Judge Who Axed J&J Bankruptcy Move Handed Biden a Vacancy

Judge Who Axed J&J Bankruptcy Move Handed Biden a Vacancy

When Tom Ambro got a call from a friend in 1990 who mentioned “eleven-ten,” he thought it was a reference to the time rather than the section of the bankruptcy code that covers airplanes.

Ambro, then a transactional lawyer at Richards Layton & Finger in Wilmington, Del. agreed to represent aircraft financiers in Continental Airlines’ second bankruptcy.

That case, which he later argued before the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, altered the trajectory of Ambro’s career, pivoting his focus to bankruptcy. He ultimately returned to the Third Circuit as a judge, where he is perhaps the foremost authority on bankruptcy law sitting on any federal appeals court.

“He’s probably forgotten more bankruptcy than many circuit judges will hope to learn,” said Bruce Markell, a former bankruptcy judge who now teaches at Northwestern University.

Ambro, 73, is still making a mark even after recently taking senior status, penning the decision that struck down a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary’s bankruptcy earlier this year.

He may not have semi-retired at all if not for the election of fellow Delawarean Joe Biden, who had shepherded Ambro’s nomination through the Senate 20 years ago. By taking senior status, Ambro handed his

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Abuse survivors haven’t seen money from Archdiocese lawyers | News

And at first, it seemed like that might happen.

More than 450 clergy abuse victims filed claims by a March 2021 deadline.

In June 2022, a committee of abuse survivors was about to sit down with archdiocese officials, including Archbishop Aymond, to begin mediation in hopes of negotiating a settlement. But two hours before that first meeting, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Grabill stopped it and announced that most of the survivors, including Adams, would be removed from the committee because their attorney, Richard Trahant, had disclosed confidential information from the case.

It later came out in court records that Trahant had tipped off his cousin, the principal of Brother Martin High School, that the school’s chaplain, the Rev. Paul Hart, had admitted in church files to having had sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl. The Times-Picayune reported the Archdiocese hadn’t considered Hart’s actions to be child sexual abuse because church law at the time still considered 16-year-olds adults.

That conflicted with state law at the time and the church law was later changed, after the Boston Globe “Spotlight” investigation in 2002 exposed rampant abuse and coverups in the Boston Archdiocese and started a nationwide reckoning for the church.

Grabill

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Attorney’s Fees For Fraudulent Transfer Deemed Not Dischargeable

One of the most interesting and talked about creditor-debtor — and thus asset protection — cases in recent years was the one which was the subject of my article Lawyer, Law Firm And Bank Exposed To Civil RICO And Other Liability For Assisting A Debtor Post-Claim In Kruse (Nov. 24, 2021). As the article title suggests, this case involves a debtor who engaged in a number of transfers after a car wreck with the specific purpose of defeating the judgment enforcement rights of the very seriously injured victim in that accident. Today, we examine a subsequent ruling in that case which further illustrates that post-claim planning can not only fail, but also put the debtor in a much worse position than if nothing had been done at all.

Christina Kruse won a judgment in excess of $2.5 million against Steven Weller arising out of a auto accident. Later, Kruse brought a fraudulent transfer lawsuit against Weller and others to set aside Weller’s post-claim transfers of his assets to family member and a newly-created LLC. The Iowa state court ultimately entered an order in 2018 which set aside these fraudulent transfers. These are the background facts.

More

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Dailey Law Firm files for bankruptcy amid embezzlement claims

Dailey Law Firm files for bankruptcy amid embezzlement claims

The law firm, which specializes in medical malpractice, Social Security, class action, mass tort and criminal defense, has four attorneys listed on its website, including principal Brian Dailey. It was founded in 1927 in Iowa and relocated to metro Detroit in 1992, with additional offices in Chicago and Indianapolis.

Dailey Law Firm files for bankruptcy amid embezzlement claims
Brian Dailey

Dailey did not return a message for comment, nor did Scott Kwiatkowski, attorney at Southfield-based Goldstein Bershad & Fried PC representing Dailey’s firm in the bankruptcy case.

The financial trouble for Dailey Law began with family issues and a cancer diagnosis, which was exacerbated by liquidity shortcomings brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the bankruptcy cover sheet.

Then in 2021, the law firm discovered that a former employee allegedly “wrongfully diverted” $600,000 in settlement proceeds. The firm was ordered to pay $600,000 into Wayne County Circuit Court in connection to the settlement from about five years ago, the filing said. Unable to pay the sum, the firm was appointed a receiver.

Dailey Law filed a lawsuit earlier this year against insurance company Travelers Indemnity Co. in an attempt to recoup the $600,000 that was allegedly embezzled. According to that lawsuit, Dailey contracted Travelers in 2010 to protect

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Lenders Sue Margaritaville Times Square Owners For $85M After Bankruptcy Filing

Lenders Sue Margaritaville Times Square Owners For M After Bankruptcy Filing
Lenders Sue Margaritaville Times Square Owners For M After Bankruptcy Filing

The owners of the Margaritaville Resort Times Square are in a pitched battle with their lenders over missed debt payments.

No one has to search for salt in the legal battle over the future of the Margaritaville Resort Times Square.

Days after the owners of the 36-story hotel filed for bankruptcy to avoid a foreclosure sale, two of its lenders sued members of the development team claiming they are personally responsible for the unpaid debts.

The LLC that owns the equity on the property, 560 Seventh Avenue Owner Secondary, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday night. The property was facing a UCC foreclosure auction the next day after falling behind on loan repayments, which the bankruptcy filing halted.

But in a new suit filed Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court, affiliates of lenders Arden Group and Corten Real Estate claim developers Sharif El-Gamal, who heads Soho Properties, Stephen Weiss and Andrew Weiss are now personally responsible for the full amount of the loan as a result of the bankruptcy. In its filing, Arden claims it is due more than $85M, plus legal fees.

Arden provided the hotel developers with a $57M mezzanine loan in 2021, and last year

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