Today's ChryCo C11 Court Docs: Chrysler/Feds Try to Pull A Fast One

Our C11 guy Toxicroach checks in:Wow, Robert, the more I read of what happened today, the more appalled I am. They filed the motion to sell the assets around 7:30 PM EDT last night. They tried to set the hearing for TODAY at 10 AM. Keep in mind that they hadn’t filed this motion at all until 7:30 PM the day before! That appears to have been denied, or it may have been so fast the court just couldn’t process it. The non-TARP creditors were on the BALL and filed an objection to the motion. So far, it appears that the court hasn’t taken the issue up. It did grant the various preliminary motions (in part) which will allow Chrysler to keep limping along for now.Chrysler/government is even trying to get rule 6004(b) waived, which would give the creditors 10 days to appeal if the order went through (i.e., they want to get this done so that an appeal is moot because the sale is completed). They are trying to bull rush this through. Wow, this is really starting to piss me off! In short, they were trying to pull a fast one. They take it easy Saturday and most of Sunday, drop the CRITICAL motion at 8 PM on Sunday evening, asking that the hearing to approve the motion be held the very next day (never mind the local rule requiring 20 days notice), AND try to deny the creditors the time to appeal. Wow, that is such a scumbag move!Kudos to Gerard Uzzi for anticipating this. My immediate and hurried impression is that this was a bit of a desperation play by Chrysler. This sort of brinksmanship is not the behavior of people who think they have a solid legal case. This is the behavior of people who want to avoid scrutiny and were hoping to catch the creditors sleeping.I’m not sure what this says about Chryslers opinion of Judge Gonzalez. If they thought he was totally in the bag, they wouldn’t bother with these cheap tricks. But if they don’t think he’s in the bag, they will have to use two Dodge Dakotas to tow each of their massive balls into the courtroom after this shenanigan.Anyway, the non-TARP lienholders are not planning on taking this sitting down. They have, oh, all of bankruptcy law on their side. And they plan on using it. Huzzah!“The first objection is to their motion to continue to pay pre-petition obligations ( download pdf here). Essentially, the non-TARPies are arguing that there is no real intent for Chrysler to be a ongoing business, since the plan is to sell everything to newco anyway, and that the motion to pay prepetition obligations is just a way to deplete the bankruptcy estate of its value before selling it to Newco for a song. In other words, it’s a “ sub rosa” plan to screw the bondholders. And he has a good point.1. MASTER TRANSACTION AGREEMENT among FIAT S.p.A., NEW CARCO ACQUISITION LLC, CHRYSLER LLC and the other SELLERS identified herein. ( download pdf here)2. ORDER, PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 105, 363 AND 365 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE AND BANKRUPTCY RULES 2002, 6004 AND 6006, (A) APPROVING BIDDING PROCEDURES FOR THE SALE OF SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE DEBTORS’ ASSETS, (B) AUTHORIZING THE DEBTORS TO PROVIDE CERTAIN BID PROTECTIONS, (C) SCHEDULING A FINAL HEARING APPROVING THE SALE OF SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE DEBTORS’ ASSETS AND (D) APPROVING THE FORM AND MANNER OF NOTICE THEREOF. ( download pdf here)3. MOTION OF DEBTORS AND DEBTORS IN POSSESSION, PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 105, 363 AND 365 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE AND BANKRUPTCY RULES 2002, 6004 AND 6006, FOR (I) AN ORDER (A) APPROVING BIDDING PROCEDURES AND BIDDER PROTECTIONS FOR THE SALE OF SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE DEBTORS’ ASSETS AND (B) SCHEDULING A FINAL SALE HEARING AND APPROVING THE FORM AND MANNER OF NOTICE THEREOF; AND (II) AN ORDER (A) AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE DEBTORS’ ASSETS, FREE AND CLEAR OF LIENS, CLAIMS, INTERESTS AND ENCUMBRANCES, (B) AUTHORIZING THE ASSUMPTION AND ASSIGNMENT OF CERTAIN EXECUTORY CONTRACTS AND UNEXPIRED LEASES IN CONNECTION THEREWITH AND RELATED PROCEDURES, AND (C) GRANTING CERTAIN RELATED RELIEF. ( download pdf here)