Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Home Topics

Commercial Law

Features

A Quagmire of Obligations Image

A Quagmire of Obligations

Eric R. Wilson & Mark W. Page

Pending in bankruptcy court in Corpus Christi, TX, is <i>In re ASARCO, LLC, et al.</i>, the largest environmental bankruptcy case ever filed. This article explores the ramificatinos of the case.

Features

Termination Premiums Under ERISA Held to Be Dischargeable Prepetition Claims Image

Termination Premiums Under ERISA Held to Be Dischargeable Prepetition Claims

William J.F. Roll, III, Michael H. Torkin & Solomon J. Noh

In a matter of first impression, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that the termination premiums assessed against Oneida Ltd. ('Oneida') as a result of the termination of one of Oneida's pension plans during its Chapter 11 case were prepetition 'claims' (as defined in ' 101(5) of title 11 of the United States Code (the 'Bankruptcy Code')) that were discharged under Oneida's confirmed plan of reorganization.

Features

Valuing Businesses Image

Valuing Businesses

Thomas A. Hutson

A question often received from attorneys in matrimonial or other litigated matters is whether or not there are any specific standards that a CPA must adhere to when performing a business valuation engagement. Until Jan. 1, 2008, the answer was, effectively, 'No.' As of the beginning of this year, that answer has now changed.

Features

Practical Tips for Negotiating Settlement in Matrimonial Cases Image

Practical Tips for Negotiating Settlement in Matrimonial Cases

Lynne Strober & David S. Carton

Part One of this article discussed preparing for a settlement conference. The conclusion herein covers the conference and post-conference.

Features

Panel Finds International Custody Battle Belongs in NY Image

Panel Finds International Custody Battle Belongs in NY

Noeleen G. Walder

A Manhattan appellate court refused to relinquish jurisdiction over a custody case in which a mother fled with her 5-year-old son to Italy because she thought she was not getting a fair hearing in a New York Family Court. In an unusual ruling in late December 2007, the Appellate Division, First Department, reversed the conclusion of Manhattan Family Court that the case belonged in the Italian courts.

Features

International Custody Disputes Image

International Custody Disputes

Mark A. Momjian

Family lawyers with cases involving application of Section 105(c) of the UCCJEA need to marshal Internet and other resources to determine whether the child custody law of a foreign jurisdiction violates a child's fundamental right to safety and protection. Although Section 105(c) does not provide a broad exception to the otherwise stringent standards of the UCCJEA, in cases where a child's welfare is threatened by deferral of jurisdiction to a foreign tribunal or enforcement of a foreign order, a trial court can invoke Section 105(c) to circumvent application of the UCCJEA's rigorous jurisdictional and enforcement provisions.

Features

'Loss' in the Air Will Not Do Image

'Loss' in the Air Will Not Do

Evan A. Jenness

Sky-high loss enhancements are increasingly scrutinized in a post-<i>Booker</i> world. Drawing on civil securities law, recent decisions in several circuits endorse an approach holding a defendant responsible for only the portion of victims' losses that was proximately caused by the offense. Some courts' critical analyses bode well for future sentencings.

Features

FRCP 26(f): Use a Map, Ask for Directions or Fly Blind? Image

FRCP 26(f): Use a Map, Ask for Directions or Fly Blind?

Eric Sedwick

In the quickly evolving world of e-discovery, the time to figure out and understand the organization's ESI is speeding by. The FRCP amendments and the courts that enforce them (both Federal and State) no longer provide a grace period where attorneys and litigants can 'fly blind' regarding ESI and figure things out as they go. If corporate counsel or supporting outside counsel is unsure of how to identify, preserve or collect ESI for a pending matter or in the overall course of conducting business, the time to ask for directions is now.

Features

Think It's Found Money? Image

Think It's Found Money?

Adam J. August

When a business needs to raise money it may consider hiring a 'finder,' which is normally a consultant that helps the company find investors in the business. The company should proceed with caution in retaining a finder due to the regulated nature of its business, and there are several 'market' terms in a written Finder's Fee Agreement that the company should insist upon.

Features

Airing a Board's Dirty Laundry Image

Airing a Board's Dirty Laundry

Ralph Ferrera & Paul Howard

The fallout from Hewlett-Packard's ('HP') controversial boardroom leak investigation has led to a variety of actions ' including an investigation by the California Attorney General's office and Congressional hearings on the practice of 'pretexting' ' a tactic employed by Hewlett-Packard to gain the confidential phone records of board members. Despite the considerable press attention devoted to the incident, it is an otherwise under-the-radar action by the SEC that could have the greatest long-term impact on corporate governance and compliance.

Need Help?

  1. Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
  2. Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.

MOST POPULAR STORIES

  • Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes
    “Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
    Read More ›
  • Private Equity Valuation: A Significant Decision
    Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
    Read More ›