Legal News

Morning Roundup: On Filene?s Basement, Superfund Costs, More

By Ashby Jones

Let’s get you up to speed on the rest of the morning’s legal news, as the rain continues to dump on poor Manhattan.

Filene’s Basement Falls: Retailer Filene’s Basement filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, the latest casualty of the economic downturn but one that could have a different outcome than recent retail bankruptcies that quickly became liquidations. Real estate investors Crown Acquisitions and the Chetrit Group offered $22 million to purchase the name and leases on 17 of Filene’s most profitable stores. It’s the second Chapter 11 filing for the retailer in less than a decade. Filene’s filed in Delaware and is using Laura Davis Jones and others from Pachulski Stang as debtor counsel. Click here for the WSJ story.

The Supremes on Superfund: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled 8-1 that Shell Oil Co. isn’t liable for Superfund environmental cleanup costs as the maker of pesticide chemicals that were spilled at a storage and distribution facility in Arvin, Calif. The ruling, penned by Justice John Paul Stevens, could make it harder for the government to recover the often big costs of environmental cleanups from companies with limited responsibility for toxic spills. Click here and here for stories from Dow Jones Newswires and the NYT.

Noncompete Enforced in EMC/H-P Case: A Massachusetts Superior Court judge granted EMC Corp.’s request for a preliminary injunction barring executive David Donatelli from taking a big job in Hewlett-Packard Co.’s computer and storage business. Mr. Donatelli, 43 years old, had been president of EMC’s storage business, its core unit and the source of most of its revenue. He surprised EMC and most outside analysts last week when he resigned to take a job at H-P, a rival in the storage business. Click here for the WSJ story.

Howrey’s Vice Chair Dies at 53: Cecilia Gonzalez, vice chair of Howrey, succumbed to breast cancer at her home in Washington on Monday. Gonzalez was one of the nation's foremost International Trade Commission lawyers, representing major corporations and high-tech clients in fast-track intellectual property litigation before the ITC and in the U.S. District Courts. Click here for the news, from the BLT Blog. Throughout the years, she held a number of leadership positions at Howrey, where she’d worked since 1986.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 05, 2009 (boomark / email).