A short recap of today's hearing.
My observations: Rosen and Co were off their mark today from the time they walked in to the end. Example: a new associate gave an argument which he was supposed to hear (from the overheard conversation), and he was absent from the court the entire time. He was engaged in a conversation w the attorney for the Wrigley motion prior to the hearing and was more conciliatory than usual. Both he and Strochak offered circular, whiny arguments, not on point as they have often been. JMW seemed more aware of the deception that has taken place in her courtroom, even commenting several times on the ironic turn of events*
Sometime this afternoon Rosen reported, the valuations from Blackstone and PJS were to be exchanged between Debtors and EC. Rosen then went on to plead for any motions/filings, etc. to be done with enough time prior to the confirmation hearing for them to come up with a counter strategy...although of course, he didn't phrase it that way :) Our local co-counsel (Taylor) argued that it was pointless to have such an early deadline, and the Judge agreed, saying she was sure the Debtor would have some surprises for everyone*
Discussion on a couple of "wrong party claims" which were pushed back until the end of the hearing.
Appaloosa's attorney reiterated what had been filed, that Nate had provided them with information to their satisfaction and they were dropping their request.
Strochak rose to explain (actually complain) about how the LTW holders were not cooperating with their request for documents, etc. and was the most rambling I'd yet seen him. Completely unfocused, which is what he should have been, given that the argument was weak and whiny. He was attempting to explain why having specific trading information on the individuals who hold LTW was a reasonable request. Steinberg (my hero) rose to calmly assert that this was total BS and that as a class action, no individual information was necessary, and if they really needed trading ranges, closing prices, etc than all that was publicly available information. He was sailing along and then said something that made the Judge change her stance a bit...he mentioned analysts' reports and lost a bit of momentum at that point as JMW agreed that those might prove to be useful. He used the word intimidation when referring to the Debtors request, and when Strochak rose again to counter, the Judge *remarked on the delicious irony of the LTW doing to them what the Debtors had been accused of all along. Brilliant point on Steinberg's part!
JMW ultimately ruled that affidavits needed to be filed attesting to the current ownership and if that ownership changed, but that positions were not necessary. She also directed LTW to produce any analyst reports they had.
We wrapped up with the two "wrong party" claims...WMI vs WMB confusion that have previously been tossed when other parties brought similar suits. The first party was not represented and was neither on the phone nor in court. The second party was an attorney from Vermont, and JMW was sympathetic to him, but ultimately ruled that the law was with WMI and that she couldn't "change the law at her level".
And that's about it for today!!
Ilene
