WASHINGTON – Three Indiana state pension and construction funds want the Supreme Court to block Chrysler’s sale to Fiat so they can pursue an appeal in hopes of getting a better deal.
The funds filed emergency papers at the high court early Sunday.
An appeals court in New York approved the sale Friday, but gave objectors until Monday afternoon to try to get the Supreme Court to intervene. Chrysler LLC wants to sell the bulk of its assets to a group led by Italy’s Fiat Group SpA as part of its plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
The emergency request went first to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who handles such matters from New York. She can act on her own or refer it to the entire court.
The Indiana State Police Pension Fund, the Indiana Teacher’s Retirement Fund and the state’s Major Moves Construction Fund claim the deal unfairly favors the interests of Chrysler’s unsecured stakeholders ahead of those of secured debtholders such as the funds.
The funds also challenged the constitutionality of the Treasury Department’s use of money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to supply Chrysler’s bankruptcy protection financing. They say the government did so without congressional authority.
The government-sponsored reorganization of the U.S. auto industry, including the Chrysler bankruptcy proceedings, “is a matter of incredibly high profile and importance,” the funds said in their request to the high court. “The public is watching and needs to see that, particularly when the system is under stress, the rule of law will be honored and an independent judiciary will properly scrutinize the actions of the massively powerful executive branch.”
U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzalez, the bankruptcy judge overseeing Chrysler’s case, approved the sale last Sunday, finding that the deal with Fiat was Chrysler’s only alternative to liquidation.
The appeals court halted the sale on Tuesday, allowing the funds to appeal Gonzalez’s decision. That court ruled against the funds on Friday, but continued to delay the sale so the funds could go to the Supreme Court.
Chrysler had hoped to close the sale by the end of this past week.
Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Chrysler has maintained that the sale must be completed quickly to save the automaker from complete collapse. If the deal doesn’t close by June 15, Fiat has the option of pulling out. Production at Chrysler’s manufacturing plants remains halted pending the closing of the sale.
Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs of the New York-based appeals court asked Thomas Lauria, the lawyer representing the Indiana funds, why he believed his clients would be better off if the deal with Fiat went away and Chrysler was forced to liquidate.
“You can’t wait for a better deal to come in from Studebaker,” Jacobs said.
Lauria responded that the sale could be restructured to provide a better return for the secured debtholders.
U.S. automaker Studebaker Corp. closed in 1963.
29839 Sta Margarita Pkwy, 
Videography by Barbara Rosenfeld 
June 7th, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
I couldn’t find an email address for Mr. Lauria, so phone and fax numbers will have to do.
Thomas E Lauria
Partner
Wachovia Financial Center
200 South Biscayne Boulevard
Suite 4900
Miami, Florida
33131-2352
United States
T: + 1 305 995 5282
1 212 819 2637 NY
F: + 1 305 358 5744/5766
1155 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York
10036-2787
United States
T: + 1 212 819 8200
1 212 819 2637 NY
F: + 1 212 354 8113
June 7th, 2009 @ 2:02 pm
This is good, people need to fight this imposter, anyway they can.
June 7th, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
I am stymied. Why does Lauria need to see the application for stay that he himself sent to Ginsburg, so must have seen when he sent it? Some detail seems missing.
June 7th, 2009 @ 8:10 pm
Orly, does this Bloomberg News paragraph help?
[[ The case is In re Chrysler LLC, 09-50002, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). The appellate case is In re Chrysler LLC, 09-2311-bk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Manhattan). The Supreme Court application is Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler, 08A1096. ]]
https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=aqiTT6yxgHSE&refer=law
June 7th, 2009 @ 8:12 pm
Orly, this is a May filing by Kurtz and Lauria, so outdated, but POSSIBLY it contains information you could use.
https://chapter11.epiqsystems.com/viewdocument.aspx?DocumentPk=8b2f9a28-04cd-4161-b3b6-50fc8e37ef9c
June 7th, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
By Wall Street Journal Staff:
[[ Calling the Indiana funds argument “flawed,” Chrysler also said the funds didn’t have the standing to challenge the sale for alleged violations of EESA and TARP because they haven’t suffered an injury as a result.
The auto maker also said the appeals court is prevented from reviewing the action because of sovereign immunity and a bar on judicial review of TARP spending by the Treasury secretary. –Chad Bray ]]
https://blogs.wsj.com/autoshow/2009/06/04/indiana-funds-chrysler-file-appeals-briefs-over-sale/
Outrageous. If losing your investment money is not suffering an injury, then what is?
Congress tried to stop him, but apparently Paulson made sure that no one could look over the Treasury secretary’s shoulder (the bar on judicial review of TARP).
How can anyone fight the total rampant corruption in Washingon?!
June 8th, 2009 @ 9:37 am
Fox News has him listing as working with White & Case Restructuring Co. That is where this info came from.
Contact Info
Thomas E Lauria
Partner
Wachovia Financial Center
200 South Biscayne Boulevard
Suite 4900
Miami, Florida
33131-2352
United States
T: + 1 305 995 5282
1 212 819 2637 NY
F: + 1 305 358 5744/5766
1155 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York
10036-2787
United States
T: + 1 212 819 8200
1 212 819 2637 NY
F: + 1 212 354 8113
June 8th, 2009 @ 10:01 am
His email is tlauria@whitecase.com
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:03 pm
“The Indiana State Police Pension Fund, the Indiana Teacher’s Retirement Fund and the state’s Major Moves Construction Fund claim the deal unfairly favors the interests of Chrysler’s unsecured stakeholders ahead of those of secured debtholders such as the funds…..”
State’s PERF website: https://www.in.gov/perf/2380.htm
PERF’s contact: (888) 526-1687 toll-free
Indiana State Information: 1-800-457-8283
June 8th, 2009 @ 4:28 pm
Orly, google for this line of three words:
Indiana Chrysler Fiat
Justice Ginsburg GRANTED the STAY!!!!
June 8th, 2009 @ 4:59 pm
Dr. Taitz,
Will today’s ruling by Justice Ginsburg on the emergency Chrysler appeal help you? Do you think even liberal justice Ginsburg sees this as a way for the Supreme Court to rule on Obama’s eligibility?
June 8th, 2009 @ 11:05 pm
Orly, more must-reading for you:
[[ . . . Thomas Lauria, a lawyer for financial firm Perella Weinberg Partners, reported the car czar threatened that “the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its [Perella Weinberg’s] reputation” unless the firm agreed to Obama administration demands in Chrysler’s bankruptcy. The failure by the White House press corps to repudiate Rattner’s threat speaks volumes and underscores their role as an ally of the Obama Administration. ]]
https://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/08/obamas-enemies-list-grows
See also the paragraph immediately above that one (the two paragraphs are at the end of the article.)
June 8th, 2009 @ 11:08 pm
Orly, do you know whether anyone informed Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg of that threat to Lauria?
June 9th, 2009 @ 12:04 am
I don’t know, but one of patriots told me that she called SCOTUS a while ago and somebody told her that they had a meeting there about threats. I can’t say which threats
June 9th, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
Games the regime plays . . .
[[ Chrysler, Fiat, U.S. Urge Court to Permit Asset Sale (Update1) ]]
https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=aR45LT2Q2JX4
June 9th, 2009 @ 7:43 pm
Some GM bondholders rising up
[[ June 9 (Bloomberg) — Individual General Motors Corp. bondholders, who say their interests are very different from institutional bondholders who support the automaker’s plan to sell its best assets to a new GM, want to be represented by their own official committee in the company’s bankruptcy case.
The group . . . includes three individuals with about $2.3 million in bonds, according to court papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. ]]
https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601127&sid=abjxv_3zrgi4
June 9th, 2009 @ 7:47 pm
BAD news
Supreme Court has lifted its stay on Chrysler sale to Fiat
That news just in!!
https://news.google.com/news?ned=us&hl=en&q=Indiana+Supreme+Chrysler+Fiat&cf=all&scoring=n
June 10th, 2009 @ 4:20 am
Orly,
it is very unfortunate that SCOTUS reversed it’s decision and gave green light to Chrysler sale to Fiat.
https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHRYSLER_BANKRUPTCY?SITE=PASCR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
It’s incredible how your lawsuits are continuosly being treated as “frivulous” and how the thugs in office manage to bend Scotus to all their wishes.
But maybe we have reasons to continue monitoring the Fiat case.
I’ve done some research on the Fita shareholders. And guess who owns 2% the company ?
https://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE5572U220090608
Khadafi !!! The Axis of Evil Muslim terrist who downed the Lockergye jet.
Italian Mafia + Arab terrists takin hold of American Capitalism ???