Bankruptcy: Secured Creditors Court Jurisdiction, Procedure and Review; Equitable Mootness Doctrine

摘要

This is an appeal from several bankruptcy court decisions made as part of the overall SemGroup bankruptcy filing, including In re Semcrude, LP., 407 B.R. 553 [172 0.&G.R. 253] (Bankr. D. Del. 2009); In re Semcrude, LP, 407 B.R. 140 [172 0.&G.R. 28] (Bankr. D. Del. 2009); In re Semcrude, LP, 407 B.R. 112 [172 0.&G.R. 1] (Bankr. D. Del. 2009); and In re Semcrude, LP, 407 B.R. 82 [171 0.&G.R. 658] (Bankr. D. Del. 2009). After the initial 2008 bankruptcy filing, various oil and gas producers asserted claims that were designed to give them priority in the distribution of the Debtors' estate over both secured and unsecured creditors. Shortly after the flurry of opinions are issued, the Debtors, their senior secured lenders and the Official Producers Committee reached a settlement agreement that purports to resolve the claims of all of the producers. Part of the settlement involves a transfer of $160 million to the producers. Samson Energy and a number of other producers did not either participate in the negotiation of the settlement agreement, nor did they agree to its terms. They file objections to the settlement agreement, which are overruled by the Bankruptcy Court.