Oak Mountain trustee pursues Anker, Kiewit, First Reserve

摘要

Claiming that the owners of Oak Mountain Energy, including Anker Coal Group, drove Oak Mountain into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court-appointed trustee for Oak Mountain is pursuing those past owners for damages. In a Jan. 23 filing with Anker's bankruptcy court in northern West Virginia, trustee James Henderson asked for relief from an automatic stay on all pending court proceedings that the bankruptcy court granted to Anker when it went into Chapter 11 in October. Lifting the stay would allow an "adversary proceeding" to resume in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Northern Alabama. That proceeding has been under way since 2001. The past owners have vigorously opposed Henderson's claims, but in early 2002, the U.S. District for Northern Alabama rejected their motion to have them dismissed. The West Virginia judge has set a Feb. 20 telephone hearing on Henderson's request to lift the stay.