So this is why my blogs have been going crazy in America. Sure looks like some law has been fucked over for a very long time and the authorities have failed to act accordingly.
So who administers Bankruptcy Laws in America? It appears they are just as shonky as Veronique Ingram In Australia. Americans should look at the Bankruptcy Act in America to identify the cause. How to fuck over the Act would lay with the principal legal officer. Here in Australia Matthew Osborne is responsible for fucking over the Bankruptcy Act using S134/s3
Howrey Creditors Want Atty DQ'd In Suit Against Ex-Partners
Law360, New York (December 10, 2012, 10:08 PM ET) -- A Howrey LLP creditors committee on Friday asked a bankruptcy judge to disqualify a lawyer, their former co-counsel, from bringing a class action against more than 300 of the defunct law firm's ex-partners.
The official committee of Howrey unsecured creditors said their former co-counsel, William McGrane and his firm McGrane LLP, should not be allowed to pursue claims against Howrey partners on behalf of unsecured creditor Howrey Claims in the bankruptcy court. McGrane, who was once a lawyer for the committee, sued 302 former Howrey partners in November under a so-called “alter ego” theory, saying the partners dominated Howrey and should be directly responsible to creditors.
The committee did not explain its rationale for asking for McGrane's disqualification, and it asked that it be allowed to file papers supporting its motion under seal. It did, though, allude to comments McGrane allegedly sent to the trustee.
McGrane allegedly told Ben King, a lawyer for Howrey trustee Allan Diamond, that he “very much look[s] forward to being freed from the constraints of the attorney-client privilege in that last regard so that the whole story of the sorry/sordid way this case has been manipulated.”
In a filing the same day, the committee complained that McGrane's alter ego case is nothing but a “disguised avoidance action.”
“It belongs to the estate,” the committee said.
McGrane has in his own filings with the court complained that the trustee and committee act as though the trustee “owns” alter ego claims.
“No mere trustee (let alone a committee) is the only game in town when it comes to that subject of 'who owns alter ego,'” McGrane said.
McGrane did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Howrey Claims said in its November filing that its alter ego suit is the only way it will be paid.
Pointing to the “hopeless insolvency” of the law firm’s estate and its mounting administrative costs, Howrey Claims said that given its lower priority as an unsecured creditor, it was unlikely to recover any of the money it is owed unless the equity security holders are held liable, according to the complaint.
Howrey Claims "will almost certainly never be paid anything in the future by anyone on account of its present status of being an unsecured creditor by assignment in the debtor’s bankruptcy case, except possibly the [Howrey equity security holders], and then only by way of a successful outcome in this class action,” the plaintiff said in the complaint.
Howrey was once one of the nation's top antitrust and intellectual property law firms, employing more than 750 attorneys in 17 offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Its downfall began in 2009, as declining profits caused much of the firm’s top talent to jump ship. After one-third of its partners left, the firm opted for an out-of-court wind-down of its global operations. The firm’s partners voted in March 2011 to dissolve the firm.
Howrey Claims LLC is represented by McGrane LLP.
The creditors committee is represented by Bradford F. Englander.
The case is In re: Howrey LLP, case number 11-31376 DM, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.
--Additional reporting by Sindhu Sundar. Editing by Jeremy Barker.
The official committee of Howrey unsecured creditors said their former co-counsel, William McGrane and his firm McGrane LLP, should not be allowed to pursue claims against Howrey partners on behalf of unsecured creditor Howrey Claims in the bankruptcy court. McGrane, who was once a lawyer for the committee, sued 302 former Howrey partners in November under a so-called “alter ego” theory, saying the partners dominated Howrey and should be directly responsible to creditors.
The committee did not explain its rationale for asking for McGrane's disqualification, and it asked that it be allowed to file papers supporting its motion under seal. It did, though, allude to comments McGrane allegedly sent to the trustee.
McGrane allegedly told Ben King, a lawyer for Howrey trustee Allan Diamond, that he “very much look[s] forward to being freed from the constraints of the attorney-client privilege in that last regard so that the whole story of the sorry/sordid way this case has been manipulated.”
In a filing the same day, the committee complained that McGrane's alter ego case is nothing but a “disguised avoidance action.”
“It belongs to the estate,” the committee said.
McGrane has in his own filings with the court complained that the trustee and committee act as though the trustee “owns” alter ego claims.
“No mere trustee (let alone a committee) is the only game in town when it comes to that subject of 'who owns alter ego,'” McGrane said.
McGrane did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Howrey Claims said in its November filing that its alter ego suit is the only way it will be paid.
Pointing to the “hopeless insolvency” of the law firm’s estate and its mounting administrative costs, Howrey Claims said that given its lower priority as an unsecured creditor, it was unlikely to recover any of the money it is owed unless the equity security holders are held liable, according to the complaint.
Howrey Claims "will almost certainly never be paid anything in the future by anyone on account of its present status of being an unsecured creditor by assignment in the debtor’s bankruptcy case, except possibly the [Howrey equity security holders], and then only by way of a successful outcome in this class action,” the plaintiff said in the complaint.
Howrey was once one of the nation's top antitrust and intellectual property law firms, employing more than 750 attorneys in 17 offices across the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Its downfall began in 2009, as declining profits caused much of the firm’s top talent to jump ship. After one-third of its partners left, the firm opted for an out-of-court wind-down of its global operations. The firm’s partners voted in March 2011 to dissolve the firm.
Howrey Claims LLC is represented by McGrane LLP.
The creditors committee is represented by Bradford F. Englander.
The case is In re: Howrey LLP, case number 11-31376 DM, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.
--Additional reporting by Sindhu Sundar. Editing by Jeremy Barker.
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