In Tuesday’s (7/26) Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Dobrin writes, “The judge in the Philadelphia Orchestra Association’s bankruptcy case has handed down a compromise in the clash between management and the musicians’ union over the scope of an investigation of the association’s endowment and finances. Noting that the bankruptcy code gives broad discretion in such decisions and is ‘designed to permit interested parties to “discover assets, examin[e] transactions, and determin[e] whether wrongdoing has occurred,” ’ Judge Eric L. Frank ruled Monday to give the union access to documents provided to other parties in the case, and seek additional documents later. … The orchestra is in Bankruptcy Court saying it will seek to withdraw from the musicians’ pension plan and move the musicians into a defined-contribution plan, like a 403(b). … In court Thursday, lawyers from the pension fund of the American Federation of Musicians pressed for access to a decade of internal records—including e-mails and texts—in a quest to argue that the association should dip into its $140 million in endowments if it withdraws from the national union’s multi-employer pension plan. … Both sides said they were pleased with the ruling, but the union continued to express unease.”
Posted July 26, 2011
