Two experts said that the attorneys’ fees in a potential General Motors bankruptcy could reach as high as $800 million, Bankruptcy Law360 reported on Friday. “For professionals, this is a bankruptcy the size of Enron,” said Lynn M. LoPucki, a professor at UCLA and Harvard Law School. Enron generated more than $1 billion in fees when those approved by the bankruptcy court and others assessed before and after the filing were included, according to LoPucki. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. could generate up to $1.4 billion in fees, LoPucki’s earlier research showed. LoPucki’s research partner, John W. Doherty of UCLA, said that with only 60 percent of total fees being awarded by a judge, professional fees for a GM bankruptcy could reach as high $1.3 billion on GM’s annual 10-K reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said yesterday that a compromise pact to provide at least $15 billion in loans to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC could be unveiled within the next 24 hours, the Detroit Free Press reported yesterday. Levin said on FoxNews yesterday that he expected the bill to be introduced in the next couple of days. The Senate is set to come back in session Monday, with the House planning to return Tuesday. Any bill will likely need 60 votes to pass in the Senate, something Levin couldn’t guarantee. However, Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said yesterday that he believed there would be enough votes to pass the measure, even though congressional leaders are displeased over the situation._“None of us like this at all, and there [are] a lot of reasons to be furious,” Dodd said, noting that more than 2 million auto-related jobs in the United States are at risk if the automakers fail. Dodd also noted that General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner might be required to step down.
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The United Automobile Workers union called its third strike in five months yesterday, sending some 3,650 workers at parts factories in Michigan and New York off the job in opposition to proposed pay and benefit cuts, and to what it called unfair labor practices, the New York Times reported today. Analysts said that the strike, against American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings, threatened to shut down some truck production at General Motors, the supplier’s biggest customer and former parent company. GM officials said that there were no immediate disruptions, and both companies had stockpiled some parts in preparation for a work halt, though it was reported to be only a few days’ worth. The UAW’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, who led the union in brief strikes against GM and Chrysler last fall, accused American Axle of failing to provide enough information for the union to evaluate the proposed cuts.
