Bloomberg Law Podcast
Interviews about legal issues, decisions and pending cases.
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Rochelle on Wilpon-Madoff, Lehman Flip Clause, Hostess: Audio
Feb 13, 2012
Fred Wilpon and other owners of the New York Mets baseball club are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal from a circuit court ruling on how to calculate customer claims in the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities Inc., as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. A U.S. district court is being asked to enforce a ruling from a U.K. court regarding Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. where the U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruled the other way on a dispute concerning a so-called flip clause. The third and last item on the podcast describes the $1.5 million employment contract for Brian J. Driscoll, the chief executive of Hostess Brands Inc.
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Tech Law: The Hidden Dangers of 'Liking' on Facebook: Audio
Feb 9, 2012
Facebook, which filed an IPO last week to raise $5 billion, has no warehouses of inventory. Its inventory is supplied by its users -- their likes, dislikes and interests, which the social media giant can use to help advertisers target their messages. Law professor Lori Andrews tells Bloomberg Law's Josh Block that users need to be protected from that kind of aggregation of personal data. Andrews is a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law and the author of "I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy."
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Rochelle on A&P Confirmation, China.com, Vitro's Win: Audio
Feb 9, 2012
At the hearing where Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. is attempting to win court approval of the reorganization, the supermarket operator must overcome objections from creditors who contend it's improper to throw all assets and debt into one pot, in a process known as substantive consolidation, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their bankruptcy podcast. Rochelle describes how CDC Corp., a China-based enterprise software developer also known as China.com, is the unusual case where money will be left over for shareholders. The podcast wraps up with discussion of a significant victory won by Vitro SAB de CV when a court in Mexico approved the glass producer's reorganization plan. Rochelle explains why the Vitro bondholders may be hard pressed to come out on top, even if they convince a U.S. bankruptcy judge that the Mexican reorganization shouldn't be enforced in the U.S.
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Rochelle on MF Global, TBS, Christ Hospital Bankruptcies: Audio
Feb 8, 2012
Customers of MF Global Inc., the liquidating commodity broker, may never be able to recover their missing $1.2 billion because a report by the trustee sounded as though the money may not have been lost through "actual fraud." As Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss in their podcast, the so-called safe harbor in bankruptcy law might preclude recovery of the funds even though numerous laws and regulations were violated. Rochelle reports that 2012 may be another lean year for bankruptcy professionals because only $27 billion in junk debt matures this year. The newest shipping Chapter 11 filing, by TBS International Plc., is another instance where companies with few ties to the U.S. are reorganizing in New York. The podcast ends with discussion of another hospital filing in New Jersey, where politics may have interfered with the ability of by Christ Hospital to sell itself and avoid Chapter 11.
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Rochelle on Las Vegas Monorail, Declining Bankruptcies: Audio
Feb 7, 2012
Las Vegas Monorail Co. is the first item on the Bloomberg bankruptcy podcast with Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle. Responding to defects the bankruptcy judge found in the prior reorganization proposal, the new version will have the driverless conveyance emerge from Chapter 11 by eliminating more than 99 percent of $650 million in bonds. January had the fewest bankruptcies in four years, while New York and Delaware were increasing their market share for Chapter 11 filings. Rochelle describes a Florida hotel bankruptcy as an example for how repetitive filings can drive lenders to distraction. Rochelle concludes the podcast by discussing two new bankruptcy decisions. One, from a district judge in Chicago, all but prohibits bankruptcy judges for making final rulings in fraudulent transfer suits, even when the fraud claim could be fully decided in the course of passing on the creditor's claim. The second case, from a U.
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Rochelle on Jobson, MF Global, Kodak Bankruptcies: Audio
Feb 6, 2012
The prepackaged reorganization for Jobson Healthcare Information LLC is an example of using bankruptcy court to kick the can down the road, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their podcast. The podcast continues by describing how CME Group Inc., the owner of the world's largest futures exchanges, is putting $100 million aside to assure farmers and ranchers they won't incur another loss if they hedge crops by buying futures contracts. Rochelle explains how Eastman Kodak Co. is becoming a test case for whether supposedly "critical vendors" will disrupt an otherwise successful reorganization if their pre-bankruptcy unsecured debts aren't paid. The podcast ends with discussion of another appeals court decision demonstrating how federal courts more than state courts are requiring mortgage lender to comply with law before being permitted to foreclose.
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Rochelle on AES Eastern Venue Questions, Adelphia: Audio
Feb 3, 2012
AES Eastern Energy LP, an owner of six power plants in New York State, could turn into a test case for whether companies with few connections to Delaware may nonetheless reorganize there, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discuss on their bankruptcy podcast. Open Range Communications Inc., a defunct wireless broadband provider, is biting the hand that fed it, or so Rochelle says. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Cecelia G. Morris will become the next chief bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York, although her home court is a two-hour drive north of Manhattan. The podcast ends with an examination of when trials in bankruptcy court may offend the U.S. Constitution, using an Adelphia Communications Corp. opinion from a district judge in New York as a jumping off point for analysis.
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Rochelle on GGP, Lehman, Madoff Bankruptcies: Audio
Feb 2, 2012
The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco handed down an opinion in late January that might have made the reorganization of General Growth Properties Inc. impossible had it been written three years earlier and adopted by courts in New York, as Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia and Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle explain on their bankruptcy podcast. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. may raise the hackles of creditors with disputed claims by proposing to use illiquid assets as backup for distributions when disagreements on claims are settled. By the end of this month, as Rochelle explains, Fred Wilpon and other owners of the New York Mets baseball club could be saddled with an $80 million judgment while still facing a jury trial in March where the trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities Inc. will be aiming to recover an additional $300 million. The podcast ends when Rochelle discusses a bankruptcy case from North Carolina where a bankruptcy judge, p
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IP Law: RapidShare Lawyer on Megaupload Indictment: Audio
Feb 1, 2012
On Jan. 19 the file-sharing website, Megaupload was shut down and companies and officials associated with it were indicted in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia. Bloomberg Law's Josh Block talks with Daniel Raimer, General Counsel for one of the world's other most popular file-sharing websites, RapidShare. Raimer tells Block that he is surprised Megaupload did not have legal issues sooner, and that life has suddenly become much more stressful in the file-sharing and cloud services business.
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Rochelle on Dynegy, PMI, Syms, Core Jurisdiction: Audio
Jan 31, 2012
Appaloosa Management LP, a subordinated noteholder, could scuttle the proposed reorganization for power producer Dynegy Holdings LLC by convincing the bankruptcy judge at a Feb. 24 hearing that senior and subordinated noteholders shouldn't be in the same class, as Bloomberg News bankruptcy columnist Bill Rochelle discusses on the podcast with Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia. Sandwiched in the middle of the podcast are two stories on salaries and fees in bankruptcy cases. For PMI Group Inc., it's the U.S. Trustee's objection that $3.5 million in compensation for a year's work is too much for the non-operating company's top two officers. In the liquidation of retailers Syms Corp. and Filene's Basement LLC, the creditors' committee sought to limit professional fees for the equity committee, to see the bankruptcy judge threaten to cut expenses for all professionals. The podcast wraps up by discussing an opinion from a district judge who's threa
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