On December 17, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved a settlement between Starion Energy Inc. and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in which Starion agreed to pay up to $10 million to resolve claims that it engaged in deceptive business practices and violated state telemarketing laws.

Starion is a retail provider of electricity and natural gas that offers service to residential and commercial customers in states where energy deregulation permits customers to choose their supplier.

It has been suggested that Ireland improperly transposed the Employer’s Insolvency Directive into Irish Law by adopting a definition of “insolvency” which requires an actual winding up order (or a resolution of voluntary winding up to be passed) before an employee can have access to the Insolvency Fund, a Government payment scheme which provides for the payment of certain employee entitlements, in the event of the insolvency of their employer.