Monthly Archives: November 2011
Foreclosure Firm Steven J. Baum to Close Down
A law firm that had become a lightning rod in the controversy over mortgage-foreclosure practices has shut down, costing 89 employees their jobs. The Steven J. Baum P.C. law firm, which has offices in Amherst, N.Y., and Westbury on Long Island, has filed papers with government agencies notifying them that it plans to close. It made the filings under a federal law requiring employers to provide notice before mass layoffs. “Disrupting the livelihoods of so many dedicated and hardworking people is extremely painful, but the loss of so much business left us no choice but to file these notices,” said […]
Sbarro Fast-Food Pizza Chain Wins Court Approval for Bankruptcy-Exit Plan – Bloomberg
Sbarro Inc., the fast-food pizza restaurant chain, won approval of its plan to restructure and exit bankruptcy protection. Sbarro will give ownership of the reorganized company to senior lenders owed about $176 million under the proposal approved today by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman in Manhattan. The company, based in Melville, New York, started as an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, in 1956 and has more than 1,000 company-owned and franchised restaurants, according to its court filings.Sbarro, acquired in 2007 by the private-equity firm MidOcean Partners, filed for bankruptcy in April, blaming reduced consumer traffic at shopping malls […]
Fox Wants Dodgers’ Bankruptcy Case Dismissed, Slams McCourt, MLB
In a sharply worded court filing late Wednesday, Fox Sports said it would ask a U.S. Bankruptcy Court to dismiss the Dodgers from bankruptcy. In the process, Fox slammed Major League Baseball as “Prime Ticket’s former ally” and claimed the only reason Dodgers owner Frank McCourt wants to sell the team’s television rights now is to put “value rightfully belonging to Prime Ticket in his own pocket.” On Nov. 1, McCourt and MLB reached an agreement under which he would sell the Dodgers and the league would not oppose an effort by McCourt to market the team’s television rights.The Dodgers […]
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Ban Baum From Foreclosures
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have dropped Steven J. Baum P.C., New York’s largest foreclosure law firm, from its network of firms that process the foreclosures of mortgages owned by the government-sponsored enterprises. The servicers of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae-owned mortgages can no longer refer foreclosure cases to the Baum firm, though the firm will retain the cases already referred to it. Freddie Mac’s bar on new referrals also includes bankruptcies and was announced on Nov. 10. Fannie Mae’s decision to bar new referrals was confirmed yesterday. Spokesmen for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would not comment on the […]
Goldman Sachs Sued by Capmark to Recover $147 Million Insider Preference
Units of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS were sued by Capmark Financial Group Inc., which accused them of wrongly collecting $147 million five months before Capmark went bankrupt. While they were co-owners of Capmark in May 2009, a group of Goldman units used their influence to help convince Capmark to refinance $1.5 billion in unsecured debt owed to Goldman, according to the lawsuit filed today in Manhattan federal court. The refinancing allowed Goldman to collect $147 million, including $7 million in cash, based on the new secured loan, according to the lawsuit.“Despite these conflicts and close connections — indeed, as […]
