Update – Action on Armstrong’s Reorganization Plan

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Update – Action on Armstrong’s Reorganization Plan
Update – Action on Armstrong’s Reorganization Plan
Lancaster, PA, December 17—A hearing was held earlier this week in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, to considered objections to Armstrong Holding's plan of reorganization in the company's Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceedings. In those proceedings Judge Eduardo C. Robreno told Armstrong World Industries Inc. that it will have to wait a couple of weeks before he files his decision on their fourth amended reorganization plan. According to the Deal.com, Debra Dandenau, debtor counsel at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP said, "The judge reserved his decision and said that he will take a couple weeks before he files. We expect a filing sometime in January." Considering the complexity of the case, an asbestos-related filing that has been in the courts since December 2000, it's little surprise the judge chose not to rush a decision. The plan itself was originally filed in May 2003, and has been updated multiple times, most recently on Dec. 3. Judge Randall Newsome, a visiting judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington, approved it late last year. According to Dandenau, counsels were still arguing over matters of the case. One of the bigger issues was the unsecured creditors committee's wish to present an expert witness to add testimony concerning Armstrong's asbestos cases, saying it lacked the opportunity to do so previously. Weil argued that the creditors were making a tactical decision and waiting until the end of the proceedings to try to present their witness. The creditors committee has tried in the past to delay confirmation of the plan to see if asbestos reform legislation passes in Congress, having filed a conditional objection to the plan in September 2003 arguing to wait for asbestos legislation to pass. Robreno, who sits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said in November that he would not delay confirmation unless legislation was imminent. According to reports, the unsecureds expect Congress to consider the matter in the first half of 2005. Robreno did not specify when to expect his filing, and has said previously that if legislation is imminent, he will consider it as a factor. Stephen Karotkin and Dandeneau represent the debtor from Wiel in New York. Mark D. Collins and Rebecca L. Booth are debtor co-counsel at Richards, Layton & Finger PA in Wilmington.


Related Topics:Armstrong Flooring, RD Weis