Bloomberg Law Dockets – Ten Most Read Dockets of 2010:

1. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Docket No. 1:08-bk-13555

(Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Sept. 15, 2008) Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

filed the largest bankruptcy in history on September 15, 2008

with consolidated assets of $639 billion and debt of $613

billion. The case is ongoing in the Southern District of New

York and remains the most read bankruptcy docket over two years

after its initial filing.

2. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Goldman, Sachs & Co.

et al, Docket No. 1:10-cv-03229 (S.D.N.Y. April 16, 2010) In

July 2010, the SEC reached an agreement with Goldman, Sachs &

Co. to settle securities fraud charges for $550 million. The

SEC’s action, filed three months earlier, charged Goldman with

failing to disclose that hedge fund Paulson & Co. Inc. had

played a significant role in choosing the subprime residential

mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) underlying the synthetic

collateral debt obligation known as ABACUS 2007-AC1. Paulson

allegedly shorted the RMBS portfolio that it helped to select.

3. Air Products & Chemicals Inc vs Airgas Inc et al, Docket

No. 5249 (Del. Ch. Feb. 04, 2010) This case, as well as #8 on

this list, involves Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.’s ongoing

hostile takeover battle with target company Airgas, Inc. The

two Pennsylvania-based industrial companies have been battling

for over a year, with a ruling on Airgas’ “poison pill” takeover

defense expected in January 2011.

4. Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, Docket No 1:09-bk-17442

(Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2009) Citadel Broadcasting, the third-

largest U.S. radio station operator, filed for bankruptcy in

late 2009 and exited bankruptcy, despite the objection of

several shareholders, by receiving court approval of its plan of

reorganization in May 2010.

5. Ceglia v. Zuckerberg et al, Docket No. 1:10-cv-00569

(W.D.N.Y. July 09, 2010) In this dispute over ownership and

control of the social networking website Facebook.com, plaintiff

Paul Ceglia alleged that defendant Mark Zuckerberg, the founder

of Facebook, Inc., entered a written contract in 2003 granting

Ceglia an ownership interest in Facebook in exchange for $1,000.

The suit was originally filed in New York state court, where a

judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing Zuckerberg

or Facebook from transferring, selling, or assigning any of

Facebook’s assets. Zuckerberg and Facebook removed the suit to

federal court in July 2010, where the restraining order was

allowed to expire.

6. General Growth Properties, Inc., Docket No. 1:09-bk-11977

(Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Apr. 16, 2009) In November 2010, shopping mall

owner General Growth Properties, Inc. completed the largest real

estate bankruptcy in U.S. history. General Growth began its

reorganization in April 2009 with assets of $29.6 billion and

$27.3 billion in total liabilities.

7. Citizens for Consume, et al v. Abbott Laboratories,, et al,

Docket No. 1:01-cv-12257 (D. Mass. Dec. 19, 2001) This case is

the federal branch of a long-running, multidistrict antitrust

class action against various major pharmaceutical manufacturers

and distributors over alleged inflation of the “Average

Wholesale Price” – the price charged by wholesalers to

pharmacies, hospitals and doctors for prescription drugs. A

number of major plaintiffs and defendants settled and sought

dismissal from the case in 2010.

8. Airgas Inc et al vs Air Products & Chemicals Inc, Docket

No. 5817 (Del. Ch. Sept. 15, 2010) See #3 on this list, above.

9. Washington Mutual, Inc., Docket No. 1:08-bk-12229 (Bankr.

D. Del. Sept. 26, 2008) Washington Mutual, Inc., the holding

company that owned the largest savings-and-loan in the U.S., was

taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on September

25, 2008, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in

Delaware the next day. Judge Walrath, who is presiding over the

case, said she will not be able to decide by Dec. 31, 2010

whether she will approve the global settlement and confirm the

Chapter 11 plan that was presented at a four day confirmation

hearing that ended on December 7, 2010. If Judge Walrath

approves the plan, over $7 billion will be distributed to

creditors.

10. Chen-Oster et al v. Goldman, Sachs & Co. et al, Docket No.

1:10-cv-06950 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 15, 2010) Three former high-level

female employees of Goldman Sachs filed a class action against

the prominent investment bank alleging gender discrimination and

retaliation. The women claim that Goldman Sachs compensates its

female employees less than male employees with the same or less

experience and provides better business opportunities to male

employees, charges that Goldman Sachs denies.

via Bloomberg Law Dockets – Ten Most Read Dockets of 2010 – Bloomberg.