The theme-park chain announced on Saturday that it is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The filing will not affect the daily operation of the 20 Six Flags theme parks across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

“In an online letter to employees, President and CEO Mark Shapiro said Six Flags inherited a $2.4 billion debt load that “cannot be refinanced in these financial markets.”

“This process is strictly a financial restructuring of our debt and that’s how you should view it and speak about it,” Shapiro said in the message posted on the Six Flags Web site.”

Daniels made sure to state that “This restructuring will have no impact on families who come out to our parks. They will not see an inch of difference”.

The company performed well in 2008, it attracted 25 million visitors and made $275 million. It just could not keep up with its debt obligations.

“That’s a balancing act you just can’t risk year in and year out,” he said. “Today, we are moving to rectify our balance sheet once and for all. Believe me when I say we will emerge from this process stronger and more competitive than ever.”

A restructuring of the company would reduce it’s debt to $600 million.

Lets hope they get all of this straightened out I love Magic Mountain… I for one would hate to see them close their doors.

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And that’s just so far…

The Jones Day firm has billed Chrysler more than $18.5 million dollars since the failing automobile company paid them $1 million in late November to establish a retainer. According to the Jones Day filing, about $5.8 million remains in the retainer which means Jones Day has drawn down just over $13 million so far. Business is good representing bankrupt companies, I guess now is the perfect time.

“Also of interest: the firm is staying below the magic $1,000 per hour mark that a few firms have jumped over in bankruptcies this year. Corrine Ball, the lead bankruptcy partner in the Chrysler case, is billing at $900 per hour. She’s actually not the top-billing partner, though. That distinction goes to John Cornell, who will be advising Chrysler on employee benefits and executive compensation to the tune of $950 per hour.

One other nugget from the filing: According to the firm’s engagement letter from November, Jones Day was advising General Motors in its talks with Cerberus Capital Management on a possible GM-Chrysler mega-merger. Should those talks reopen — an unlikely happening now, we realize — Jones Day would still advise GM and build a wall between its GM and Chrysler teams, the letter says.”

The only other firm that applied is Togut, Segal, and Segal, which will serve as conlict council for Chrysler and advise on any matters that present a conflict for Jones Day. ” Togut partners will bill between $760 and $890 per hour; associate and counsel rates will range from $295 to $680.”

To view the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com.
SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

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The auto industry is in some serious trouble and bankruptcies are a definite possibility. Attorneys speculate that General Motors Corp. may be heading down that dark road, resulting in legal fights about union issues and consumer warranties.

“If a General Motors bankruptcy leads to manufacturing plant closings or a scaling back of production, a wave of bankruptcies is likely to follow,” reported lawyers.

According to Evan D. Flaschen, a Hartford, Conn., partner at Houston’s Bracewell & Giuliani, “the ripples will be profound.”

With the big auto industry financial disaster, small businesses will feel the effects. Those who sell products and services to the big guys including restaurants and corner stores will suffer greatly.

Stated The National Law Journal, “after the U.S. Senate on Dec. 11 failed to approve a $14 billion automobile industry bailout approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 10, the White House hinted that it may consider using the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which could funnel up to $700 billion to financial firms under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.”

Stay tuned…

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After Lehman Brothers Holding Co. filed for bankruptcy, lawsuits have been flying. One in particular is in the heart of Silicon Valley, California’s San Mateo County. Suing execs and accountants for $150 million in losses, Lehman Bros. is in for a bumpy ride.

Filed Thursday, individual execs such as chief executive officer Richard Fuld and Ernst & Young, the firm’s accountants and others were named in the suit. Accusing Fuld and others of fraud, the lawsuit claims that the team allegedly made it appear publicly that the company was financially strong while in reality they were “scrambling to save it from collapse.”

The suit is asking for a return of exec’s bonuses to repay for damages suffered by the county’s schools, hospitals, transit district and individual cities. Weil Gotshal & Manges in New York are representing Lehman’s bankruptcy case and have not commented on this story.

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Filing for bankruptcy is very popular right now. Times are tough and people can’t keep up. However, don’t fret too much! Although things are difficult, something has got to give. For example, changes are in the air regarding the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Therefore, according to The National Law Journal, a well thought out plan may give individuals who are guarantors of real estate companies the option to reorganize under Chapter 11 and retain one or more of the companies and the buildings owned by them without any continuing guarantee liability.

And if that’s the case…many of these Chapter 11 filings will not have to see a courtroom. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Rather than lose hope, search for alternatives offered out there. They do exist.

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There are those law schools with great reps and then there are the other ones…Well, it appears that the Barkley School of Law is on Team B, the shady team, and after being faced with a lawsuit, disturbing allegations by students, new leadership, dwindling enrollment, and a name change, the school is planning on shutting its doors for good.

Having filed bankruptcy, the Kentucky law school is officially withdrawing its application with the state for a license to operate in 2009. The question is…how will that impact the students? Well, they’re going to have to switch schools and finish their degree somewhere new. And for those practicing lawyers with degrees from the Barkley School of Law, this could definitely discredit their diploma and ultimately effect their career. I foresee a lawsuit in the making…

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(Venice, CA) One of the leaders in online legal documents, RealDealDocs.com, has released a free preview of the Linens ‘N Things Agency Agreement. The agreement was drafted by a number of top lawyers, including 2008 Amlaw Honored law firm Wachtell Lipton. To view the Linens ‘N Things Agency Agreement from RealDealDocs.com, click here.

An Agency Agreement is a legal document creating a fiduciary relationship whereby the first party (”the principal”) agrees that the actions of a second party (”the agent”) binds the principal to later agreements made by the agent as if the principal had himself personally made the later agreements. Basically, an agency agreement denotes a relationship in which one person has legal authority to act for another. The typical agency agreement relationships are those between a guardian and ward, executor or administrator with a decedent, and an employer with an employee.

The Linens ‘N Things agency agreement could be classified as an employer-employee agency agreement. The agreement lays out the terms by which the Tiger Capital Group will sell all of the Linens ‘N Things merchandise due to the store filing bankruptcy.

As the economy slips into a recession, more and more businesses are closing their doors. Going out of business sales have become a staple in American capitalism. In order to pay off debts and sell their businesses, companies opt to elect financial corporations to sell off their wares, as in the Linens ‘N Thing agency agreement.

RealDealDocs.com is an online legal document resource that hosts a number of agency agreements for all types of purposes, including that of the Linens ‘N Things agency agreement. The website boasts over a million different legal documents from agreements to contracts to clauses and more for use as samples and templates.

The legal documents at RealDealDocs.com are drafted by the top law firms of the country and are used by both the largest corporations and the smallest of small capital companies alike. Lawyers, laymen and entrepreneurs utilize RealDealDocs.com as a shrewd business tool to see how the biggest and most influential business deals are made.

RealDealDocs.com is a membership site, and while everyone is welcome to search their many legal documents and view previews of those documents, members have the additional option to download and print the documents for their own use and convenience. The legal document database at RealDealDocs.com can be searched by category, law firm, legal parties, state and more.

To search for Agency Agreements by state, click here.

To visit the RealDealDocs.com database, click here.

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Lawyers are downright worried about the U.S. bank crashes that have occurred and whether or not they are responsible for losing client’s funds.

“It weighs on us,” said Bob Gordon, a partner at Gordon & Donner in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

The ongoing question of whether lawyers should split up their client’s funds over $250,000 in various bank accounts all over town is popular and while a few say yes, there are others who say absolutely not.

“That would not be feasible,” said Gordon.

Still…Gordon adds, “At any given time, we have hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting in trust accounts, if not millions. It could be a nightmare if our bank failed.”

Although Gordon was assured that his bank was secure, you never know. “I doubt that anyone knew Wachovia had the problems it did.”

A partner in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. office of Gunster Yoakley, Martin Press, said, “Our firm has made it a rule to deal with the big institutions. My view of the world is there are certain institutions that are too big to fail — the Bank of Americas, the Citibanks, the Chase Manhattans, the JP Morgan Chases.”

Regardless, as Lehman Brothers has proven…anything can happen.

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Financial institutions are being swallowed by the economic tidal wave. As they try to exit bankruptcy or find reorganizations, the lack of financing to assist them may lead to these five things, as researched by the National Law Journal:

1. Sudden, prenegotiated mergers or buyouts, similar to Lehman Brothers’ fate.

2. Increased asset liquidation, rather than traditional reorganizations.

3. Significant international costs related to layoffs of overseas employees, based on foreign severance protections.

4. As firms merge and restructure, a loss of in-house counsel jobs.

5. Significant changes in executive retention packages to reflect attitudes against large bonuses.

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As major financial corporations are crumbling down, multimillion-dollar companies seeking bankruptcy protection can’t secure funding. They are also losing pledged money to save their operations resulting in liquidations and thousands of job losses.

“It is not just the consumer that is running low on cash, but major financial institutions are running short on cash and are having trouble borrowing to cover their loan commitments,” said Peter J. Gurfein, a restructuring specialist in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Los Angeles office.

According to Gurfein, “the heart of the problem for companies trying to emerge from bankruptcy is lack of funding to pay for it, or withdrawal of previously committed funds.”

Filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy means that the company has the ability to put off existing debts while attempting to raise capital and restructure their business in order to remain above water. However, as reported in The National Law Journal, “failure to keep up with payments in bankruptcy, or find money to exit as a viable business, may prompt what’s called a Section 363 liquidation sale, or even a conversion to a Chapter 7 liquidation for the sale of assets.”

“A lack of funding to assist troubled businesses through a tough economy is widespread,” said Victor G. Milione, head of the restructuring practice in the Boston office of Nixon Peabody. “We’re seeing it across all segments of the revenue stream for our clients as well as companies not our clients, from midcap to large-capital companies and those publicly traded.”

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