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October 5, 2005
name='1'>Senate Prepares
for Asbestos Vote
Leaders of the U.S.
Senate
Judiciary Committee have asked senators to prepare amendments in case
legislation
to create a $140 billion asbestos compensation fund is brought up for
a vote
this month, Reuters reported Monday. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and
Sen. Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.) sent letters to senators last week asking them to notify
the bill’s
sponsors as soon as possible of any amendments that they intended to
offer.
Specter and Leahy are co-authors of the bill to take asbestos injury
claims
out of the courts and pay them from a fund financed by asbestos
defendant companies
and insurers. The asbestos fund legislation was voted out of judiciary
committee
in May, but amid doubts about the bill in both parties, it has not
been brought
to the Senate floor.
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301141.html'>Read
the full story.
id='2'>Airline
Fight Holds Up Pension Bill
Action has stalled
on private
pension reform legislation in the U.S. Senate while lawmakers try to
resolve
a dispute about special aid for troubled airlines, Reuters reported
yesterday.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that he had placed a procedural
maneuver blocking
action on the pension reform bill that might otherwise have moved to
the Senate
floor this week, until the argument over airline aid is resolved.
Cornyn said
that he acted after American Airlines and Continental Airlines
complained about
a provision that would allow competitors in bankruptcy proceedings to
postpone
payments to their pension plans for many years. The Senate pension
proposal
would help distressed airlines by giving them 14 years to repair
pension underfunding
before subjecting them to new rules for companies in all industries,
which allow
seven years to make up any shortfalls. Last week, Rep. John Boehner
(R-Ohio),
the author of pension reform legislation in the House, criticized the
Senate
airline provision as "irresponsible," saying it would mean
some airlines
could effectively put off payments to their pensions for two decades.
Read
the full story.
id='3'>Pension
Rewrite Plan Hits Snag in Senate
A rewrite of the
nation’s
pension laws, slated for a Senate vote this week, has hit another
potential
snag, with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) seeking to add provisions
lifting restrictions
on financial trading of pension assets, something Wall Street has been
seeking,
Congress Daily reported today. With negotiators still working
on an agreement
to assuage senators concerned about unrelated provisions of the bill
giving
troubled airline carriers additional pension relief, Schumer’s
concerns might
further complicate plans for a speedy vote before Congress adjourns
Friday for
a week-long recess.
href='http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/congressdaily/'>Read
the full story.
id='4'>U.S.
Waives Counseling for Katrina Victims
The Department of
Justice
waived part of a new bankruptcy law for some victims of Hurricane
Katrina yesterday,
saying that they would not have to go through credit counseling before
filing
for bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. The U.S. Trustee Program,
which
enforces bankruptcy laws for the Justice Department, announced that
"a
temporary waiver of the statutory requirements for credit
counseling" would
be in effect for filers in Louisiana and the southern district of
Mississippi,
due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The statement did not say how
long
the waiver would last. A spokeswoman said there was "no
timeline."
Read
more.
id='5'>Bankruptcy
Filings Soar In Advance of New Law
Two weeks before a
new, more
restrictive national bankruptcy law goes into effect, financially
strapped Americans
are rushing to file for protection from their creditors, with filings
climbing
to an unprecedented average of 13,000 a day last week, the
Washington Post
reported today. Last week’s 68,287 filings surpassed the record
set the week
before by 24 percent, and this week’s total is likely to be
higher, according
to data released yesterday by Lundquist Consulting Inc. "We are
seeing
a rush, mainly from people we saw a year ago," Northern Virginia
bankruptcy
lawyer Robert Weed said. A year ago his clients thought they
would be
able to work their way out of debt without filing for bankruptcy, he
said, "but
now they’re in a panic to get in before the law is
changed." "Everyone
expected a steep spike in filings," said Sam Gerdano,
executive
director of the American Bankruptcy Institute. But after Oct. 17, he
said, the
numbers should decline. The court clerk’s office "will be
as lonely as
a Maytag repairman.”
href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401763.html'>Read
the full story.
id='6'>Judge
Approves Bottle Company Sale
A federal
bankruptcy judge
yesterday approved the $3.8 million sale of the assets of the idled
Glenshaw
Glass Co. to an investment group that is considering restarting the
110-year-old
bottle maker, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported yesterday.
But the
buyer said that he has to arrange additional public and private
financing, and
reach agreements with customers and labor unions, before the plant can
reopen.
The asset sale comes more than a year after the plant suffered
extensive damage
to its furnaces and equipment from the Sept. 17, 2004, flood spawned
by Hurricane
Ivan—an event that ultimately led the company into court
receivership
and then a plant shutdown last November. The case was converted to a
bankruptcy
after the plant closed.
href='http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05278/582552.stm'>Read
more.
id='7'>Country
Club Could Emerge from Bankruptcy
The Greensburg
Country Club
could emerge from bankruptcy if a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge approves its
reorganization
plan at a Nov. 3 hearing in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review
reported today. If approved, the nonprofit organization will be
subject to the
terms of the plan, said Paul J. Cordaro, a Pittsburgh attorney
representing
the club. The Hempfield Township club notified unsecured creditors
they might
get between 80 percent and 90 percent of the money they are owed. The
organization
sold the clubhouse and its 18-hole golf course to the Leghorn Golf
Group for
$4.7 million in March. It filed for chapter 11 in August 2004.
Asbestos
id='8'>$5
Million Awarded in Asbestos Suit
A jury has awarded
a Bloomington,
Ill., woman more than $5 million after her husband died from a form of
cancer
caused by asbestos exposure, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
The McLean
County civil court jury found Honeywell International Inc. responsible
for damages
in the death of 69-year-old Merlan Dukes. Dukes died in May after
battling mesothelioma.
The jury yesterday ordered Honeywell to pay $1.5 million for pain and
suffering
$3.675 million in wrongful death damages.
id='9'>Company
Reached Asbestos Settlement With State
A New Hampshire
asbestos
removal company has reached a settlement with the state over violating
environmental
laws, the Associated Press reported today. A judge has approved a
Consent Decree
involving Gordon Ingram and his asbestos removal company, Tri-state
Environmental.
The state alleged that for most of 2003, Ingram violated asbestos
management
and control laws. The violations included not giving the state proper
notice
of asbestos projects, not paying fees for the projects and working on
projects
without a license. Inigram was fined a quarter of a million dollars,
but the
judge said that he will only have to pay $25,000, as long as he does
not violate
asbestos laws for two years. The company now has a new owner and
manager.
id='10'>Indiana
Truckers in Chapter 11
Warren, Ind.,
trucking company
Pipe Creek Transport Inc. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, the
Fort Wayne
Journal Gazette reported yesterday. Pipe Creek reported
$1,394,842.98 in
debt and $1,220,036.83 in assets. Pipe Creek employs 35, a statistic
that probably
makes the company one of the small town’s 10 largest employers,
according
to Andy Jockheck, a member of the Warren Area Chamber of
Commerce’s board
of directors.
href='http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/12813728.htm'>Read
more.
id='11'>Conn.
Investment Firm Files for Chapter 7
A Groton,
Conn.-based financial
services firm whose Connecticut mortgage operations have been
suspended by state
regulators has filed for bankruptcy, the New London Day
reported today.
Matrix Investment Corp. has voluntarily filed for chapter 7
bankruptcy. An initial
trustee’s hearing on the case is scheduled for Oct. 27 at the
U.S. Trustee’s
office. Matrix, which was founded in 1982, is owned by the Johnson
Family Trust
and offers services ranging from mortgage banking and real estate
brokerage
to government relations.
href='http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=2fe0fd40-0837-4f83-9e8e-f0f6e9ffef4d'>Read
more.
id='12'>Tectonic
Chapter 11 Petition Filed, Agreement Announced
Tectonic Network,
formerly
Return On Investment Corp., and its subsidiary Tectonic Solutions
announced
that they have filed for chapter 11 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for
the Northern
District of Georgia, BankruptcyData.com reported today. To help
support its
business during the chapter 11 proceedings, the company has reached an
agreement
in principle for $1 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing
from Boston
Equities Corp. The agreement in principle includes up to $500,000 of
financing
on an interim basis pending final approval of the full DIP financing
at a later
date. Among other things, the receipt of the DIP financing is
contingent upon
entering into a definitive DIP financing agreement with Boston
Equities. In
addition, the company has an agreement in principle to sell
substantially all
of the assets utilized in its construction software business to Boston
Equities
for $2 million. This agreement is subject to approval of the court,
which will
conduct an "overbid" process to give other potential buyers
an opportunity
to submit superior bids.
id='13'>Mirant
Disclosure Statement Approved
Mirant filed a
second amended
disclosure statement relating to its reorganization plan,
BankruptcyData.com
reported today. The court subsequently approved the disclosure
statement and
scheduled a Dec. 1, 2005 hearing to consider confirming the plan.
Court approval
of the disclosure statement came after several creditors withdrew
their objections
to the disclosure statement.
id='14'>Georgia
to Get $40 Million Settlement from WorldCom Claim
Georgia would
receive about
$40 million as its share of a proposed settlement of state tax claims
against
WorldCom, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Under the proposed
agreement
with MCI, with which WorldCom was merged under a reorganization plan,
15 states
and the District of Columbia would divide $315 million under a pro
rata
distribution formula. North Carolina negotiated a separate agreement
for $16
million, MCI said in a statement. Georgia’s share is $39.7
million on claims
of about $43 million in taxes.
id='15'>Winn-Dixie
Shareholders Seek Adviser
The committee
representing
Winn-Dixie’s Stores Inc.’s stockholders in the
company’s bankruptcy reorganization
filed a motion Friday seeking court approval to retain a financial
adviser,
the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported yesterday. The Equity
Security
Committee, comprised of four stockholding individuals and one
institutional
investor, are petitioning for approval of New York-based Jeffries
& Co.
While ascertaining Winn-Dixie’s financial condition, Jeffries
will not evaluate
the internal controls or financial reporting of the company.
href='http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2005/10/03/daily28.html'>Read
the full story.
San Diego
id='16'>Judge
Dismisses Aguirre’s Lawsuit
A lawsuit seeking a
rollback
of retirement benefits for San Diego city employees was dismissed
Friday, North
County Times Wire Services reported Monday. City Attorney Michael
Aguirre, who
filed the lawsuit, said that he plans to appeal the decision. The
lawsuit alleged
that the eight defendants violated the Political Reform Act when they
participated
in agreements in 1996 and 2002 to boost retirement benefits, including
their
own, without providing funding.
href='http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/10/01/news/sandiego/12_32_119_30_05.txt'>Read
more.
id='17'>Deputy
Mayor Wants Three Pension Officials Gone
Deputy Mayor Toni
Atkins
called on three top pension officials to immediately step down
yesterday because
she says they wasted the city’s time and money by not
cooperating with investigators
who are probing the city’s financial dealings, the Voice of
San Diego
reported today. Atkins called on administrator Larry Grissom, chief
counsel
Lori Chapin and board president Peter Preovolos to step down a day
after the
city’s outside audit committee made public several thousand of
the San Diego
City Employees’ Retirement System’s confidential documents
that she said should
have been released earlier to better cooperate with various
investigators. Specifically,
a legal opinion from March 2003 by the pension system’s outside
law firm that
found that pension trustees breached their fiduciary responsibility
should have
been turned over earlier because of its importance, Atkins said.
"Their
refusal to do so, until now, has cost the city’s taxpayers
million of dollars,"
she said.
href='http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=euLTJbMUKvH&b=312470&ct=1483121'>Read
the full story.
id='18'>Cops,
Firefighters Sue Over Missed Pension Payments
Police officers and
firefighters
alleged yesterday that years of skipped payments by the state has
jeopardized
their retirement fund even as taxpayers face dramatic increases in
public employee
pension payments, the New Jersey Times, Trenton reported today.
The Professional
Firefighters Association of New Jersey and the New Jersey State
Fraternal Order
of Police filed a lawsuit yesterday in Superior Court in Trenton
alleging that
skipped state and municipal payments have made the Police and
Firemen’s Retirement
System of New Jersey unsound. Thomas P. Canzanella, president of the
firefighters
union, said that the skipped payments came as firefighters and police
officers
continued paying money into the fund.