Entergy New Orleans class certification hearing postponed to July 31

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, May 4 - Entergy New Orleans, Inc.'s hearing on a motion to certify two classes in the company's Chapter 11 case for customers who have claims for losses in connection with overcharges for electricity was continued to July 31 upon request by the company, according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

In March, the company asked the court to either dismiss the motion or continue the hearing.

The parties requesting the class certification include C.S. Gordon Jr., on behalf of New Zion Baptist Church; J. Michael Malec, Darryl Malek-Wiley, Willie Webb Jr. and Maison St. Charles, LLC, or the Gordon plaintiffs; and Thomas P. Lowenburg, Martin Adamo, Vern K. Baxter, Philip D. Carter, Bernard Gordon, Leonard Levine, Ivory S. Madison, Donetta Dunn Miller and Quality Inn Maison St. Charles, or the Lowenburg plaintiffs.

According to the company's motion to dismiss, the request for certification of classes is not associated with any pending adversary proceeding or contested matter.

In addition, Entergy New Orleans said the plaintiffs refused to continue the March 29 hearing on the certification request for longer than a week, leaving the company with no opportunity to conduct class-related discovery "in a complex matter that has been pending for seven years."

According to the motion, the Gordon and Lowenburg plaintiffs have a pending adversary proceeding that attempts to find the company a "single business enterprise," but the adversary proceeding is not brought as a class action, and the certification motion neither relates specifically to, nor is brought in, the pending adversary proceeding.

In addition, Entergy said the bar date for filing a proof of claim has not yet passed and neither group has filed a proof of claim.

On Thursday, the court also set May 11 as the deadline for objections and scheduled a status conference for May 15.

Entergy New Orleans provides electric and natural gas service to customers in New Orleans and is the smallest of Entergy Corp.'s five utility companies. Entergy New Orleans filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 23, 2005. Its case number is 05-17697.

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