Texas wants Enron case moved to Houston
Dallas Business Journal - Houston Business Journal
Texas Attorney General John Cornyn is seeking to move Enron Corp.'s (NYSE: ENE) bankruptcy hearings to Houston from New York, where the Houston-based energy trader filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Dec. 2.
The motion was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Cornyn's action follows the state's federal court filing Dec. 7 that it and at least four state agencies the Office of the State Comptroller, the General Land Office, the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Committee have claims against Enron. More agencies are expected to seek a change of venue.
"The interests of Texas taxpayers are best served by having these cases based in the debtor's home state of Texas," Cornyn said in the response supporting legal arguments to move the hearings. "Multiple Texas state government agencies have claims or interests in the Enron bankruptcy cases."
The attorney general's office has formed an intra-agency committee, called the Enron Task Force, charged with developing legal actions to protect the state's interests as they relate to the financial collapse of Enron.
The attorney general's office has identified a $1.2 million claim stemming from an Enron North America Corp. natural gas contract sold to the General Land Office in November, and 75 non-custodial parents employed by Enron or one of its subsidiaries whose monthly child support payments are withheld by the corporation for distribution to the custodial parent.
"My legal team is conducting a thorough examination of all legal avenues available to the state under Texas law," said Deputy Attorney General Jeff Boyd. "We will continue to work with our client agencies to discern whether Enron owes any taxes or other obligations to the state, or if the state has any other claim we need to protect."
Even before Enron filed its bankruptcy claim, Boyd and others met with private counsel representing Enron shareholders to begin evaluating what role the state's Employees Retirement System, Teacher Retirement System and Permanent School Fund should play in pending shareholder derivative suits.
"Texans have a lot of unanswered questions about how this corporate collapse will affect the state of Texas," said Cornyn.
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