(1)Withdrawal of VEBA motion. (2) UK Pension objection

(1) Simon and Cross, attorneys acting on behalf of the Nortel US Retirement Protection committee have placed a motion before the US court to withdraw the earlier motion seeking approval of a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association.
The docket containing the withdrawal is on the Epiq web site.

There is no reason given for the withdrawal.

(2) The Nortel UK Pension Plan Trust Fund has placed a motion before the US court objecting to Nortel's request for approval to destroy historical documents.

The UK Pension trust fund is claiming $3B should be given to them from Nortel Canada and Nortel US as a secure claim based on UK Law regarding a parent company's pension obligations. The UK trust Fund has place 15 claims on Nortel US as listed on the Epiq web site. There are no values associated with any of the claims.

Earlier the UK Pension fund lost appeals in the US and Canadian courts to be treated in advance of other claimants. Both the US and Canadian courts ruled that the UK law did not apply in the US or Canada. However they are still fighting to get money from the Nortel US and Canada estates.

Considering that the pensioners in the US have a $700M shortfall,and the pensioners in Canada have a $1B shortfall it would seem to me that the UK pension trust fund should stand at the back of the US and Canadian lines.

I think the normal process calls for each country to recognize the claimants in that geography and treat them under the laws of the specific country in which the bankruptcy occurred.

Hence US claimants share in the US estate, Canadian claimants share in the Canadian estate, and UK claimants share in the UK estate.

I sympathize with the UK pensioners, but considering that they are covered to a large extent by the PPF in the UK, and that Canadian pensioners are not covered at all by government pension protection, I think it highly unfair to let the UK pension trust fund get any of the assets in Canada or the US.