[JURIST] Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, the US Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] has formally set out its plans to alleviate corporate financial strain caused by Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. In a press release, the agency announced that it will extend various filing deadlines for corporations affected by the hurricane. The agency's order also exempts corporations and other filers from some requirements for the current financial quarter. Earlier this month the SEC announced [SEC press release] that it was in contact with accounting firms and corporations in the Gulf Coast region to determine how best to react to the disaster.

In other corporations and securities law news…

• Following Thursday's announcement that Mississippi will sue insurance companies [JURIST report] to enforce insurance policies in the wake of hurricane Katrina, a private attorney in Mississippi announced that he will file a class-action lawsuit against the companies. Richard Scruggs [PBS profile], who has had success in asbestos and tobacco litigation, said he plans to sue several major insurance companies. Though most policies explicitly do not cover flood damage, Scruggs plans to argue that the damage from Katrina does not qualify as "mere flooding." Reuters has more.
• Following Delta's Wednesday bankruptcy filing [JURIST report], Judge Prudence Carter Beatty of the Southern District of New York has approved the airline's bankruptcy financing plan. The judge approved offers of $1.7 billion from GE and $ 350 million from American Express to finance Delta's restructuring and planned emergence from chapter 11. Reuters has more.. Meanwhile, as noted earlier today in JURIST's Paper Chase, a federal bankruptcy judge in Virginia has approved [JURIST report] US Airway's emergence from bankruptcy and merger with America West.
• Also as reported earlier in JURIST's Paper Chase, US District Judge Inge Johnson in Alabama has ordered mediation in the SEC's civil suit against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy [JURIST coverage]. The SEC filed a $785 million complaint against Scrushy in March 2003 for his alleged role in HealthSouth's accounting scandal but waited to pursue the case until his criminal trial ended in acquittal in June [JURIST report]. AP has more.