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Bankruptcy
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June 18, 2013
Specialty Products Wants $1B Asbestos Appeal In 3rd Circ.
Specialty Products Holding Corp. sought permission Tuesday to go directly to the Third Circuit with its appeal of a Delaware bankruptcy court's decision pegging its asbestos-related liability at $1.1 billion, saying a quick resolution of the issue has implications for its case and others.
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June 18, 2013
Howrey Settles With Dickstein, Novak Druce, Wilson Sonsini
The Chapter 11 trustee in Howrey LLP’s bankruptcy has reached settlements with three law firms that hired former Howrey partners — Dickstein Shapiro LLP, Novak Druce & Quigg LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC — he told a California bankruptcy court Tuesday.
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June 18, 2013
Bankrupt Hardware Chain Orchard Gets Nod For $176M DIP
A Delaware bankruptcy judge gave his blessing Tuesday to a slate of first-day motions for Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp., including debtor-in-possession facilities totaling $176 million, designed to keep the home-and-garden chain operating while it pursues a Chapter 11 sale to Lowe’s Home Improvement LLC.
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June 18, 2013
Verizon Finishes Off Creditor Suit Over $9B Idearc Spinoff
Verizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday defeated a $9 billion fraudulent transfer suit that targeted its spinoff of the former Idearc Inc., when a Texas federal judge ruled that the bankrupt phone directory company’s creditors couldn't prove that Verizon had intended for the spinoff to fail.
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June 18, 2013
Rothstein Trustee Wants Investors' Evidence Excluded
The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein's law firm asked a Florida bankruptcy court Monday to exclude evidence from investors objecting to a provision in the exit plan that bars suits against TD Bank NA.
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June 18, 2013
OnCure Gets $25M Bankruptcy Loan Greenlighted For Now
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday gave private equity-owned cancer center operator OnCure Holdings Inc. an interim go-ahead for a $25 million post-petition loan, despite the U.S. Trustee's Office's objection to how the credit facility was structured.
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June 18, 2013
Laser Co. Plans To Use Litigation Profits To Pay Creditors
Laser manufacturer Deep Photonics Corp. on Monday submitted its Chapter 11 reorganization plan, which relies on the proceeds of pending litigation in Oregon against its former CEO as well as future company profits to repay its general unsecured creditors in full.
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June 18, 2013
Rotech Equity Holders Lose Bid To Hire Moelis As Adviser
The equity committee in the Rotech Healthcare Inc. Chapter 11 case lost a bid to hire Moelis & Co. LLC as its financial adviser Tuesday, when a Delaware bankruptcy judge said Moelis' fee was too expensive for a creditor not believed to be getting any recovery.
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June 18, 2013
Tribune Could Owe $500M In Taxes On Cubs, Newsday Deals
Six months after escaping bankruptcy, media giant Tribune Co. revealed Monday that it could owe upward of $500 million in taxes stemming from its long-closed sales of the Chicago Cubs and the Newsday newspaper.
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June 18, 2013
Lenders Up Cash Bid By $10M For ATP Oil Assets
A group of lenders led by Credit Suisse Group AG looking to buy ATP Oil & Gas Corp.’s oil and gas leases have upped their cash bid by $10 million, according to documents filed Monday in Texas bankruptcy court.
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June 18, 2013
Mexico's Maxcom Mulls Prepackaged Ch. 11 With Creditors
Mexico's Maxcom Telecomunicaciones SAB said Tuesday it's eyeing a prepackaged Chapter 11 in the U.S. as a possible key to new capital and reorganization, following a private equity firm's failed takeover and news that Maxcom will delay paying $11 million in interest on outstanding senior debt.
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June 18, 2013
Bankrupt Insurer Ducks Congoleum Asbestos Coverage
A New Jersey appeals court on Monday upheld a liquidation court ruling that struck bankrupt Congoleum Corp.'s requests for excess insurance coverage from Integrity Insurance Co. for asbestos-related claims because the claims' liability and value allegedly weren't fixed by a deadline in Integrity's amended liquidation closing plan.
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June 18, 2013
Tousa's Liquidation Plan Needs Redo, US Trustee Says
The U.S. Trustee's Office carped on homebuilder Tousa Inc.'s liquidation plans in Florida bankruptcy court Monday, saying that it's too vague about a number of issues, such as the payment of professional fees, including for the trustee himself.
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June 18, 2013
Reader's Digest Affiliate Seeks Extension To File Ch. 11 Plan
Direct Entertainment Media Group Inc., a subsidiary of Reader’s Digest parent RDA Holdings Co., on Monday asked a New York bankruptcy judge for an extension of its deadline to file a Chapter 11 plan without the threat of a rival plan being submitted.
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June 17, 2013
Hardware Store Chain Plans $205M Sale To Lowe's In Ch. 11
Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp. sought Chapter 11 protection in Delaware on Monday, with the chain of midsized home-and-garden stores hoping to free itself from a burdensome balance sheet through a $205 million stalking horse sale to industry giant Lowe’s Home Improvement LLC.
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June 17, 2013
JPMorgan Wins $15M From Meritage In Project Loan Suit
A Nevada federal judge Monday granted summary judgment to JPMorgan Chase Bank NA’s subagent Insolvency Services Group Inc. in a case against Meritage Homes Corp., finding that Meritage owed $15 million to repay its share of a loan given to a bankrupt developer.
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June 17, 2013
'Naked' Liens Don't Open IRAs To Creditors: 6th Circ.
The Sixth Circuit on Monday reversed lower courts’ rulings that found a bankrupt man’s retirement account was fair game for creditors after he signed a lien agreement with Merrill Lynch, ruling that a “naked lien,” stripped of any connection to a credit transaction, doesn’t disqualify a retirement plan from exempt status.
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June 17, 2013
Ch. 7 Surcharge Appeal Taken Up By High Court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take on a case involving a bankruptcy trustee’s ability to impose a surcharge on exempted property due to a Chapter 7 debtor's misconduct, despite the U.S. solicitor general’s recommendation against reviewing the case.
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June 17, 2013
Creditors Balk At Capitol Bancorp’s Plan To Sell Off Banks
Creditors of Capitol Bancorp Ltd. on Friday urged a Michigan judge to allow changes to the bankrupt company’s plan to sell off its remaining nondebtor subsidiary banks, saying the current proposal doesn’t give creditors enough input in the bidding process.
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June 17, 2013
WR Grace Bankruptcy Plan Favors Company, 3rd Circ. Told
In arguments before the Third Circuit on Monday, entities including the Canadian government and several major lenders said a bankruptcy reorganization plan approved for W.R. Grace & Co. left them undercompensated for their claims while favoring asbestos plaintiffs who sued the company directly.
Expert Analysis
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Bank-Holding Cos. Can Benefit From TAAs In Bankruptcy
The increasing number of bankruptcy and district court decisions in favor of estates demonstrates the importance of understanding the bankruptcy implications of a tax allocation agreement entered into by any consolidated tax group, especially bank-holding companies. As shown by the Southern District of California ruling in In re Imperial Capital Bancorp Inc., the TAA terms could affect a significant estate asset: tax refunds, says Matthew Riopelle of Foley & Lardner LLP.
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Whyte V. Barclays Follows The 546 Safe Harbor Trend
In Whyte v. Barclays Bank PLC, the Southern District of New York recently dismissed the complaint of the trustee for the SemGroup estate seeking to avoid a novation made to Barclays pre-bankruptcy under a swap agreement. This is one of a number of cases in recent years that treats the safe harbors — particularly the section 546 safe harbors — as broadly protective of nondebtor transferees in financial transactions, say Jonathan Guy and Douglas Mintz of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
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How Flexible Flyer Slipped Past The WARN Act
Interestingly, though the Fifth Circuit in In re Flexible Flyer based its analysis on the WARN Act's "unforeseen business circumstance" exception, the factors that the court considered had more to do with the company's "good faith, well-grounded hope and reasonable expectations." This suggests that, at least from the Fifth Circuit's perspective, the WARN Act is also meant to encourage companies to take reasonable actions to preserve the company and jobs, say Amy Vanderwal and George Klidonas of Baker & Hostetler LLP.
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Lehman Derivative Litigation Still Looms Large
The market’s attention is fixed firmly on the future of derivatives. Questions about the Dodd Frank requirements, and to what extent the use of swaps in structured finance and other transactions will return, are front and center. And yet, there are also lessons to be learned from the past use of these somewhat esoteric financial instruments, which continue to be tested in litigation — with more to come on the Lehman front, say attorneys with Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
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Catch Me If You Can: How To Serve Foreign Defendants
You are sitting at your desk when your client calls to tell you that his or her customer breached an agreement. As you do your intake, you ask where the customer resides. You learn that the potential defendant has recently moved to “Country X.” Suddenly, what first appeared to be a simple breach of contract case has become a venture into the exotic world of international service of process and jurisdiction, say attorneys with Nossaman LLP.
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An Evaluation Of Valuation In 363 Sales
Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor
No single formula can be used to determine the value of every business in every situation. Therefore, a number of generally accepted methods have been developed, none of which are necessarily superior to the others. Selection depends on the purpose of the valuation, type of business being valued, available data and a number of other factors, say attorneys with Grant Thornton LLP.
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Distressed Investing In Cyprus: The Cyprio Bank Bail-In
The current consensus is that investment opportunities in Cyprus are unlikely to evolve into a full-fledged claims-trading market similar to the recent experience in Iceland. But no one is betting against the power of markets to evolve once buyers and sellers negotiate pricing, transfer structures begin to evolve and distressed documentation, tailored to acquiring Cypriot bank deposits, is put in draft, say attorneys with Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP.
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How To Secure Your D&O Liability Insurance Lifelines
The best time to fix D&O insurance issues is when the sailing is smooth — not when the corporate yacht is about to sink. A number of specific issues should be at the top of any director’s and officer’s list, say Paul Ferrillo and Ronit Berkovich of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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Mediators, Expand Your Tool Kit In Complex Litigation
The resolution of class actions or multidistrict litigation cases can present a number of challenges that call for the utmost in the mediator's skill and understanding. Though there is no typical complex litigation case, a mediator needs to recognize the special levels of complexity in these cases, such as litigating against "repeat players" and handling "follow-on" cases, says James Rosenbaum of JAMS.
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Analyzing Ch. 15 Recognition Motion And Provisional Relief
Excerpt from Lexis Practice Advisor
Importantly, section 1510 of the Bankruptcy Code provides that the mere fact that a foreign representative has filed a petition under section 1515 of the Bankruptcy Code does not subject the foreign representative to the jurisdiction of any court in the United States for any other purpose, say Marc Abrams and Shaunna Jones of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.