Corporate & Securities Law Community Mealey's & Law360 News Headlines

Skadden Should Be Denied $4M Atty Fee, Radnor CEO Claims

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:44:00 -0400

Radnor Holdings Corp.'s former CEO on Friday told a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge to deny Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's $4 million fee request because it helped a hedge fund net a $100 million windfall by selling the bankrupt packaging company. Read More...

Winston & Strawn Faces DQ Bid In Calif. City Bankruptcies

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:59:00 -0400

Citing an alleged conflict of interest, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System told a California federal judge on Friday that Winston & Strawn LLP should be disqualified from representing a creditor in the Chapter 9 bankruptcies of the cities of Stockton and San Bernardino. Read More...

Hedge Fund Sues For Proxy Fight Rematch With Digirad

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:14:00 -0400

Hedge fund Red Oak Partners LLC sued Wednesday seeking to force a rematch in its proxy fight with Digirad Corp., accusing the medical imaging company of numerous underhanded maneuvers that allegedly swayed a board election in its favor. Read More...

PokerStars' Bid To Buy Casino Sinks In NJ Court

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:11:00 -0400

A New Jersey judge on Friday ended PokerStars’ campaign to buy an Atlantic City casino, refusing to cement a temporary injunction preventing the casino’s owners from terminating the deal and declining to invalidate a contract written with terms unlike any the judge said he’d ever seen. Read More...

Latham Witness Can't Claim Piece Of $10M Judgment

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:10:00 -0400

Latham & Watkins LLP didn't break the law when it refused to pay a portion of a $10.3 million judgment won by one of its clients in a real estate lawsuit to an auditor who testified at a deposition, since the auditor was a witness, not an expert, a California appeals court ruled Friday. Read More...

Bankrupt Smelter Says $130M Sale Kept It From Liquidating

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:09:00 -0400

Bankrupt aluminum smelter Ormet Corp. said Friday that it had to sell itself to private equity firm Wayzata Investment Partners LLC for $130 million without a Chapter 11 plan in place or be forced to liquidate, rebuffing an objection to the deal from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Read More...

SAC To Scale Back Cooperation With Insider Trading Probe

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:51:00 -0400

SAC Capital Advisors LLC reportedly informed its investors Friday that it was reducing its cooperation with U.S. government investigators looking into allegations of insider trading at the fund. Read More...

JPMorgan Backs Dimon Before Shareholder Vote On Split Role

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:06:00 -0400

JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Thursday urged shareholders to reject a proposal by activist investors that would split the CEO and chairman of the board positions, both of which are held by the embattled James Dimon, who presided over the company during its infamous $6.2 billion “London Whale” loss. Read More...

Affiliation Dispute Threatens $2B St. Luke's Acquisition

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:03:00 -0400

A high-value affiliate of Houston-based St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital on Thursday asked a Texas court to nullify its collaboration agreement with the hospital, creating a possible hurdle to Catholic Health Initiatives' planned $2 billion deal to acquire the system. Read More...

MLB Suit Over Performance Boosters Falls Flat, Clinic Says

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:48:00 -0400

A Florida health clinic asked a state judge Wednesday to toss a suit filed against it by Major League Baseball alleging it provided performance-enhancing drugs to Alex Rodriguez and other players, saying the league failed to properly state its claim and include all the necessary parties. Read More...

Investor Says Bain's $7B Bid For Software Co. Is Too Low

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:46:00 -0400

A pension fund that invests in Houston-based BMC Software Inc. on Thursday sued in Delaware Chancery court to challenge a $6.9 billion take-private deal led by Bain Capital LLC and Golden Gate Capital, saying it undervalues the company and cheats shareholders. Read More...

S. Korean Investor Drops $218M On Chicago Office Tower

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:46:00 -0400

South Korea-based real estate investor Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. entered the Chicago market Thursday with the $218 million purchase of 225 W. Wacker St., broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. said in a statement. Read More...

Drug Co. Scores Partial Win In Suit Over Botched Offering

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:42:00 -0400

A Delaware judge on Thursday granted a partial win to Emmaus Life Sciences Inc. in a suit over a botched public offering, ruling the drugmaker properly voided an agreement with alleged check kiter Amir Heshmatpour and his company AFH Holding & Advisory LLC. Read More...

Company Control Not Just About Share Count, Chancery Says

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:41:00 -0400

Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster laid out a broad definition of “controlling party” this week, emphasizing that it's not stock ownership, but the rights that come with it, that raise red flags and warrant a higher standard of judicial scrutiny in transactions. Read More...

Kirkland Reps Accenture In $316M Deal For Digital Marketer

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:34:00 -0400

Consulting firm Accenture PLC said Friday that it will pay $316 million to acquire digital marketing agency Acquity Group Ltd., continuing its buying spree and ending Hong Kong-based Acquity's short run as a U.S. public company. Read More...

Revenue-Sharing Deal Fueled Trump Condo Buys, Jury Hears

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:04:00 -0400

An Illinois woman suing real estate mogul Donald Trump's companies told a federal jury Friday that the revenue-sharing deal she alleges was unfairly pulled from hotel condominium buyers in Trump's luxury Chicago tower was an important factor in her decision to buy two units. Read More...

Continental Ducks Shareholder Suit Over $313M Oil Asset Buy

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:51:00 -0400

An Oklahoma federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit accusing Continental Resources Inc. of withholding information from shareholders about a $313 million oil assets acquisition, ruling that Continental executives didn't breach their fiduciary duties because a proxy statement contained enough information about the deal. Read More...

Fund Managers Struggling To Reach 1st Close: Report

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:48:00 -0400

Fund managers are having a harder time raising the bulk of their target capital before they hold an initial close than at any time in the past six years, a sign of the continuing capital-raising difficulties faced by private funds, according to a study released Thursday. Read More...

ERISA Suit Alleges ING Gave Morgan Stanley Kickbacks

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:39:00 -0400

An Alabama medical laboratory filed a proposed class action in New York federal court on Friday alleging Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. encouraged the lab to use ING Life Insurance and Annuity Co. to administer its employees' 401(k) plan because ING paid the brokerage firm extra fees. Read More...

ING Gave Morgan Stanley Kickbacks For 401(k) Biz, Suit Says

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:39:00 -0400

Falcone, Execs Wrongly Forced Out Casino Co. CEO, Suit Says

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:31:00 -0400

Hedge funder Philip Falcone and two other executives involved in a Vietnam resort developer were hit by a lawsuit Thursday in New York state court over claims they forced out the development company's CEO through a wrongful administrative leave. Read More...

Credit Agricole Slams Lehman's $34M Terminated-Swaps Suit

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:28:00 -0400

Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank on Friday urged a New York bankruptcy judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. over $34 million in terminated swap transactions, saying it doesn’t owe the fallen investment bank a cent. Read More...

Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:04:00 -0400

The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP. Read More...

No Conflict For RE Law Firm In NYC Tower Suit, Judge Says

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:56:00 -0400

A real estate-focused law firm can continue representing a developer in a dispute over a stalled Manhattan residential tower planned above a synagogue, a New York state judge ruled Friday, finding that any potential conflicts were too speculative. Read More...

Ex-Broker Gets Probation For Muni Bond Bid-Rigging

anonymous@localhost.com (Liz Barrett) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:52:00 -0400

After cooperating with a sweeping multistate investigation, the former CEO of a New York-based brokerage was sentenced to two years of probation Friday for his role in a municipal bond bid-rigging conspiracy. Read More...