Court preserves Erickson counterclaims in World Fuel plan fight
The court granted in part and denied in part World Fuel Services, Inc.’s motion to enforce Erickson’s confirmed plan, fixing World Fuel’s allowed claim at $14.5 million while stopping Evergreen Helicopters International from relitigating defenses already resolved in the bankruptcy claims process. The order also preserved EHI’s counterclaims in the Oregon district-court litigation, rejected World Fuel’s argument that those claims were barred by the plan or claim allowance process, and left both sides’ setoff and recoupment rights intact source filing.
That fight sits on top of Erickson’s aviation restructuring: Erickson Incorporated filed Chapter 11 on Nov. 8, 2016, in Case No. 16-34393, from its Portland headquarters source filing. The company was a global aviation services provider and S-64 Aircrane OEM with 69 aircraft, 711 employees, and about $561 million of petition-date liabilities, including $130.8 million of first-lien revolver debt, $370.2 million of second-lien notes, $10 million of seller notes, a $4 million Bell Helicopter note, and $46 million of vendor debt; the filing followed oil-and-gas weakness, reduced Afghanistan military activity, and loss of small-business contracting status source filing. The court confirmed Erickson’s Second Amended Joint Plan on March 22, 2017, with new first- and second-lien credit facilities and asset vesting in the reorganized debtors, making the World Fuel order a post-confirmation boundary-setting ruling rather than an ordinary claim objection source filing.
