Judge gets update on Michael Vick bankruptcy plan

NORFOLK, Va. — Michael Vick’s revised bankruptcy plan will incorporate many of the suggestions made by a judge who rejected his first proposal, but will still be based largely on resuming his once-lucrative NFL career, a lawyer for the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback said Tuesday.

Attorney Paul Campsen told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank Santoro that Vick and his advisers have made substantial progress on drafting a new Chapter 11 plan, but they need more time. Santoro scheduled another hearing for June 9, which will allow attorneys to meet with Vick in person after his May 21 transfer from a federal prison in Kansas to home confinement in Hampton, Va.

Santoro rejected Vick’s first plan earlier this month and ordered a more realistic one. He said Vick should liquidate some of his vehicles and one or both of the expensive homes Vick wanted to keep in Virginia — one for his mother, and one for himself, his fiance and their children.

“We’ve taken very seriously the comments the court has made,” Campsen told Santoro. He could not offer details about the new plan because discussions with Vick are continuing.

In rejecting the first plan, Santoro also had expressed concern that it was based largely on Vick’s return to the NFL. Santoro said there was no guarantee that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would lift Vick’s suspension after the former star completes his 23-month sentence for bankrolling a dogfighting conspiracy. The plan called for Vick to keep the first $750,000 a year that he earns, with a percentage of any amount over that going to creditors.

“Liquidation of assets and sharing future income remain the core of the plan,” Campsen told Santoro.

Asked after the hearing if that meant the new plan would still be based on Vick’s return to the NFL, Campsen said: “It’s still a big part of it.” He said he could not elaborate.

Santoro said he was OK with keeping details of the new plan quiet for now, but said that will end June 9. He did not say when Vick’s attorneys must present a written plan.

Campsen said the only thing he can say for sure is that Vick will live in his Hampton home from the day he leaves the penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., through July 31. “Where he’ll be after that is to be determined,” he said.

Vick, who will work a $10-an-hour construction job as part of his probation, had hoped to move into a $2 million house he’s having built in Suffolk. Campsen declined to disclose plans for that property.

Santoro also approved a settlement in which Vick will pay the Falcons at least $6.5 million to settle their contract dispute. The Falcons had claimed Vick owed them $21.2 million for bonuses he received before his guilty plea, but a federal judge awarded the team $3.75 million. The Falcons appealed the ruling.

The settlement takes the uncertainty out of the situation and forecloses further litigation. The Falcons, who have said they want to trade Vick, will be treated like his other unsecured creditors in the Chapter 11 plan.