Public Companies & Claims Trading Committee

ABI Committee News

ABI's Annual Spring Meeting: Committee Educational Session

ABI's 26th Annual Spring Meeting, the networking and CLE event of 2008, will be held April 3-6 at Washington, D.C.'s Renaissance Hotel in the Nation's Capital! Join us during cherry blossom season for exciting and informative sessions, including a luncheon keynote by Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.

The committee will meet on Saturday April 5th, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., to present an outstanding panel addressing the topic “Bankruptcy Trustee Suits against Former Counsel for Bankrupt Public Companies.” Issues addressed will include: (i) standing to sue (compared to standing of shareholders, creditors, other constituencies), (ii) defenses, including the in pari delicto defense, (iii) theories of recovery, including fraud and negligence, (iv) whether hedge funds are pushing/funding the suits, and (v) the prospects for more litigation in this area.

Cases discussed will include: DVI, Refco, Enron and others.

The Panelists will include: Michael Venditto, Reed Smith, New York; Al Togut, Togut Segal & Segal, New York; Jeffrey Rich, K&L Gates, New York.

 

The Shifting of Risk from Buyer to Seller in the Trading of Bankruptcy Claims

Written by: George B. South III
King & Spalding LLP; New York

The recent decision of Hon. Shira Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in In re Enron Corp. (Enron Corp. v. Springfield Assoc.), 2007 WL 2446498 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 27, 2007) has been, on the one hand, praised for creating some certainty in the trading of bankruptcy claims when such trading is done anonymously (e.g., electronically with no disclosure of the seller or purchaser) and, on the other hand, criticized for creating some uncertainty when the seller is known to the buyer. There has been much commentary written concerning questions left unanswered by Judge Scheindlin’s decision but little discussion of the practical effect thereof.

Read the full article.