U.S. judge in GT Advanced bankruptcy questions need to seal documents
REUTERS 4:06 PM ET 10/15/2014
Symbol Last Price Change | AAPL | 97.3422 | -1.4078 (-1.43%) | | GTAT | 0.4373 | +0.0223 (+5.37%) | | QUOTES AS OF 03:28:55 PM ET 10/15/2014 |
By Nick Brown
Oct 15 (Reuters) - The judge overseeing the mysterious bankruptcy of an Apple Inc(AAPL) sapphire supplier on Wednesday voiced skepticism over the widespread sealing of documents in the case, saying he is "not seeing the kind of trade secrets" that would warrant sealing.
Scant information has emerged since GT Advanced Technologies Inc(GTAT) filed for bankruptcy last week, wiping out most of its market value and triggering speculation as to what may have soured its Apple(AAPL) relationship and torpedoed its prospects.
Key court filings revealing the reasons for the bankruptcy, which are routine in most Chapter 11 cases, have in this case been filed with the court in secret. GT Advanced(GTAT) cited strict confidentiality requirements in its Apple(AAPL) contracts which, if violated, carry fines of $50 million.
At a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Springfield, Massachusetts, Judge Henry Boroff told a lawyer for Apple(AAPL) that the documents do not seem to contain much proprietary information. Boroff instructed Apple(AAPL) to make a list by Monday of exactly which elements of the filings are sensitive.
"I've got a foot-high stack of documents, and it can't be that it all must be sealed," Boroff said.
The judge's comments came during a hearing that was meant to consider a motion by GT Advanced(GTAT) to keep certain documents sealed and begin the process of winding down its operations. But those issues were postponed until next Tuesday, in light of the recent appointment of GT Advanced's(GTAT) official creditors' committee.
The committee, tasked with representing the interests of all of the company's unsecured creditors, needs more time to get up to speed, Luc Despins, a lawyer for GT Advanced(GTAT), told the court.
Despins added that the company will cease new production of Sapphire at its plants and will begin sending notices to employees under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act, which requires employers to warn workers of impending mass layoffs.
GT Advanced (GTAT) has said it plans to shut down a factory in Mesa, Arizona, and cut 890 jobs.
The notices will ensure the company's WARN Act compliance, "even though we will tell employees they should remain at the plant in Mesa until we tell them otherwise," Despins said.
(Reporting by Nick Brown in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) |
