The Supreme Court has begun hearing oral arguments in the matter of BCE Inc et al vs lots of bondholders.
Lawyer Guy Du Pont is leading off for Bell. He is getting quizzed by justices about the concept of “reasonable expectations” and whether the transaction as proposed puts unreasonable risk on bondholders.
Du Pont has the floor to 1040. After that, lawyer Benjamin Zarnett will argue on behalf of a numbered company that wants the deal to proceed.
Then at 10 am it will be Raynold Langlois for intervenor Matthew Stewart. Lawyers for the bondholders begin their arguments after that: Markus Koehnen at 1010 and John Finnigan and Avram Fishman at 1040. Then Christian Tacit for intervenor Catalyst Asset Management. Du Pont and Zarnett will each have 5 minutes for reply.
And then at 1130, the court will wrap up.
Legal beagles hanging around the court say it's possible the Supremes (minus Justices Fish and Rothsten who are not sitting today) will render a verdict today but if they do, it will likely be after markets close at 4 pm.
UPDATE: And sure enough, judgement has been “reserved”. It's anyone's best guess how long it will take the 7 justices to make decision.
“Legal beagles hanging around the court say it's possible the Supremes (minus Justices Fish and Rothsten who are not sitting today) …”
Why would Justice Rothstein not be sitting to hear the case? Isn't his specialty commercial law?