What happens to the payment for a solar renewable energy credit (SREC) when the payor closes its doors? Maryland citizens are finding out the hard way. The promises made to some of them are turning up empty.
In Van Sickle, the plaintiffs each owned a royalty interest in a well that was originally leased by Comanche Oil Company, which later assigned its interests to Athens/Alpha Gas Corporation. Alpha later filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, and the plan was approved without inclusion of the Van Sickles' claims. The Van Sickles sought to hold both companies liable under the doctrine of successor liability for pre-bankruptcy-court-confirmation royalties under the N.D.C.C. § 47-16-39.1, which provides in part:
The Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently ruled in In re NE OPCO, INC., 2013 Bankr. LEXIS 4569 (Bankr. D. Del. Nov. 1, 2013), that electricity is not a “good” for purposes of 11 U.S.C. § 503(b)(9).
As Ohio enjoys its latest boom in oil and gas exploration, it is important to understand how oil and gas leases are treated in bankruptcy. Unsettled Ohio law regarding whether a debtor owns unextracted oil and gas as part of the debtor’s real property can make this a difficult issue.
Most people think of an oil and gas mineral “lease” as, so named, a lease. However, this common thinking is not necessarily accurate, both with respect to state and federal law and in particular in the bankruptcy courts in the United States.
On October 17, 2012, Satcon Technology Corporation and various of its subsidiaries (collectively, "Satcon") filed chapter 11 petitions for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Satcon's subsidiaries include Satcon Power Systems, Inc., Satcon Electronics, Inc., Satcon Power Systems, LLC, Satcon International and Satcon Technology. As stated in Satcon's Declaration filed with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court (the "Decl."), Satcon provides "utility-grade po
Electric vehicle battery manufacturer A123, which received a $249 million stimulus grant from the Department of Energy, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection October 15 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to facilitate an agreement in which Johnson Controls will purchase its automotive business assets for $125 million. The company has drawn down roughly $131 million of its grant, and has faced problems with batteries supplied to Fisker as well as low demand for electric vehicles.
On August 2, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a requirements contract for electricity is a forward contract for purposes of section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code and, therefore, settlement payments made under the contract are exempt from avoidance as preferences. Claude Lightfoot v.
On August 2, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a requirements contract for the supply of electricity constituted a “forward contract” under the Bankruptcy Code and, therefore, was exempt from preference avoidance actions. The Fifth Circuit held that the contract in this case met the plain language definition of a “forward contract,” notwithstanding the fact that it lacked fixed quantity and delivery date terms. Lightfoot v. MXEnergy Elec., Inc. (In re MBS Mgmt. Servs., Inc.), 2012 WL 3125167 (5th Cir. Aug. 2, 2012).