Bloomberg Law Podcast
Interviews about legal issues, decisions and pending cases.
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Rochelle on Dynegy, Houghton Mifflin, Two Buyout Targets: Audio
May 24, 2012
Dynegy Inc. will present the bankruptcy judge with a problem when the power producer requests approval of a settlement when many facts underlying the compromise remain a secret, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle explain in their podcast. The newly-filed prepackaged reorganization of educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. could be completed in one month in New York, eclipsing the five weeks that Reddy Ice Holdings Inc. needed for its quickie reorganization in Dallas. In the last item on the podcast, Rochelle touts a small hospital in Houston and an athletic shoe maker as acquisition targets for strategic buyers.
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IP Law: Cuervo and Maker's Mark Duke It Out Over Wax: Audio
May 23, 2012
There's something about the color red that makes IP lawyers see red. First it was the battle over whether women's shoe maker Christian Louboutin had the exclusive right to use red soles. Now tequila maker Jose Cuervo and bourbon distiller Maker's Mark are fighting over who can use dripping red wax on their bottles. Chris Sprigman, law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, tells Bloomberg Law's Josh Block who scored a knockout in the Sixth Circuit.
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Rochelle on Houghton Mifflin, Kodak, United Airlines: Audio
May 23, 2012
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. is a company that eroded billions in value over the last few years, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on a portion of their podcast dealing with the educational publisher's prepackaged reorganization. Rochelle provides a rundown on the dramatic drop in the value of Eastman Kodak Co. claims and bonds resulting from an adverse ruling on patent validity. Rochelle wraps up the podcast by discussing a decision stemming from the long-completed reorganization of United Air Lines Inc. with important rulings about claims that aren't discharged in bankruptcy.
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Rochelle on Madoff Appeals, Allied System, Reddy Ice: Audio
May 22, 2012
The trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC will take one appeal to decide his ability to revive about $10 billion in lawsuits against 635 customers, Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. Rochelle explains the grounds on which auto hauler Allied Systems Holdings Inc., controlled by Yucaipa Cos. LLC, could try to fend off the involuntary Chapter 11 petition filed last week in Delaware. Before ending the podcast with discussion of two important opinions from the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, Rochelle explains how a bankruptcy judge in Dallas shepherded a prepackaged reorganization for Reddy Ice Holdings Inc. through Chapter 11 in five weeks.
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Rochelle on Marianas, Silver Legacy Casino, AlixPartners: Audio
May 21, 2012
The government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands joined the list of those seeking dismissal of the Chapter 11 petition filed by the pension fund for the island's government workers, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. Rochelle talks about two new bankruptcies, one large and one small. The large filing, by Circus & Eldorado Joint Venture, the operator of the Silver Legacy Resort Casino in Reno, Nevada, could raise interesting valuation issue should secured creditors not come to terms on a universally acceptable reorganization plan. The smaller filing, by the owner of 26 Jiffy Lube stores, presents an acquisition opportunity for someone in the car-care industry. The podcast ends with discussion of the some $900 million in debt being taken on by turnaround manager AlixPartners LLC as part of a leveraged buyout by private-equity investor CVC Capital Partners.
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Rochelle on Hostess-Teamsters, Kodak-Apple, ResCap-Ally: Audio
May 18, 2012
Wonder bread baker Hostess Brands Inc. is an example of how Congress intended for the modification of union contracts to work in bankruptcy. The process wouldn't have been successful without the expertise of the Teamsters union devotion to understanding the company's financial problems, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. Rochelle looks at the newly-commenced effort by Eastman Kodak Co. to challenge Apple Inc.'s claim to technology ownership and wonders why the issue wasn't raised sooner, since Kodak is hoping to sell the patent portfolio in the near future. The podcast ends with a status report on Residential Capital LLC, the composition of the creditors' committee, and the timeline for the sale of assets.
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Rochelle on MF Global, Tousa, Jesuits and the Titanic: Audio
May 17, 2012
Lawyers for the MF Global Holdings Ltd. creditors' committee may end up working for nothing, for reasons explained by Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. A federal appeals court in Atlanta reversed a district court in the liquidation of homebuilder Tousa Inc. and ruled that banks committee a $400 million fraudulent transfer. The podcast ends with a story about a lawyer who was sanctioned for claiming that Jesuits infiltrated the federal judiciary and were responsible for the sinking of the Titanic.
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Rochelle on Residential Capital and LightSquared: Audio
May 16, 2012
The reorganization of Residential Capital LLC will unfold two phases, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle describe on their podcast. The first phase will sell the assets, while the second and more contentious phrase will decide whether parent Ally Financial Inc. can use ResCap's Chapter 11 plan to shed its own liability for defective mortgage securitizations. The second major Chapter 11 filing this week by LightSquared Inc. looks at the outset like an old-fashioned freefall bankruptcy that may evolve into a fight for control between creditors and Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, the company's owner.
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Rochelle on Supreme Court, Paulson Resorts, Judgeships: Audio
May 15, 2012
The U.S. Supreme Court used a bankruptcy case named Hall v. U.S. to rule, by a 5-4 vote, that the plain meaning derived from the interrelationship among several statutes takes precedence over the intent of Congress, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. Five resorts owned by Paulson & Co. and Winthrop Realty Trust came up losers in a lawsuit with Hilton Worldwide Inc., raising questions about how the resort will craft a Chapter 11 plan to emerge from bankruptcy reorganization. The podcast ends with news that the House and Senate, after more than a year's deliberation, finally passed legislation allowing the renewal of 30 temporary bankruptcy judgeship. Absent the bill, which awaits the President's signature, Delaware eventually would lose five of its six judges while New York would lose one.
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Rochelle on Vitro, LodgeNet, Statistics on Junk Defaults: Audio
May 14, 2012
Bondholders of Vitro SAB de CV won a skirmish with the Mexican glass maker when a New York State appellate court refused to enforce the company's Mexican reorganization plan, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. Rochelle looks at LodgeNet Interactive Corp., a non-bankrupt provider of television and internet access for the hotel industry, as an example for how new technology can render a company's business plan obsolete and unprofitable. For the last item on the podcast, Rochelle recites the latest statistics on junk-bond defaults as further evidence that major corporate bankruptcies won't spike this year.
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