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Supreme Court takes ship tax, bankruptcy cases

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court granted certiorari Friday in two cases. In Polar Tankers v. City of Valdez, the Court will consider whether a municipal tax that falls exclusively on large vessels in the city's harbor violates the Tonnage Clause (Art. 1 § 10 cl. 3), Commerce Clause (Art. 1 § 8 cl. 3), or the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause of the US Constitution. The city of Valdez, Alaska, imposes a tax on oil tankers and other large vessels using its port to pick up and deliver crude oil. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld the tax. In the the consolidated cases of Travelers Indemnity v. Bailey and Common Law Settlement Counsel v. Bailey, the Court will consider whether a bankruptcy court has jurisdiction to approve a third-party injunction provision in a plan of reorganization or related confirmation order. These cases arise from the bankruptcy of asbestos manufacturer Johns-Manville Corp.. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a bankruptcy court lacked that jurisdiction.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 12, 2008 (boomark / email).