Brazos Legal/Financial Advisor Fees Hit $80M

As Brazos Electric Co-op edges closer to a solution in its $1.9 billion bankruptcy case, the Waco-based power retailer is discovering the cost of getting a resolution is not cheap. The lawyers and financial advisors working on the Brazos restructuring for the past 15 months have already billed nearly $80 million for their services, according to court records. The final price tag will likely exceed $100 million, according to lawyers involved in the case. The Texas Lawbook has the details.

July 6, 2022 Mark Curriden

Brazos Electric Co-op Nears Deal in Bankruptcy

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative has reached an agreement in principle with most of its creditors that could result in the Waco-based power supplier exiting bankruptcy by fall. The agreement, which has the support of ERCOT and power generators such as Calpine, calls for Brazos to sell some assets, provides concessions from the power generators and allows Brazos to exit bankruptcy with its co-op structure. But there are still major hurdles ahead.

July 5, 2022 Mark Curriden

Husch Blackwell Leads Christian Care Centers Bankruptcy

Middle-market bankruptcy practices are feasting off bankruptcies being filed by senior-living businesses. Mesquite-based Christian Care Centers has hired Husch Blackwell as debtors counsel. A slew of other firms are also involved, including Munsch Hardt, Munck Wilson and Linebarger.

May 25, 2022 Mark Curriden

Talen Energy Picks Weil Gotshal to Lead Bankruptcy and Restructuring

Houston-based Talen Energy filed the largest Texas corporate bankruptcy case of 2022 late Tuesday citing more than $3 billion in debt. A plethora of large law firms – Akin Gump, Paul Weiss, Kirkland & Ellis, Davis Polk, V&E and King & Spalding – are involved, but Talen GC Andrew Wright chose Weil Gotshal as lead debtor's counsel.

May 12, 2022 Mark Curriden

Kirkland and Jackson Walker Team up for Hess Subsidiary Bankruptcy — Updated 

Hess Corp. subsidiary Honx Inc. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Thursday in Houston federal court, citing asbestos claims brought by contractors and employees at a former oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

April 28, 2022 Natalie Posgate

Under Judicial Pressure, Brazos, ERCOT to Mediate $1.9B Dispute for What’s ‘Best for Texans’

Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones encourages the two sides to reach an agreement and move forward for ‘the person that lives in a trailer in Central Texas… that can’t afford a doubling of their electric bill.’

March 3, 2022 Bruce Tomaso

Fort Worth Bankruptcy Judge Hears Details of $33M Elevate Credit Settlement

The multistate predatory lending and fraud litigation pitting more than a million low-income plaintiffs against two Fort Worth financial tech companies – Think Finance and Elevate Credit – is in “its final chapter,” lawyers told a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlan Hale Wednesday. Elevate agreed to pay $33 million to settle three class actions and an adversarial bankruptcy complaint that alleged a decadelong scheme of predatory lending and subsequent corporate transactional legal maneuvering that claimed victims in nearly every state.

February 16, 2022 Mark Curriden & Natalie Posgate

Legal, Financial Advisor Fees in Brazos Electric Ch. 11 Hit $33.6M

As the first Chapter 11 filing by a utility co-op in the wake of Winter Storm Uri rolls on, the billable hours by lawyers for both sides are piling up – with no end in immediate sight. More than 30 lawyers in the bankruptcy case are billing at more than $1,000 an hour.

November 15, 2021 Mark Curriden & Bruce Tomaso

Bankruptcy Judge to Hear Brazos Electric’s Arguments to Dismiss ERCOT’s $1.9B Claim

The dispute, which stems from emergency pricing for electricity imposed during February’s devastating Winter Storm Uri, could have far-ranging implications for other electric providers who were forced to pay up to $9,000 per megawatt hour – 300 times the normal rate – during the winter storm.

October 12, 2021 Bruce Tomaso

ERCOT to Brazos Electric: ‘I Just Do What I’m Told. Now Pay Me My $2 Billion.’

ERCOT, operator of the Texas electric grid, says it was just following orders when it charged Brazos Electric Power Coop roughly $2 billion for power and related services provided during the deadly storm in February – a staggering bill that drove Brazos, the state’s largest and oldest electric cooperative, into bankruptcy. The Texas Lawbook has the story.

September 24, 2021 Bruce Tomaso