This is a report from Ilene Slatko Re: (June 2nd Hearing)
Today’s hearing was a surprise in many ways. I walked in and saw Brian Rosen and his right hand counsel. They both greeted me, and Brian asked why I was there. He not only knew that I had been at the shareholders meeting, but knew something else shared in confidence at the S/H meeting. He was certainly nervous to see me there, and sat right in front of me, no doubt knowing I was tweeting and taking notes the entire time. His presence was a huge red flag to me...in the intervening years since the BK was ruled on, not one time have I seen him in court. It was always an underling that was sent in his place. This was different, right off.
JMP’s corporate counsel from Cromwell and Sullivan presented their case against Anchor. He barely came up for air, again, a bit unusual, sort of ramming the information through, was how it felt.
Two attorneys working on the Anchor LTW cases filed in Ohio, both from different firms. First one up was not prepared for Judge Walrath. She caught him in round one. The second one was more forceful in his arguments, but wasn’t set up well by his co-counsel. At issue was not simply the LTWs, but also whether pressing forward with these cases was considered contempt of court, since at least on the surface, this had been decided previously, in Walrath’s 2/2012 ruling. However, the more the plaintiff’s attorneys spoke, the more agitated BR became. He’s a master at controlling himself, but at one point I watched him shake his head side to side and become fidgety. They mentioned the P&A Agreement, the timing of it and how it didn’t line up with the BK filing. At this point Judge Walrath spoke up and reminded them that she did have jurisdiction over these cases, since they arose out of BK. No doubt she was protecting her turf...maybe more?
She announced she was making a bench decision (more on that later) and told the Anchor attorneys that they had 2 weeks to withdraw their cases or face contempt charges.
We were dismissed. I approached the attorneys and asked what their next move was...expecting to be told MYOB! Instead, we ended up (2 Anchor attorneys, an LTW holder and myself) talking for the better part of 30 minutes.
Because they were informative and talking through how they might continue these cases, and because he asked me, I am not at liberty yet to fully disclose the conversation. Hopefully tomorrow. BUT, in speaking with them (and the LTW holder and I spoke for another 30 minutes without the attorneys), I realized exactly what Walrath, and BR were protecting.
THE ENTIRE CASE!
These attorneys, and these cases, are pulling at a loose string
on the GSA and PAA...the missing documents, the inconsistent document dates...all of this is what they’re tugging at. In fact, Walrath said as much. In making her ruling, she said that it was the fault of the attorneys for not pushing harder during the BK trial. Wonder if the statute of limitations has run out on this?
I have sat in a number of these hearings, post BK decision, both for WMI and for other companies. I’ve never heard or FELT being this close to watching everything come unraveled. Whether it will or not, who knows...but both Judge Walrath, JMP and Brian Rosen are pushing to keep it together.
As always, the foregoing is just my opinion, based on what I’ve seen and heard.
Respectfully submitted,
Ilene
