Entergy New Orleans requests summary judgment denying class certification request

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, June 22 - Entergy New Orleans, Inc. requested a summary judgment denying a class certification motion brought by the Gordon and Lowenburg plaintiffs, customers who have claims for losses in connection with overcharges for electricity, according to Thursday filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The parties who requested 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.

In March, Entergy New Orleans asked the court to dismiss the request for certification of classes, saying it is not associated with any pending adversary proceeding or contested matter. The hearing on class certification was subsequently postponed until July 31.

In addition, Entergy New Orleans said the plaintiffs refused to continue a 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 company's 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.

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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