Receiver (legal)

In law, a receiver is a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights."Philip, Ken, and Kerin Kaminski. [http://www.philipco.com/opinion/0704b.pdf Receivership: A Value-Adding Tool.] "Secured Lender", January/February 2007, Vol. 63 Issue 1, pages 30-34,36.] Three types of receiver appointments exist:
#a receiver appointed by a (government) regulator pursuant to a statute;
#a privately-appointed receiver; and
#a court-appointed receiver. The receiver's powers "flow from the document(s) underlying his appointment – a statute, financing agreement, or court order.

Court-appointed receivers are "the most powerful and independent of the judicially-appointed managers."Bradley, Catherine Megan. [http://www.law.nyu.edu/pubs/annualsurvey/documents/62_N.Y.U._Ann._Surv._Am._L._703_2007.pdf Old Remedies Are New Again: Deliberate Indifference and the Receivership in "Plata v. Schwarzenegger".] 62 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 703 (2007).] Unlike special masters and monitors, "the receiver completely displaces the defendants: the receiver makes large and small decisions, spends the organization’s funds, and controls hiring and firing determinations." Examples of court-appointed receivers include:
* In the District of Columbia, the jail’s medical care facility "was placed under court-ordered receivership in August 1995, after the District was held in contempt for repeatedly failing to implement court orders... intended to ensure adequate medical services to jail inmates." [Ekstrand, Laurie E. [http://www.gao.gov/new.items/gg00173t.pdf District of Columbia Receivership: Selected Issues Related to Medical Services at the D.C. Jail.] United States General Accounting Office, June 30, 2000. Testimony GAO/T-GGD-00-173.] The receivership ended in September 2000. [ [http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04750.pdf District of Columbia Jail: Medical Services Generally Met Requirements and Costs Decreased, but Oversight Is Incomplete.] United States General Accounting Office, June 2004. Report GAO-04-750.]
* An insolvent fuel company is managed by a court-appointed receiver. [http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/09/courtappointed_receiver_now_co.html]
* A U.S. District Judge appointed a receiver for the multi-level marketing company Equinox International in August 1999. [Geer, Carri. [http://www.rickross.com/reference/equinox/equinox15.html Court-appointed receiver to retain control of Equinox Corp. for now.] "Las Vegas Review-Journal", August 18, 1999.] As of 2007, the receiver was authorized to distribute settlement funds from the now-defunct company to approved claimants. [ [http://www.robbevans.com/html/eqnxpage.html Page of Robb Evans, Receiver of Equinox International Corp.] Accessed 10 Nov 2007.]
* After placing the California state prison health care system into receivership in June 2005, a U.S. District Judge appointed a receiver for it in February 2006.Moore, Solomon. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/us/27prisons.html Using Muscle to Improve Health Care for Prisoners.] "New York Times", August 27, 2007.] California Prison Health Care Services (under control of the California Prison Health Care Receivership) attempts "to bring medical care in California prisons up to constitutional standards." [ [http://www.cphcs.ca.gov/ Welcome to California Prison Health Care Services.] Accessed August 16, 2008.]
* In February 2007, a judge in Florida appointed a receiver for companies owned by Lou Pearlman that defrauded investors. [Huntley, Helen. [http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/03/Business/Regulators_call_Pearl.shtml Regulators call Pearlman savings plan a fraud.] "St. Petersburg Times", February 3, 2007.] The receiver later said about the companies "I don't see much in the way of hard assets that are worth anything or are not already fully encumbered [with debt] ." [Lieberman, David. [http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2007-04-09-pearlman-usat_N.htm Missing music king loses his throne.] "USA Today", April 10, 2007.]

ee also

* Administrative receivership
* conservator

References