Optim Energy creditor’s plan confirmation order stay request denied

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Aug. 3 – Optim Energy, LLC creditor Walnut Creek Mining Co.’s motion for a stay of the July 24 order confirming Optim’s third amended joint plan of reorganization was denied Monday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The court said Walnut Creek “has not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal” because it lacks standing to appeal the confirmation order.

Despite the denial, judge Brendan Linehan Shannon extended the stay imposed under the Bankruptcy Code to Aug. 20 to give the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware enough time to consider Walter Energy’s motion for a stay pending appeal.

According to the stay motion, Walnut Creek raised issues at the two-day plan confirmation hearing that “not only affect Walnut Creek’s rights, they implicate important questions affecting further cases to come and bankruptcy law and policy generally.”

“As the testimony and evidence at the hearing made clear, recoveries in the third amended plan were reduced solely for the purpose of creating an impaired class of creditors,” Walnut Creek said in the stay motion.

Walnut Creek said Optim amended the plan in an effort to isolate Walnut Creek and did so “without good faith.”

Optim, a Silver Spring, Md.-based power plant owner, filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 12, 2014. The Chapter 11 case number is 14-10262.

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