The paperwork supporting the company’s bankruptcy filing offers Freedom’s ‘presently hypothesised’ explanation for what caused the chemical leak. The loan arrangement was agreed following a court hearing which would allow Freedom Industries to continue to pay its employees and top vendors and provide funds to cover the environmental cleanup needed following the chemical spill. It is alleged that the company failed to warn Freedom sufficiently of the hazards associated with using MCHM.įreedom’s lawyers are asking for an expedited court hearing to review, among other things, the company’s request for a bankruptcy loan of up to $5m from WV Funding LLC. Eastman has also been named as a defendant in the suit against Freedom Industries. Freedom had gross revenue of $30.7m in 2013.Īmong Freedom’s major creditors is Eastman Chemical, the manufacturer that sold Freedom MCHM, the chemical that polluted the Elk River and later the local water system. The Internal Revenue Service has also indicated that it is owed more than $2.4m by Freedom relating to taxes dating back to 2001. D Car LLC and Archer Daniels Midland were the two next largest creditors, owed $561,518.75 and $428,768.12 respectively. Silverlake Holdings LLC is the company’s next largest creditor, owed $615,954.51. Atlanta based FloMin Coal Inc was listed as the company’s largest creditor with a claim of $648,221.70. In total Freedom’s top 20 unsecured creditors, with the exception of those parties who have begun legal proceedings against the company, are owed around $3.6m. Within the bankruptcy paperwork, Freedom noted that the company has between 200 and 999 creditors. However, despite the stay in the civil legal proceedings facing the company, Freedom will be required to endure a number of state and federal investigations as it attempts to reorganise its business and continue operating under federal law.Īnthony Majestro, an attorney acting on behalf of a number of smaller businesses suing the company, noted that his clients were considering petitioning the court hoping to collect on Freedom’s existing insurance policy. Under the terms of the bankruptcy filing most of the two dozen court cases lodged against the company will be stopped, forcing plaintiffs to vie with other creditors for a share of the company’s assets. However, the consensus among analysts is that the company has grossly underestimated its liabilities in these filings.Īccording to Freedom, the volume of the lawsuits and severe payment demands from vendors since the incident on 9 January forced the company to seek protection in the US bankruptcy court. Freedom Industries Inc, the chemical manufacturer whose leaky storage tank polluted the Elk River in West Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January to cope with the cost of the number of lawsuits that were subsequently filed against the company.įreedom, which is wholly owned by Chemstream Holdings Inc, filed for bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court in Charleston, West Virginia on 18 January listing assets and debt of $1m to $10m each in court documents.
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