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December 5, 2005
name='1'>U.S.
Senate’s Frist to Bring up Asbestos
U.S. Senate
Majority Leader
Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) on Friday reaffirmed a pledge to bring up
legislation to
curb asbestos lawsuits early next year, Reuters reported. Reforming
asbestos
litigation was a "jobs issue, a lawsuit abuse issue (and) a
health care
issue," Frist said. Frist and other supporters of the legislation
argue
that many asbestos claims are made by people who have been exposed to
the mineral
but are not sick—clogging the courts, diverting compensation
from those
who are ill and driving businesses into bankruptcy. The legislation
has divided
the business community, as well as senators in both parties and
struggled to
gain support.
href='http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&s…'>Read
more.
id='2'>Codey
Task Force: Pump $12 Billion into Pension Fund
New Jersey should
immediately
pump $12 billion into its pension system to make it actuarially sound,
according
to the report of a special panel appointed by acting Governor Richard
Codey,
the New Jersey Business Journal reported Friday. Other steps to
reduce
the $12 billion gap between the state’s pension obligations and
its available
funds should include selling state-owned assets and requiring public
employees
to pay part of their medical expenses, the report said.. The Benefits
Review
Task Force criticized lawmakers for using "valuation gimmicks and
pension
holidays" to artificially reduce the state’s pension
contributions.
href='http://www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aID=597455202.74437602.853385.5501181…'>Read
more.
id='3'>Utah
Condemns Bankruptcy Fraud
Bankruptcy fraud is
a white-collar
crime that few know about, but it is steadily increasing alongside the
rise
in the number of Utahns and other Americans seeking the financial,
last-gasp
solution to too few dollars and too many bills, the Salt Lake
Tribune
reported yesterday. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that
fraud is involved
in approximately 10 percent of all bankruptcy petitions. A recently
launched
joint effort between the U.S. Attorney and U.S. Trustee’s
offices in Salt Lake
City has pushed Utah to the forefront of bankruptcy-fraud prosecution.
Attorneys
from those Utah offices during the past two years have brought a big
percent
of the indictments filed nationwide. To bolster the government’s
investigation
and prosecution efforts, U.S. Attorney Paul Warner in 2003 named
Assistant U.S.
Trustee Cy Castle in Salt Lake City as a special assistant U.S.
attorney.
Read more.
id='4'>Judge
Approves $23M to Lawyers, Consultants
A Jacksonville,
Fla., bankruptcy
judge has approved about $23 million for attorneys and consultants
working to
reorganize the bankrupt supermarket chain Winn-Dixie Stores, the
Associated
Press reported Saturday. The judge has named a fee examiner whose job
it will
be to reviews the fees charged by the law firms and consultants in the
massive
bankruptcy case and determine whether they are proper.
href='http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=4193133'>Read
more.
id='5'>Mirant
Set to Emerge from Chapter 11
The U.S.
Bankruptcy Court
in Ft. Worth, Texas, has confirmed Mirant’s chapter 11 plan of
reorganization,
setting the energy company on track to come out of bankruptcy by the
end of
2005, the Atlanta Business Journal reported Saturday.
Atlanta-based Mirant
noted that the plan converts nearly $7 billion of debt and liabilities
into
common stock of the reorganized company, reinstates $1.7 billion of
debt at
the company’s Mirant Americas Generation LLC subsidiary and
implements settlements
between the company and a number of its major constituencies. However,
Mirant
will leave its New York subsidiaries in chapter 11 pending the outcome
of currently
incomplete settlement negotiations with certain New York taxing
authorities
over Mirant’s efforts to recover real property tax overpayments
made in prior
years. The plan will have no impact on Mirant’s Caribbean and
Philippine operations,
which were not part of the chapter 11 proceedings.
href='http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2005/11/28/daily41.html'>Read
more.
Airlines
id='6'>United
Creditors Get Final Say on End of Bankruptcy
United Airlines has
overhauled
its business, scaled back on domestic flights, and swung the
cost-cutting ax
numerous times during the past three years as it has looked to climb
out of
bankruptcy, Scripps Howard News Service reported yesterday. Now, its
immediate
future lies in the hands of tens of thousands of creditors, from banks
and government
agencies to small businesses and giant corporations. United has mailed
voting
packets to more than 90,000 creditors as it seeks approval of its plan
to emerge
from chapter 11 in February. Some claims have been settled, but up to
$30 billion
worth of unsecured claims remain on the books. Stockholders will get
completely
wiped out and will not be able to vote on the plan.
href='http://www.nwherald.com/BusinessSection/43073691917223.php'>Read
more.
id='7'>Aloha
CEO Banmiller’s Statement to Bankruptcy Court
David Banmiller,
president
and CEO of Aloha Airlines, read a prepared statmetn in bankruptcy
court last
week after the company’s reorganization plan was confirmed by
Judge Robert
Faris.
href='http://starbulletin.com/2005/12/04/business/story03.html'>Read
the full testimony.
id='8'>UAL
Payment Announced
United Airlilnes
has agreed
to pay $21.6 million in back taxes to the city of Denver,
BankrutpcyData.com
reported Friday. The settlement includes city tax claims from July
2000 to June
2004 and applicable penalties and interest. The payments cover
property, sales,
use and occupational privilege taxes.
id='9'>Bankruptcy
Judge Presses for Delta, Pilots to Keep Talks Alive
A New York
bankruptcy judge
on Friday pressed Delta Airlines Inc. and its pilots union to keep
negotiating,
marking the sixth day of hearings on the airline’s motion to
throw out
a collective bargaining agreement so it can cut costs, the Associated
Press
reported Saturday. ‘‘I feel confident you know how to
negotiate,
because you have done it a lot before,’’ Judge Prudence
Carter
Beatty told attorneys for both Delta and its pilots.
‘‘The code
contemplates the parties should continue to negotiate,’’
she said.
href='http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=35&url_art…'>Read
more.
id='10'>New
York Racing Assoc.: Chapter 11 Possible
Shutting down
Aqueduct this
winter in the face of a financial crisis is not an option, New York
Racing Association
(NYRA) President Charles Hayward said yesterday, vowing NYRA will
continue to
conduct racing even if, as projected, it runs out of cash by the end
of this
month, the New York Post reported. If necessary, said Hayward,
NYRA will
file for bankruptcy protection to keep its doors open and horses
running. Hayward
will meet tomorrow with Carole Stone, chairman of the N.Y. Racing
Oversight
Board established by Albany last summer to supervise NYRA’s
finances, hoping
to persuade the board to OK NYRA’s projected sale.
id='11'>FiberMark
Cleared to Emerge from Bankruptcy
The U.S. Bankruptcy
Court
in Burlington, Vt., cleared the way Friday for FiberMark to emerge
from bankruptcy
early next year, the Boston Globe reported Saturday. FiberMark
spokeswoman
Janice Warren said that when the company emerges from bankruptcy it
will have
less than a quarter of the debt it had two years ago. The company will
also
have a new board of directors created when FiberMark’s creditors
divided up
power. Unsecured creditors will get about 70 percent of the money they
are owed.
FiberMark is being converted from a public company to one that is
privately
held. Warren said the company’s stock would be canceled and
trading would end.
href='http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2005/12/03/fibermark_…'>Read
more.
id='12'>Friedman’s
Inc. Plan of Reorganization Confirmed by Bankruptcy Court
Friedman’s
Inc. announced
that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Georgia,
Savannah
Division, has entered an order confirming its reorganization plan,
thus setting
the stage for Friedman’s emergence from chapter 11 prior to the
end of the year,
a press release said on Friday. The company also announced that it has
entered
a consent decree with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well
as a Non-prosecution
Agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern
District of New York.
Read
more.
id='13'>Amcast
Makes Second Bankruptcy Filing
Amcast Industrial
Corp. filed
for chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday in the southern district of
Indiana, just
three months after emerging from a previous chapter 11, according to
court documents,
the Dayton Business Journal reported Saturday. The company had
been based
in Washington Township, but now is based in Freemont, Ind. It filed
for bankruptcy
in November 2004 and emerged in August. General Motors Corp. is
Amcast’s largest
customer and revenue source, representing about 80 percent of the
company’s
business, according to the court filings. Amcast manufactures aluminum
wheels
for automobiles and light trucks, and squeeze-cast aluminum casting
used with
automobile suspensions and brake systems. The company plans to
reorganize and
shift its focus from long-term manufacturing programs to programs that
will
maximize short-term earnings and cash flow, allowing it to pay its
creditors,
according to filings.
id='14'>Pillowtex
Plan Filed
Pillowtex and its
official
committee of unsecured creditors filed a reorganization plan and
related disclosure
statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, BankruptcyData.com reported
Friday.
The plan provides for 100 percent recovery of administrative expense
claims,
priority tax claims, revolving lender administrative claims, term
lender administrative
claims, Class 1 priority claims, and Class 2 other secured claims.
Class 3 convenience
claims is slated to receive 12 percent recovery; and Class 6 interests
of holders
of Pillowtex equity and securities trading claims and Class 7
interests of holders
of subsidiary equity are slated for 0 percent recovery.
id='15'>Bankrupt
Co. Lists $63M Debt from Fraud Case
ABA Hail
Restoration of Boca
Raton has declared chapter 7 bankruptcy in the face of a pending
consumer fraud
lawsuit by the state of Illinois, which it lists as a $63 million
debt, the
South Florida Business Journal reported today. The Illinois
attorney
general charged ABA Hail and its then-president, Boca Raton resident
and radio
station owner Albert M. Hochstadt, in March 2004, with bilking 13
Illinois residents
on roof repairs. The complaint said that Hochstadt solicited his
business following
a devastating hailstorm in April 2003 without a proper roofing license
and didn’t
complete repairs after accepting down payments of up to $5,000. Given
that the
civil penalties include up to $50,000 per violation and reimbursing
the customers,
the state isn’t sure why ABA Hail listed the debt as $63
million.
href='http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2005/12/05/tid…'>Read
the full story.
id='16'>Biocon
Research Partner Files for Bankruptcy
Leading
bio-technology company
Biocon Ltd on today said that its research development partner, Nobex
Corporation,
has filed for bankruptcy. Biocon informed the stock exchanges that its
research
partner filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11 of U.S. bankruptcy laws.
However,
the company does not anticipate any disruption in its ongoing oral
insulin research
program, licensed from Nobex and is also seeking to acquire its
intellectual
property assets. Biocon has invested $5.8 million in Nobex, $1 million
in common
stock and $4.8 million in convertible loans.
id='17'>Church
in Pa. Says Allowing Suits Unfair
Roman Catholic Church
href='http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Church_Abuse_Lawsuits.html'>officials
in Pennsylvania say that a proposal to let sexual-abuse victims file
lawsuits
decades after they were abused would be "fundamentally
unfair"
and could financially ruin dioceses across the state, the Associated
Press
reported today. Pennsylvania has a strict statute of limitations
that has
kept most sexual abuse cases out of the courts, but some lawmakers
are now
recommending a one-year window in which victims could file lawsuits
regardless
of when the abuse occurred. The proposal followed a scathing report
issued
in September by the Philadelphia district attorney’s office
that documented
how two cardinals and top aides hid decades of abuse allegations
involving
the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
Meanwhile, the first bankruptcy in the nation declared by a Roman
Catholic
diocese has raised a difficult question whose answer may have an
enormous
impact on any future claims by victims of alleged priest sex
abuse—
href='http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_OR_Archdiocese_Bankruptcy.ht…'>who
owns the churches and the property they are standing on? Lawyers
for the
victims say it’s the diocese, the Associated Press reported
today. Attorneys
for the Archdiocese of Portland say it is the individual parishes
and Catholic
schools.
id='18'>Sears
Offers $718.5 Million for Sears Canada
Sears Holdings
Corp., the
retailer formed when Kmart bought Sears, Roebuck & Co., said today
that
it has offered to buy the remaining stake in Sears Canadafor about
$718.5 million,
Reuters reported. The company, which already owns about 53.8 percent
of Sears
Canada’s stock, said that its offer represents an 8.7 percent
premium over Friday’s
closing share price.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-retail-sears.html'>Read
more.
International
id='19'>Small
Talk: Clear Debt Poised to Challenge Leaders in Insolvency Market
The U.K. consumer
is weighed
down with more than £1 trillion of debt, so it is no surprise
that insolvency
practitioners should have been among the most successful stock market
investments
of the year, the Independent reported today. Debt Free Direct,
Accuma
and Debtmatters are the currently listed trio specializing in
individual voluntary
arrangements (IVAs), an alternative to personal bankruptcy. But they
are about
to be faced with an aggressive new rival, which plans to float within
a month
via a reverse takeover of the cash shell Carrwood. And if the founder
of Clear
Debt, the Manchester-based insolvency practitioner and serial AIM
company director
David Mond, is correct, then his company could be the beneficiary of a
big shift
in the market that would seriously affect the profitability of his
more established
rivals.
href='http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article331…'>Read
more.
id='20'>Franco-Ontarian
Festival Facing Bankruptcy
One of
Ottawa’s longest-running
festivals, the Festival franco-ontarien, is on the verge of going
bankrupt.
CBC News reported Friday. The festival filed for bankruptcy protection
a couple
of months ago after discovering $380,000 was missing from its bank
account.
The RCMP is being asked to investigate the company that was hired to
run the
festival. For 30 years, it has been showcasing the province’s
francophone culture.
Then, four years ago, the board of directors hired Cobalt Events to
run the
event. After last summer’s festival, Cobalt closed its doors and
disappeared.
The festival was left owing creditors about $280,000, and the board of
directors
discovered that $380,000 had been withdrawn from the festival’s
account. The
bankruptcy trustee, Claude Gingras, has asked the federal bankruptcy
superintendent
to call in the RCMP to investigate.
href='http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/story/ot-francofest20051202.html'>Read
more.