AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Attorney General John Cornyn urged a federal judge Tuesday to move the Enron bankruptcy case from New York to Houston because "multiple" state agencies and most of the private creditors are based in Texas.
"The interests of ... Texas taxpayers are best served by having these cases based in the debtors' home state of Texas," Cornyn said in the filing. "Multiple Texas state government agencies have claims or interests in the Enron bankruptcy case."
In an earlier filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez in New York, the state said the Office of the State Comptroller, the General Land Office, the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission were among agencies with claims.
"My legal team is conducting a thorough examination of all legal avenues available to the state under Texas law," Cornyn said. "We will continue to work with our client agencies to discern whether Enron owes any taxes or other obligations to the state, or if the state has any other claim we need to protect."
An Enron Task Force in the attorney general's office will identify any legal actions that might be necessary to protect the state's interests because of the collapse of the Houston company. This may include state investments, taxes, contracts, environmental regulatory compliance and child support payments.
So far, the attorney general has identified a $1.2 million claim by the General Land Office, at least 150 families whose child support payments may be affected by the bankruptcy, and an undetermined amount of taxes owned to the Texas Comptroller of Accounts.
Any actions by the state must occur within the statutory, 180-day period of time allowed by the court. The bankruptcy was filed Dec. 2 in New York. The state of Texas joined nine businesses that are asking the New York bankruptcy court to move the case to Houston.
In the motion filed with the court, Cornyn's office said the travel required to attend New York hearings would be a hardship on state taxpayers and "the vast majority" of other creditors, including former Enron employees, who live in Texas.
"Due to the prohibitive expense and time necessary to participate meaningfully in bankruptcy cases pending in New York, these Texas individuals and businesses will largely be disenfranchised from active participation in these bankruptcy cases unless they are transferred to the location (Houston) where such parties reside," the motion stated.
