DODGERS OWNERSHIP FIRES BACK AT MLB COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG IN CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS

9-28-2011

We've been following this story from the beginning.  In sum, Dodger's owner Frank McCourt had a bad divorce from his wife and the Dodger's were determined to be a community property asset of the marriage estate by the family law court.  This presented a myriad of problems for Mr. McCourt and he was expending millions in attorneys fees so he decided to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the Dodgers to stop the bleeding.  The MLB commissioner immediately moved to take over the team since the team was in bankruptcy pursuant to the ownership terms and conditions between MLB and the Dodgers.  The bankruptcy court did not allow for this outright, so now MLB is moving to dismiss Mr. McCourt as the trustee in charge of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate.  It's complicated but under a chapter 11 reorganization the current ownership is deemed to be the trustee of the assets of the bankruptcy estate and essentially requests permission from the bankruptcy court in order to make financial decisions about the company and also submits a reorganization plan that all of the creditors can vote to approve.  The current owner of the Dodgers is fighting to keep control and has been offered a $100,000,000+ loan from Chase Bank and several other entities have offered him enormous infusions of cash loans in hopes of being allowed to own a piece of the Dodgers.  The Dodgers owner has also tried to negotiate a new TV deal to bring in additional revenue.  MLB is trying to have Mr. McCourt removed as trustee of the Dodgers bankruptcy estate and allow a court appointed trustee to step in and sell the team.  In response, Mr. McCourt has taken some shots at Commissioner Selig in his reply papers.

National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Letter to Acting Comptroller of the Currency re Mortgage Consent Orders

9-21-2011

Supply-side Federal "Consent Orders" will more than likely not be a viable solution to the "robo-signing," legal violations, and systemic mismanagement of the foreclosure process by the banks.  The process is not transparent and probably cannot be trusted with any reasonable degree of certainty.  Even so, the consumer advocacy group, the Center for Responsible Lending said that "the draft consent orders do not hold mortgage servicers accountable for illegal practices and do nothing to end the cycle of foreclosures."  They continue, "the government agencies are going back to a model where they rely on federal regulators to stamp out problem areas when in fact state agencies may be better suited for this work."  In sum, the government's plan is more government.  Given the government failures of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as the massive amounts of documented fraud with regards to their financial practices, we do not agree that the proposed Federal Mortgage Consent Orders will  stem the current foreclosure crisis by any stretch of the imagination.  It allows for more of the same and is supported by big bank lobbyists and campaign finance contributors. HAMP loan modifications will continue without any oversight or accountability.  Accordingly, borrowers with the means to pay their mortgages but were told by the banks not to in order to qualify for a re-mod, eligible borrowers who have been given the run-around in the re-mod process, and borrowers seeking a remod and have submitted a confirmable chapter 13 plan in good faith can expect more of the same hurdles in righting their wrongful foreclosures.