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The court approved Sklar Exploration Company, LLC and Sklarco, LLC’s settlement with Bettye LaCour, resolving a long-running objection to Claim No. 83 and vacating the March 2 non-evidentiary hearing. LaCour originally filed a $367,500 proof of claim, later reduced it to $262,500 after the debtors objected, and will now hold a $200,000 allowed unsecured claim under the stipulation. Approval Order
The compromise gives the post-confirmation estate a fixed claim amount and authorizes the liquidating agent to pay funds held for LaCour once the order becomes final. In exchange, LaCour releases other claims against the estates, including potential section 502(h) claims. The settlement is incremental but concrete: it reduces disputed unsecured claim exposure by $167,500 from the original filed amount and clears another claim-administration issue in a case that has been in post-confirmation cleanup since the August 2021 plan confirmation. LaCour Stipulation
Sklar Exploration Company, LLC filed Chapter 11 in Colorado on April 1, 2020 with 200-999 estimated creditors, $1 million-$10 million in estimated assets, $10 million-$50 million in estimated liabilities, and Howard Sklar signing as manager; the case was jointly administered with Sklarco, LLC two days later source filing source filing. The creditor list was dominated by East West Bank's $22.35 million bank-loan claim, followed by energy-sector trade, cash-call, and working-interest creditors including Mesa Fluids, Stoneham Drilling, TCP Cottonwood, Fant Energy, and JJS Working Interest source filing. By August 2020, CR3 Partners' James Katchadurian had replaced Howard Sklar in day-to-day control, while the debtors worked under East West cash-collateral oversight and continued oil-and-gas exploration and production operations source filing.
The court confirmed the Second Amended and Restated Joint Plan on August 24, 2021, after all creditor classes either accepted or were unimpaired source filing. The plan left East West Bank with a roughly $24 million allowed secured claim, paid 6% interest, receiving at least 90% of available cash, and due through sale or refinancing by the second anniversary of the effective date; general unsecured creditors received beneficial interests in a creditor trust funded with causes of action, selected assets, $250,000 in administration funding, and up to $3 million from monetization proceeds source filing. The post-confirmation structure removed Howard Sklar from day-to-day management, put an independent manager in charge, and contemplated winding down Sklar Exploration while giving Sklarco a two-year refinance runway source filing.
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