“Regarding Donofrio...I read a response from him early on that on the Chrysler case...he was only proceeding with the clients “best interest’s” in mind and that they (the clients) were not primarily concerned with the eligibility issue. As I read it, a QW would only be filled IF the BK case did not result in the dealers having their dealerships reinstated.”
I have been worried about this. If the government, acting to protect Obama, offered a sufficient cash settlement and the dealers took it, quo warranto would almost certainly be dropped by the dealers as a condition of the settlement.
BTW, The dealers don’t want to reopen their dealerships, they want settlement money, per the lead plaintiff. The Chrysler dealerships were shut down immediately, unlike the GM dealerships that are on a phased schedule that can be canceled by arbitration.
It is possible that the quo warranto has been put on hold and kept as a threat to motivate a cash settlement, but Anderer, the Chrysler dealer seen on Cavuto really seemed to want to punish Obama and didn’t seem likely to settle for a few pennies on the dollar for having his franchise given to a competitor who was a Democrat contributor.
It is not at all clear how meaningful funding for a settlement could be obtained from the legal entity that is still in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy judge would have to admit a huge mistake (a fraud on the court said D’Onofrio) and the redistribute the assets of the bankrupt entity taking away assets allocated to other creditors and giving them to the Chrysler dealers. I just don’t see the wherewithal for a settlement there for the Chrysler dealers.
At a minimum, any settlement would take time lots of court proceedings. D’Onofrio was fully aware of this when he said he would file the quo warranto right around New Years Day. If you look at the 12-29-09 interview with Anderer on Cavuto that game is very much on and I thought I saw a “quo warranton” gleam in Anderer’s eye.
There could be many reasons why D’Onofrio might want to delay quo warranto for a few days or weeks to tweak it to make it better. Also for maximum publicity impact, the world isn’t really back from the holidays until this Monday. Quo warranto isn’t much good as a threat to pressure for a cash settlement unless it can actually get filed in the DC Circuit with arguments that some portion of the Obama DOJ team regards as credible. So I fully expect that it is coming soon.
If the AG turns the case down, the way is open for plaintiffs to act on their own. That’s by statute. The AG sort of has a right of first refusal to act as counsel, but cannot shut the case down.