NorVergence Up-Date

by Kit Menkin

Surprisingly there was no protest to the story “Leasing Companies Caving In” as it was basically factual. This means that all those are not making settlements, such as Popular Leasing, settling in Florida because their counsel reportedly said it was “cheaper” than going to court with the Florida attorney general.

According to the NorVergence Litigation Weekly Newsletter, GE Capital
has agreed to offer the same terms to all of its lessees that it
negotiated with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.  New Jersey
reportedly already has an agreement in place. Generally, this agreement requires lessees to pay 15% of what is owed on 7/15, with credit given to payments made after that date.

The attorney general in Illinois and Connecticut are both active,
but surprisingly Bill Lockyer, who has announced to the press
that he is interested in running as the Democratic candidate
against Governor has made no states. Contacts
to his office have said, “ We'll get back to you.” According to the
Yahoo list serve, many of the lessees have received the same message.

Accordingly, several leasing companies are still seeking litigation,
but it appears to be more random than before, perhaps started
earlier than recent events.

The trend has been to make a settlement, such as Pitney Bowes,
to the tune of $20 million and Bank of New York, $24 million.
The Commercial Money Market is another example, as the
issue moves away from “ right or wrong” to an economical
“get back to business producing money” than singing “if
the blues were whiskey, I'd be drunk all the time.”