Tribune Co. court ruling could benefit Zell

Did anyone else have a feeling that he would somehow get his money-grubbing hands back in the game? His point of entry could be a ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey, who argues that holders of notes known as PHONES were being treated unfairly and should be able to recover at least a slice of a claim with an original value of more than $1 billion. Zell has a claims of $225 million. From the Chicago Tribune:

Sources close to the situation said PHONES holders may now claim that they should be able to recover as much as $130 million, in addition to participating in a potentially lucrative litigation trust that will be part of the plan of reorganization. Other sources said Zell plans to argue for a recovery that could run into the tens of millions of dollars. But rather than pocket the money, he would likely seek to use it as leverage to argue for a broader settlement of the fountain of legal claims flowing from the $8.2 billion buyout of Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, WGN-Ch. 9 and other media assets. The result of these developments is that Carey's decision has opened up yet another battlefield in a case that has stubbornly defied all attempts at resolution since Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 on Dec. 8, 2008.

Lawyers for Zell, who is still Tribune Co. chairman, insist that he is not responsible for the company's collapse. Right - and I'm scheduled to perform a heart transplant later this morning.