src='/AM/Images/headlines/headline.gif' />
September 13,
2005
name='1'>Federal Courts
Affected by Hurricane to Move
On Friday,
President Bush
signed into law the Federal Judiciary Emergency Special Sessions Act
of 2005,
which allows federal courts to operate outside their jurisdictions in
the event
of a disaster, CNN reported today. The law allows a federal appeals
court to
hold sessions "at any place outside the circuit" if the
chief judge
or the next highest-ranking person available determines the court
cannot operate
in its jurisdiction due to "emergency circumstances." The
law also
applies to U.S. district courts and bankruptcy courts.
href='http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/09/katrina.federalcourts/index.html'>Read
the full story.
id='2'>Winn-Dixie
Report Delayed
Winn-Dixie Stores
announced
that it has delayed filing its annual report with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange
Commission, BankruptcyData.com reported today. According to previously
filed
documents, the company anticipates a loss from continuing operations
of about
$666 million for fiscal 2005, versus $50.8 million in the previous
year.
id='3'>Delphi
Needs Rescue by Oct. 17
Delphi Corp., the
largest
U.S. auto parts supplier, said that it
href='http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyI…'>needed
to negotiate a rescue deal with unions and General Motors Corp. in the
next
month or else file for bankruptcy, Reuters reported today. Delphi
CEO Steve
Miller said the firm must find a clear solution with GM and unions to
stem high
wage and benefit costs ahead of a change in U.S. bankruptcy laws on
Oct. 17.
In other news, Delphi is also looking to
href='http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/13/news/fortune500/delphi.reut/index.htm'>cut
its work force by closing eight plants and cutting 4,000
workers.
id='4'>USG
Audit Finalized
USG announced that
the IRS
has finalized its regular audit of the corporation’s federal
income tax
returns for the years 2000-02, BankruptcyData.com reported today. The
audit
will result in an increase in the corporation’s reported
earnings for
2005 and net cash outflows by the end of 2005. A substantial portion
of the
outflows relating to the audited years and all of the outflows are the
result
of the disallowance by the IRS of the corporation’s current
deduction
of contractual interest on debt incurred prior to its bankruptcy
filing in 2001.
In addition, the audit is expected to result in net cash outflows of
$12 million
related to the 2000 year. Because this amount is considered a
pre-petition liability
under the Bankruptcy Code, the timing of payment is subject to
bankruptcy court
approval and has not yet been determined. Assuming that the
contractual interest
is ultimately paid, a substantial portion of these outflows will be
recovered
by the corporation on its tax returns in future years, following its
emergence
from bankruptcy.
href='http://www.bankruptcydata.com/BankruptcyDataNewsNEW.asp'>Read
more.
id='5'>U.K.
Youth Told to Choose Bankruptcy
In the U.K.,
increasing numbers
of young people are being advised to go bankrupt because of the high
levels
of debt they have taken on, This Is Money reported yesterday.
The Consumer
Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) said that the average amount owed by
someone
under 25 who came to it for help had nearly doubled since 1999 from
around £7,667
to just under £15,000 today. It said that there had also been a
sharp
increase in the number of young people who were struggling with debt.
The CCCS
said that the most common age group who sought help were people in
their mid
30s, who had a job, a mortgage, children and £28,700 worth of
debt. But
despite young people owing considerably less than this, they did not
have the
assets that older people had, and often the only option available to
them was
to go bankrupt.
href='http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-loans/article.html?in_article_i…'>Read
the full story.
Airlines
id='6'>US
Airways to Emerge
US Airways Group is
drawing
close this week to exiting a yearlong bankruptcy, capped by a court
hearing
on Thursday to confirm its merger/reorganization plan, the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
reported today. William Lauer, a US Airways analyst, has little
doubt that
US Airways creditors will approve the reorganization plan. At least
half of
the creditors, who were due to vote by close of business yesterday,
must give
their approval to the plan before the federal bankruptcy judge in
eastern Virginia
can confirm it. Today, America West Holdings shareholders are to vote
on the
planned merger with US Airways. Their approval is virtually assured
because
Texas-Pacific Group, which holds more than 50 percent of America West
shares,
already has pledged to vote in favor of the deal. Assuming that
remaining approvals
fall in line in the coming days, customers of US Airways and America
West will
be able to book flights on either airline on Oct. 1, said an America
West spokesman.
Both would simply read "US Airways," the merged
airline’s name,
sometime next year.
href='http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_373475.html'>Read
more.
id='7'>Delta
Wrangles for Pilot Pay Cuts
Delta Air Lines Inc.
href='http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/13/news/fortune500/delta_pilots.reut/index…'>asked
its pilots union yesterday to accept new wage and benefit
reductions to
help address a financial crisis, a spokeswoman at the No. 3 U.S.
carrier said,
according to Reuters reports. Shares of Atlanta-based Delta fell
more than
22 percent on widespread speculation that it was close to filing for
chapter
11 bankruptcy protection. "Today we presented to (pilots union)
ALPA
the pilot cost-savings proposals that we believe are necessary to
help address
the severe financial challenge that the company and its people are
facing,"
Delta spokeswoman Chris Kelly said, referring to the Air Line Pilots
Association.
The pilots agreed to $1 billion in annual concessions last year to
help the
airline to restructure. But the company warned the union in August
of dwindling
cash.
In other news,
href='http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=66704%2B13…'>Delta
Air Lines’ shares fell more than 22 percent to an all-time
low yesterday
on widespread market speculation that it was close to filing for
chapter 11
bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. The sharp stock decline,
which pushed
the company’s shares to less than $1, follows a special board
of directors
meeting on Friday, a source close to board members said. According
to the
source, who asked not to be named, the board met in New York weeks
ahead of
its next scheduled meeting, amid mounting financial pressure from
looming
debt payments and fuel costs. Several analysts said that they expect
the cash-strapped
carrier to file for chapter 11 protection before Oct. 17.
id='8'>Adelphia
Communications Hiring Approval Sought
Documents were
filed in the
Adelphia Communications case seeking approval for the retention of
Tauber &
Balser as forensic accountants, BankruptcyData.com reported today.
Tauber &
Balser will provide litigation support to Dechert in connection with
the Adelphia
Communications and Deloitte & Touche litigation.
href='http://www.bankruptcydata.com/BankruptcyDataNewsNEW.asp'>Read
more.
id='9'>
Bankruptcy Clerk Accused of Cheating Debtors
A longtime
bankruptcy court
clerk—who routinely dealt with people facing mounting
debt—is accused
of giving out false information so she could pocket their money, the
Chicago
Sun-Times reported today. Sandra Butler, 42, of Chicago was
charged with
attempted extortion Monday. She worked as a courtroom deputy assigned
to U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Jacqueline Cox. The feds say she took $500
from an undercover
witness and told him it would pay to block foreclosure of his home.
U.S. Bankruptcy
Court Clerk Ken Gardner immediately fired Butler on Monday. Butler was
released
on a $4,500 bond. The feds were on to Butler after a debtor told the
FBI that
in 2002, Butler asked for $5,000 to stop foreclosure of the
woman’s house.
href='http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bankrupt13.html'>Read
the
full story.
id='10'>Ex-McCook
Boss Files for Bankruptcy
Michael W. Lynch
has filed
for personal bankruptcy, almost four years after the acrimonious
collapse of
his once-prominent aluminum-plate company, McCook Metals LLC, the
Chicago
Tribune reported today. The former McCook chairman is seeking
protection
from creditors who hold claims totaling more than $47 million,
including the
bankruptcy trustee for McCook, which was shut down amid allegations of
accounting
fraud in 2001.
href='http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0509130091sep13,1,7276490.st…'>Read
more.