U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge John J. Thomas recently ordered all creditors who have not already filed their claims, or had them listed by LC&N, to file their claims by 5 p.m. July 13 with the court clerk in the Max Rosenn Courthouse, Wilkes-Barre.
Failure to file such a claim will bar a person or business from asserting such a claim or participating further in the case, and will also relieve LC&N from any obligation to pay it, Thomas ruled.
The judge required LC&N to provide a copy of the notice to all known creditors no later than 20 days before the deadline, which would be June 23.
Thomas' order represents another stage in the reorganization of LC&N, Pottsville, a major producer of anthracite from coal fields in Schuylkill and Carbon counties.
Four of LC&N's creditors filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition for the company on July 15, alleging it owed them more than $7 million. Those creditors -- Primerock Capital LLC, Pittsburgh; Bruce Toll and The Bruce and Robbi Toll Foundation, both of Horsham, and Douglas Topkis, New York City -- sought a change in control of the company.
Thomas ruled on Oct. 1 that LC&N's board of directors could reject the management contract with Coaldale Energy LLC, headed by Sean D. Curran, then LC&N's president and CEO.
One week later, Jack Teitz, Pittsburgh area, became LC&N's interim CEO and ousted Curran.
James J. Curran Jr., LC&N's sole shareholder and Sean Curran's father, who had sought to depose his son as the company's leader, has also taken the helm as its chairman of the board. Jack Eloranta is the chief operating officer.
LC&N and its predecessors have been mining anthracite coal in Schuylkill and Carbon counties since Lehigh Coal Mining Co. was founded in 1792. LC&N owns more than 8,000 acres between Tamaqua and Jim Thorpe.
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