cards. Visa USA's
lead attorney, M. Laurence Popofsky, argued that the attack on duality
was moot because the banks on Visa's board had already agreed to give
the vast majority of their business to Visa alone, and James C. Egan
Jr., MasterCard's attorney, added, 'There is no evidence to suggest such
a scheme was ever contemplated by anyone at MasterCard.' One of the
remedies the government is seeking is for banks that sit on the board of
either Visa or MasterCard to 'dedicate' to that brand. The Justice
Department sued Visa USA Inc., Visa International and MasterCard
Internationalassociations of member banks that issue cards on
their networksin October 1998, alleging that the associations
engaged in anti-competitive behavior and prevented innovation in the
industry by barring banks from issuing other types of credit cards.
ARM Financial Group Files Liquidation Plan
ARM Financial Group Inc. announced yesterday that it filed a chapter 11
liquidation plan and a related disclosure statement, according to a
newswire report. The plan submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the
District of Delaware provides for the liquidation of all of ARM's
remaining assets and the distribution of liquidated proceeds to its
creditors and preferred shareholders. The plan also provides for the
Louisville, Ky., company to cancel all outstanding shares of its common
stock. Both the disclosure statement and plan are subject to bankruptcy
court approval. ARM has been operating as a debtor-in-possession since
it filed for bankruptcy last December. The court has scheduled a hearing
for July to approve the disclosure statement.
United Companies Amends Reorganization Plan
United Companies Financial Corp. said yesterday that it and certain
subsidiaries filed an amended reorganization plan, according to Reuters.
The disclosure statement comes in wake of the company's federal chapter
11 bankruptcy case. The Baton Rouge, La., company said the filing
followed its plan announced in May to sell EMC Mortgage Corp. and EMC
Mortgage Acquisition Corp. along with its loan portfolio and real estate
owned properties for about $781 million in cash. The sale is subject to
the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the submission of better
offers under proposed bidding procedures. United Cos. is a specialty
finance company that has been operating under chapter 11 since March
1999.
Michael Jordan Wins Lawsuit Over Name Use
Former Chicago Bull's star Michael Jordan won a court battle over the
use of his name on a bankrupt Chicago restaurant yesterday, according to
the Associated Press. U.S. District Judge James Moran threw out a
contract that gave the rights of two business executives to use the name
'Michael Jordan,' but Jordan's name remains on the shuttered restaurant,
located just north of Chicago's downtown district. Moran ruled that one
of the executives had hurt Jordan publicly by saying that the Chicago
Bulls star had lost popularity and was a poorer restaurant draw. 'There
is something incongruous about a celebrity restaurant trashing the
celebrity and then expecting him to appear and the restaurant to
prosper,' said Moran. Restaurants using Jordan's name in New York and
other areas are not affected by the decision. The Chicago Tribune
reported that in total, the restaurant, which filed for bankruptcy last
December, earned an estimated $85,000 from an auction Tuesday, which
will go toward paying off its creditors.
Credit Counseling Canada Established Yesterday
Credit Counseling Canada (CCC), a Toronto association, was created
yesterday to help member agencies aid Canadians with personal debt
problems, according to a Canadian newswire report. The new association
brings together more than 30 non-profit credit counseling agencies and
debt programs. Through CCC member agencies, Canadians will have access
to standard credit counseling services. 'Credit counseling agencies are
proud to have helped hundreds of thousands of consumers manage to repay
their debts,' said Fran Smith, one of the founding board members. 'The
formation of CCC enables agencies and creditors to work together on a
national basis to help even more Canadian consumers.' CCC member
agencies will work across the country to help Canadians avoid bankruptcy
by finding solutions and providing budgeting and money management
education.
Semi-Tech, Panel Need
More Time To Finalize Ch 11 Plan
Approximately three months after Semi-Tech Corp. asked a bankruptcy
court to extend its exclusive periods for filing and soliciting votes to
a chapter 11 plan, it has again asked the court for more 45-day
extensions. The company had asked about three months ago for the
extension of exclusive periods to allow it and its official unsecured
creditors' committee finalize a consensual plan. In response to the
latest request, Judge Burton R. Lifland of the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court Tuesday extended the company's exclusive plan filing period
through the date on which he issues a ruling on the extension
requestwhich the company's third. The request will be considered
at a hearing scheduled June 21, with objections due June 16.
Courtesy
of
href='http://www.fedfil.com/bankruptcy/developments.htm'>The Daily
Bankruptcy
Review Copyright © June 9,
2000.
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