The Bankruptcy Court today conducted a hearing about confirmation of the AMR plan of reorganization. At the outset of the hearing, the Court read a prepared statement stating that it has questions about whether the confirmation hearing should proceed in light of the Justice Department lawsuit. The Court directed briefing on this issue and will not confirm the plan until it is determined whether it is appropriate to confirm a plan at this time. Nonetheless the Court allowed the debtors to present their confirmation case today so that if the Court decides to rule on the plan it can do so.
Prior to the start of today’s hearing, a number of objections to confirmation had been filed by various parties and ultimately resolved. The unresolved objections that were addressed at the hearing were those filed by the US Trustee, ALPA (filed after the objection deadline), the Clayton Act Plaintiffs, Supplemental B Pilot Beneficiaries, and various letters filed by individuals appearing on a pro se basis.
The majority of today’s argument centered around the objection filed by the Clayton Act Plaintiffs, who sought denial of confirmation or the adjournment of today’s hearing pending a resolution of the DOJ antitrust litigation, and the objection filed by the US Trustee with respect to Mr. Horton’s compensation. The Court reserved decision on the compensation issue and overruled all other objections.
The Court did not rule on confirmation today. Instead, the Court reserved decision and will issue a ruling in the future. The Court did not provide a specific timeframe for issuing its ruling.
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Sharon L. Levine
Paul Kizel
S. Jason Teele
Tania Ingman