We at The Bankruptcy Cave applaud the recent ruling by Judge Whipple of the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio, seeking to make the post-confirmation parties, processes, and procedures far more transparent. In In re Affordable Med Scrubs, LLC,[1] Judge Whipple declined to approve a disclosure statement for a debtor’s liquidating plan.

A United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina has denied a motion to compel discovery of all claims for which the insurer had denied coverage based on the desire of an insolvent insured to forfeit coverage.Lane v. Endurance American Specialty Insurance Co., 2011 WL 1791343 (W.D.N.C. May 10, 2011). The court granted, however, the plaintiff’s motion to compel the insurer to provide information about all other claims noticed under the policies at issue.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed an appeal of an order in Federal Insurance Co. v. Le-Nature's, Inc., 380 B.R. 747 (Bankr. W.D. Pa. 2008), in which the bankruptcy court granted the insurer's motion to compel discovery and ruled that the defendant waived all of his discovery objections, including objections based upon the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination, for failing timely to assert them. Federal Ins. Co. v. Le-Nature's, Inc., Civil Action No. 08-269 (W.D. Pa. July 25, 2008).

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has ruled that a defendant in a declaratory judgment coverage action waived all of his discovery objections, including objections based upon the Fifth Amendment, for failing timely to assert them. Federal Ins. Co. v. Le-Nature's, Inc., 380 B.R. 747 (Bankr. W.D. Pa. 2008). Wiley Rein LLP represented the insurer.

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado, applying Colorado law, has denied an insurer's motion for summary judgment and granted in part motions for partial summary judgment by the policyholder's former CEO and a bankruptcy trustee as assignee of the policyholder's former directors. Genesis Ins. Co. v. Crowley, 2007 WL 1832039 (D. Colo. June 25, 2007).

A federal district court in Illinois has held that a policyholder failed to provide sufficient notice of circumstances that could potentially give rise to a claim to trigger coverage under a D&O policy where the policyholder informed the insurers that it was "contemplating" filing for bankruptcy and expected claims to be filed against its directors and officers. Chatz v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, 2007 WL 1119282 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 12, 2007).

Judge Burton Lifland, the bankruptcy judge overseeing the liquidation proceedings of Bernard L.

COSTELLO v. GRUNDON (October 18, 2010)

A World Series as exciting as any in memory ended two weeks ago. Notwithstanding the end of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ chapter 11 case offered the promise of more baseball-related thrills. Dodger’s owner Frank McCourt and Major League Baseball (“MLB”) Commissioner Bud Selig appeared headed towards an epic courtroom showdown that promised to rival

Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz, and their families and affiliated enterprises (the “Wilpon/Katz Group”) last week formally requested the dismissal of the adversary proceeding commenced by Irving Picard, the trustee of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BLMIS”). In a two hour hearing before U.S.