Troubled lead acid battery maker Exide Technologies Inc. is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to reject a California agency’s attempt to seek additional environmental penalties after it has been formally discharged from bankruptcy proceedings.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) is seeking to have the court amend the terms of the bankruptcy exit so that additional parties can submit financial claims that could cost the company another $20 million.
The agency said that Exide admitted in a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles to “knowingly storing lead-contaminated waste in leaking van trailers at its Vernon facility a significant number of times over the past 20 years
Exide claims that the request is unfair because the agency failed to object when the company exited bankruptcy protection, and filing “serial amendments” to the original complaint “is a clear violation” of the recycler’s bankruptcy discharge.
Exide is seeking “enforcement of the discharge and injunction to prevent” the California agency from making an “attempted end-run around the Chapter 11 process,” according to court documents. It also is seeking monetary relief, including costs and attorneys’ fees related to defending the new claims.
A hearing has been scheduled for July 1.
