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What's New at ABI World
Online Features of Interest
to
Mass Torts Committee Members
The latest
installment of the “Bankruptcy Today” program, available at
ABI World, discusses the current crisis in asbestos litigation. The program,
"The
Current Crisis in Asbestos Litigation," addresses the plight
of the nation’s courts, which are overwhelmed with asbestos-related
cases with no end in sight. Guests including ABI President Bettina Whyte
(AlixPartners LLC; New York) and Ted Freedman (Kirkland & Ellis; New
York) discuss how to alleviate this problem.
The program also
includes excerpts from a recent speech on the topic by Hon. Griffin
Bell, former U.S. Attorney General, who gives his prescription for reform
of the tort and bankruptcy laws. The show will air on major airlines
this summer. Listen online today to this edition, or previous
installments of the "Bankruptcy Today" progam series.
The Senate Judiciary Committee
on Thursday cleared another
key hurdle toward adopting
legislation to reform the
asbestos litigation system,
CongressDaily reported.
The panel approved an amendment
providing a contingency
plan to ensure that the
trust fund established to
compensate victims of asbestos-related
illnesses does not go bankrupt.
The amendment by Sen. Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif.) could
raise the total size of
the trust fund to as much
as $153 billion, up from
$108 billion that Judiciary
Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
had included in his original
legislation. Hatch said
he hoped to finish work
on the bill by Thursday,
with only one other major
issue unresolved —
the award amounts for victims
of asbestos-related illnesses,
the newswire reported.
The underlying Hatch bill
called for insurers and
defendants in asbestos cases
to each pay $45 billion
into the fund, with the
rest of the $108 billion
coming from existing private
trust funds that would be
rolled into the national
fund. Under the Feinstein
amendment, scheduled reductions
in companies' payments into
the fund would be subject
to a "contingency call"
that could eliminate or
defer the reductions if
the fund was running too
low the newswire reported.
That could increase the
amount that companies pay
by $45 billion, Hatch said,
according to CongressDaily.
In addition, if, at the
end of the 28 years in which
companies pay into the fund,
the fund is dry, the administrator
may give defendant companies
and insurers each the option
of paying an aggregate $1
billion. If they chose not
to, individual companies
would revert back to the
current tort system, but
their cases would be heard
in federal court.
Stay abreast of the latest on bankruptcy and asbestos litigation legislation
by reading the Daily
Bankruptcy Headlines at ABI World.
Newly
introduced legislation,
the “Asbestos Claims
Tax Fairness Act”
(H.R.
2503), would amend the
Internal Revenue Code to
provide that tax attributes
shall not be reduced in
connection with a discharge
of indebtedness in a title
11 case of a company having
asbestos-related claims
against it. The bill was
referred to the House Ways
and Means Committee.
First-day
Motions: A Practical Guide to the Critical First Days of a Bankruptcy
Case, is available through the online
publications catalog. Written by Debra Grassgreen of Pachulski, Stang,
Ziehl, Young, Jones & Weintraub PC, this book addresses the basics
of first-day motions and provides an overview of administrative, operational
and substantive motions/orders. ABI's latest publication, the Bankruptcy
Telecommunications Manual, is also available through the online catalog.
Looking
for a new employee or searching for a new job? Check out the new ABI
Career Center — the one-stop site for job seekers and employers
in the insolvency community. Stop by to set up your personal profile or
search the available positions (over 120 on average). Employers are invited
to post free job listings and search the job-seeker database for possible
candidates.
Check out
the latest
Collier Case Update offered at ABI World. Case summaries are available
to ABI members.
The
latest edition of the West
Bankruptcy Newsletter
is now available. Provided
by West Group, the newsletter
is a weekly update on bankruptcy
and debtor/creditor matters.
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OTHER
STORIES IN THIS ISSUE:
Purchasing
a §524(g) Injunction
–
When Does the Purchase Price
Become Property of the Plan
Trust?
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