Dissident pension funds urge court to take time with Chrysler ruling
06/09/2009, 3:19 PM
By Drew Johnson
Chrysler may have been relieved to hear that Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne has no intentions of walking away from a Chrysler-Fiat tie-up, but that announcement has given the Indian pension funds responsible for Chrysler’s delayed sale a little more firepower.
Lawyers representing the three funds filed a new argument with the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday claiming Marchionne’s remarks should give the court reason to take its time with the final ruling. Both Chrysler and the federal government were pushing for a speedy decision by the Supreme Court – as the Chrysler-Fiat alliance has a clause for termination if a sale is not completed by June 15th – but Marchionne’s statement indicates there is no reason for a rush decision.
“The risk of termination by Fiat if the transaction does not close by June 15 no longer provides a basis for driving the timing of these proceedings,” the lawyers said in a court document obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
However, both Chrysler and the U.S. government have a vested interest in a timely Chrysler sale – even if it doesn’t affect the Fiat tie-up — as the Michigan automaker is losing about $100 million for every week it is shut down while in bankruptcy.
06/09, 3:37 PM
posted by:
AxeHead
Lee Iacocca must be pissed to see the once profitable carmaker in the toilet. I stopped buying Chryslers in the 70’s when I realized that they couldn’t make a transmission. They still can’t. I’ll never buy a vehicle from Chrysler ever, nor anything made by blood sucking, lazy arse unions.
06/09, 3:40 PM
posted by:
sequoiatrader
“Surgical BK” is a sham. Chrysler & GM should face the same BK as every other company. The fallout would be bad for sure. I don’t think it would be as bad as the talking heads lead us to belive though. I wish I could file a “Surgical BK”, my home has lost over $100K in the and I have some debt I would like to flush. Maybe I could divide things into a “good assets” pile and a “bad assets” pile. Then I will flush all of my credit debt and let the creditors battle over the proceeds from the sale of my 1997 Nissan pickup wuth 165K miles. I’ll keep the house and Excursion debt free.
I read an interesting piece today in the Wall Street Journal about the stimulus package and the job picture in the US. Obama’s White House released numbers indicating that the stimulus package since enacted, has “saved” 150,000. Never mind that 1.5 million jobs have been lost during that period, 150,000 jobs have been saved. By the way there is no known way to measure jobs “saved”. Never mind that when this stimulus was pushed through all of the talking heads said unemployment would not go over 8%. It currently stands at 9.4%. The adminstration just spins it anyway they want and the press doesn’t call them on it.
06/09, 3:42 PM
posted by:
AxeHead
Bytheway…I didn’t know that Indians owned the Pension Fund…we talking Mowhawks or Appache?
06/09, 3:53 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Axehead, Chrysler always could make a decent manual transmission and I’ve owned a bunch of them but I hear you on the slush boxes. Gm’s just the opposite: they make some of the best automatics on the planet but their standards (at least in their smaller cars from the past) feel like you’re pushing a wooden spoon through a bucket of custard.
06/09, 4:06 PM
posted by:
JakeK66
AxeHead must have owned a Chrysler Cordoba with Carinthian leather. Lee made his biggest mistake in choosing Bob Eaton over Bob Lutz – even he admitted to this several times. Not reported by many sources also was Iaccoca lost his lifetime car from Chrysler and most of his pension in the bankruptcy. Chrysler is a real peach of a company.
How are they losing $100 million? Aren’t they losing all their “bad debt” so wouldn’t that make up for whatever losses they are reporting?
06/09, 4:43 PM
posted by:
savedsol
IndianA not Indian.
06/09, 5:37 PM
posted by:
NRG
It is what it is folks. Time will tell if Chrysler is around by this time next yr. Filing a delay by the pension funds just keeps dragging this out. Enough already. Lets get on with it.
06/09, 8:38 PM
posted by:
Mutant@DCX
Supreme Court ruled in favour of Fiat. Chrysler is in bed.
Unlike my friend the Indian, who had to sleep in the hotel lobby because she didn’t have a Reservation.
06/10, 8:44 AM
posted by:
cor1977
Ricardo Montalbán, the Chrysler Cordoba and its “soft Corinthian leather”…. the 70’s/80’s where such GOOD times!!!
06/10, 8:44 AM
posted by:
cor1977
Ricardo Montalbán, the Chrysler Cordoba and its “soft Corinthian leather”…. the 70’s/80’s were such GOOD times!!!