October 192000

Lott

Likely

To

Bring

Bankruptcy

Reform

Bill

Up

Today

Senate

Majority

Leader

Trent

Lott

(R-Miss.)

could

bring

up

major

bankruptcy

reform

legislation

"at

any

time”

and

will

likely

offer

a

motion

to

proceed

to

the

bankruptcy

bill

and

file

for

cloture

on

the

measure

today,

according

to

style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Congress Daily. Lott indicated
there will

be

no

votes

Friday

or

Monday,

which

would

make

Tuesday

the

earliest

the

Senate

could

vote

on

the

cloture

petition.

style='mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>Meanwhile,

House

Judiciary

Chairman

Hyde

(R-Ill.)

sent

a

letter

Tuesday

to

House

Foreign

Operations

Appropriations

Subcommittee

Chairman

Sonny

Callahan

(R-Ala.)

asking

him

to

consider

taking

a

provision

in

the

bankruptcy

conference

report

and

putting

it

into

the

FY2001

Foreign

Operations

spending

conference

report

instead.

That

provision

would

retroactively

prohibit

certain

foreign

judgments

from

being

enforced

in

the

United

States.

At

Hyde's

behest,

the

provision

was

included

in

the

House-passed

bankruptcy

conference

report,

which

the

president

has

vowed

to

veto.

"At

this

juncture,

however,

it

is

unclear

whether

there

is

sufficient

time

in

which

to

enact

the

bankruptcy

reform

legislation,"

Hyde

wrote.

style='mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>On

another

bankruptcy

front,

Rep.

Tammy

Baldwin

(D-Wis.)

Tuesday

introduced

legislation

designed

to

extend

chapter

12

for

an

additional

18

months.

House

Judiciary

Commercial

and

Administrative

Law

Subcommittee

ranking

member

Jerrold

Nadler

(D-N.Y.)

has

agreed

to

cosponsor

the

bill.

style='mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Bankruptcy

Move

Criticized

by

Judge

A

federal

bankruptcy

judge

on

Tuesday

admonished

civic

activist

Richard

Tolbert

for

filing

corporate

bankruptcy

papers

on

behalf

of

a

church

that

once

operated

out

of

his

home,

according

to

the

Kansas

City

Star.

The

filing,

said

Chief

U.S.

Bankruptcy

Judge Arthur B. Federman, was an attempt to circumvent a court
order that

barred

Tolbert

from

filing

for

personal

bankruptcy

for

six

months.

Since

1997,

Tolbert

has

filed

for

personal

bankruptcy

seven

times

but

has

never

completed

the

process.

Federman

gave

Tolbert

seven

days

to

complete

the

required

paperwork,

listing

the

church's

assets

and

income,

or

face

court

sanctions,

which

could

include

fines.

The

judge

also

sought

to

prevent

Tolbert

from

filing

a

second

bankruptcy

on

behalf

of

the

church.

style='mso-spacerun: yes'> 

style='mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>Lawyers

have

contended

that

Tolbert

frequently

seeks

the

bankruptcy

court's

protection

to

avoid

having

property

seized.

Once

that

danger

passes,

he

lets

the

bankruptcy

cases

languish,

they

said.

Tolbert

has

blamed

his

numerous

bankruptcy

petitions

and

tax

problems

on

what

he

says

are

overzealous

city

officials

bent

on

tearing

down

his

residential

properties

without

compensating

him

before

he

has

had

the

chance

to

fix

them

up.

style='color:black'>Payless Cashways Shuts Down 22 Stores

Long-struggling

Payless

Cashways

Inc.

said

Monday

that

it

was

shutting

down

22

stores,

the

largest

sweep

of

closures

since

the

company

closed

29

locations

during

its

chapter

11

reorganization

in

1997,

according

to

The Kansas City Star. The company filed chapter 11 in July
1997 and

emerged

in

December

of

that

same

year.

The

locations

will

be

shut

down

over

the

next

60

to

90

days.

When

the

closings

are

completed,

the

company

will

have

127

stores

in

17

states,

compared

with

more

than

200

several

months

before

its

chapter

11

filing.