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The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law is holding a hearing today at 9:30 a.m. ET to examine H.R. 4369, the "Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2012." The bill, which was introduced on April 17 by Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), looks to amend title 11 of the United States Code to require the public disclosure by trusts established under section 524(g) of such title, of quarterly reports that contain detailed information regarding the receipt and disposition of claims for injuries based on exposure to asbestos, and the filing of such reports with the Executive Office for United States Trustees. Click on the link below for the witness list and other hearing information.
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Hearings%202012/hear_05102012.html

Click here for the full text of H.R. 4368.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr4369ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr4369ih.pdf

Nortel Networks Inc., the telecommunications company being liquidated in bankruptcy, may soon settle a fight with its Asian and Latin American units over their share of more than $7 billion Nortel made from asset sales, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company may reach a settlement in the next few weeks with its so-called fourth estate, which includes units in China, Australia and Mexico, Nortel attorney James Bromley, with the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, said yesterday. Nortel's three main so-called bankruptcy estates are made up of defunct operating units in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Those groups have been battling for more than a year over the best way to split more than $7 billion collected by selling businesses and a cache of 6,000 patents.

Tribune Co. has moved to block an appeal that could prolong a stay in bankruptcy that began in 2008 and might not be over until next year, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. The Chicago-based company asked a bankruptcy judge to turn down a request from holders of a class of debt known as PHONES to challenge a decision that they say unfairly slashes their recoveries. The ruling PHONES holders want to attack came after Judge Kevin Carey rejected Tribune's last chapter 11 plan. The company wants to try again in June to win confirmation of a slightly revised restructuring plan that it hopes will ease it out of chapter 11 as property of big lenders.

The trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities Inc. revised a lawsuit to add the spouses of Bernard Madoff’s two sons as defendants on $57.5 million in claims, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The new claims, filed on May 4, are part of Irving Picard's existing $255 million complaint against the Madoff family seeking to recoup money taken out of the Ponzi scheme. The revised complaint adds Stephanie Mack, Mark Madoff's widow, and Deborah Madoff, Andrew Madoff's wife, as defendants on $54.5 million in claims for unjust enrichment. Picard also is suing for $3 million that allegedly was transferred to the two women and to Susan Elkin, Mark Madoff's first wife.

The judge in Washington Mutual's bankruptcy case ruled yesterday that a group of investors who are plaintiffs in a federal mortgage-backed securities lawsuit against WaMu cannot file a claim in the company's bankruptcy case until distributions are made to a group of low-ranking creditors, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The plaintiffs, whose lawsuit is scheduled for a September trial in Seattle, have asserted a claim of $435 million in the bankruptcy case and argue that they should be treated as general unsecured creditors. Washington Mutual maintains that the plaintiffs' claims must be subordinate to those of other creditor classes. WaMu also said that the plaintiffs had agreed in a previous stipulation not to file a claim unless a group of low-ranking creditors with securities fraud claims had received recoveries.