On July 26, 2010, the Indiana Court of Appeals, in the published decision of Green Tree Servicing, LLC., v. Brian D. Brough, No. 88A01-0911-CV-550, addressed the issue raised by Appellant Green Tree as to whether the trial court erred by vacating its prior Order directing the parties to arbitrate their dispute, which involved a prior bankruptcy filing and a claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
The recent bankruptcy filings by infrastructure companies Connector 2000 Association Inc., South Bay Expressway, L.P., California Transportation Ventures, Inc., and the Las Vegas Monorail Company have tested the structures utilized to implement public-private partnerships (P3s) in the United States in several respects. It is still too early to draw definitive conclusions about the impact of these proceedings on P3 structures going forward, but initial rulings in two of the cases are already focusing the minds of project participants on threshold structuring considerations.
Expect the unexpected from your Web site privacy policy. In a handful of cases, including two which were recently decided, companies have been thwarted in various, unexpected ways by the commitments made in their online privacy policies.
Are your intellectual property litigators reading your privacy policy?
In this memorandum opinion, the Court of Chancery granted plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint in part, and denied their motion to appoint a receiver for Advance Realty Group, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“ARG”) conducting business as a real estate investment and development company. Plaintiffs, all of whom are members of ARG, initially brought claims for breach of fiduciary duty and contract against ARG and the other defendants, which include members of ARG’s managing board (the “Board”), its senior management, and its principal investors.
A Maryland bankruptcy court has declared that Side A benefits under a D&O policy are not property of the bankrupt estate, with the result that two former executives who have been accused of making illegal payments and diverting funds from their former employer to start a new venture may be able to recoup certain defense costs. In re: TMST, Inc. f/k/a Thornburg Mortgage, Inc., et al., Docket No. 09-17787 (Bankr.D.Md. Aug. 17, 2010).
The Washington LLC Act prohibits an insolvent LLC from making a distribution to a member. RCW 25.15.235(1). Either type of insolvency will do – the LLC is unable to pay its debts as they come due in the usual course of business, or the LLC’s liabilities exceed the fair value of its assets.
SCHLEICHER v. WENDT (August 20, 2010)
Conseco was a large financial services company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and successfully reorganized. This securities-fraud claim was filed against Conseco managers who are alleged to have made false statements prior to the bankruptcy. Then-District Judge Hamilton (S.D. Ind.) certified a class. Defendants appeal.
After receiving a letter from David Vladeck, the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Affairs at the Federal Trade Commission, a bankruptcy judge allowed the destruction of personal information of gay teens who subscribed to the now defunct XY magazine.
In re Visteon Corp., No. 10-1944-cv, 2010 WL 2735715 (3d Cir. July 13, 2010), the Third Circuit held that Visteon Corporation (Visteon) could not terminate unvested retiree health and life insurance benefits during a Chapter 11 bankruptcy without seeking court approval pursuant to Bankruptcy Code § 1114, 11 U.S.C. § 1114. The Third Circuit’s decision departs from the rulings of many other federal courts, and is in tension, if not outright conflict, with the Second Circuit’s decision in LTV Steel Co. v. United Mine Workers (In re Chateaugay Corp.), 945 F.2d 1205 (2d Cir.
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