Court is host to Czech delegation

The delegation was interested in how to deal with large steel bankruptcies.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Three officials from the Czech Republic were in the city Wednesday to learn how American bankruptcy courts handle business cases.
Zdenek Krcmar, a justice with the Czech Republic supreme court; Pavel Janout, a district commercial judge from Prague; and Libor Jezek, a member of the parliament of the Czech Republic, toured the U.S. Bankruptcy Court here.
Observing the process: The three are being led to various courts around the country by the U.S. State Department and were in Youngstown because the local court is handling bankruptcy cases for LTV Steel and CSC Steel, said Judge William T. Bodoh.
Judge Bodoh said the Czech Republic is drafting amendments to its existing bankruptcy laws and is considering addition of a Chapter 11-type bankruptcy, which protects companies from creditors while they reorganize.
"They don't really have a way to reorganize businesses there like we do," Judge Bodoh said. "The United States is the only country in the world that has a sophisticated reorganization vehicle like Chapter 11."
The Czech delegation talked to Judge Bodoh and some local bankruptcy attorneys about what works, and what doesn't, in the American bankruptcy system.
"They want to learn from our mistakes as well as from our successes," Judge Bodoh said.