Governors of three New England states have vowed to monitor Chapter 11 proceedings launched on Monday by Fairpoint Communications, which paid $2.3 billion last year to acquire New England fixed line telephone infrastructure owned previously by Verizon Communications.

The significant increase in the number of companies passing into liquidation in the current economic climate has focussed Courts on whether they can summons a non-resident. Dispute Resolution Associate, Justin Le Blond, examines the position.

The High Court has further clarified the law regarding the effect of section 260-5 notices served by the Commissioner on third parties who are required to make payments to a company in liquidation.

The effect of the decision is that the Commissioner cannot issue such a notice after a company has gone into liquidation in order to give himself a priority over other creditors for payment of a tax debt. Such a notice is void.

Effectively, the High Court held that aggrieved shareholders (shareholders whose debt arises as a result of misrepresentation or improper disclosure by the company causing the shareholder to acquire shares) would be ranked equally with the debts of other unsecured creditors.

Citing a slowdown in its business caused, in part, by the recent global credit crunch, Sea Launch has filed a petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Based in Long Beach, California, Sea Launch is owned by Boeing (40%) and by foreign partners that include RSC-Energia of Russia, Kvaener ASA of Norway, and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of the Ukraine. In addition to operating its seagoing launch platform in the equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean, the company has started offering landbased launches from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland, has today introduced a bill in Federal Parliament to create a comprehensive national personal property securities law, to be known as the Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA). The bill is the culmination of more than three years of public consultation and is a significantly revised version of an exposure draft bill that was the subject of a report by the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in March of this year.  

On August 30, 2008, the United States District Court for the District of Northern Texas issued its ruling on whether Americas Mining Corporation (“AMC”) (and its parent Grupo Mexico) had caused ASARCO LLC (“ASARCO”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, to fraudulently transfer stock of Southern Peru Copper Company (“SPCC”) from ASARCO to AMC. The Court determined that AMC was liable for (1) intentional fraudulent transfer, (2) aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty under New Jersey law; and (3) civil conspiracy under Arizona law. See ASARCO LLC v.

On April 8, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Bankruptcy Court and concluded that special ERISA “termination premiums” due PBGC are not contingent prepetition claims subject to discharge in a chapter 11 reorganization. Pension Benefit Guar. Corp. v. Oneida, Ltd., 2009 WL 929528 (2d Cir. April 8, 2009), rev’g Oneida Ltd. v. Pension Benefit Guar. Corp., 383 B.R. 29 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y., 2008).

Fulfilling the terms of an agreement reached with bondholders in February, Charter Communications submitted a petition for Chapter 11 protection last Friday to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The bankruptcy petition would restructure a portion of the debt owed by St. Louis-based Charter, the nation’s fourth largest cable operator with more than 5.5 million subscribers. At the end of last year, Charter listed total debt obligations of $21.7 billion with annual interest costs approaching $2 billion.

Nortel Networks Corp. of Canada, one of the world’s leading suppliers of fixed line phone network equipment, filed for protection from creditors Wednesday under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. A pioneer in the development of network switches, routers, and fiber-optic technologies used by many of the world’s top telecommunications carriers, Nortel ranked as Canada’s largest company by value at the height of the global telecom market boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s.