Cal Dive maritime creditors eye committee to represent ‘unique’ claims

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, May 19 – Some of Cal Dive International, Inc.’s maritime claimants asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to appoint an official committee of maritime lienholders for the company’s Chapter 11 case, according to a motion filed Tuesday.

As creditors that provided necessary goods and services to vessels, the claimants said maritime lien creditors have special and unique rights in vessels and exclusive remedies, including the ability to arrest vessels, under the Federal Maritime Lien Act that are not available to other creditors.

As a result, the claimants said maritime lienholders “have interests that significantly diverge from those of general unsecured creditors.”

“The unique nature of the maritime lienholders’ claims and the widespread and disparate claim amounts of the individual maritime claimholders has given rise to a constituency that is not adequately represented by the official committee of unsecured creditors appointed in these cases - even if a member of the creditors’ committee is a member of that constituency,” the motion said.

The maritime claimants said they asked the U.S. Trustee to appoint an official committee on April 21, but the U.S. Trustee denied the request “without explanation and without first soliciting comment from other parties in interest.”

A hearing is scheduled for June 22.

Cal Dive, a Houston-based marine contractor providing services to the offshore oil and natural gas industry, filed for bankruptcy on March 3. The Chapter 11 case number is 15-10458.

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