Deadline for filing administrative expense claims against gov’t in Title III court is Monday
By The Star Staff
Monday is the deadline for anyone with administrative expense claims against the government to file their proofs of claim in the Title III court as the plan of adjustment (POA) of the central government, which went into effect March 15, enters its final phase of execution.
As of the effective date, the POA reduced the commonwealth’s total funded debt obligations from some $34.3 billion of prepetition debt to only approximately $7.4 billion, representing a total debt reduction of 78%. The debt reduction will also reduce the commonwealth’s maximum annual debt service from around $4.2 billion to $1.15 billion, representing a total debt service reduction of 73%. Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy in 2017.
According to the most recent court notice, Section 1.51 and Article III of the Plan and decretal paragraph 44 of the Confirmation Order, the deadline for filing proofs of or requests for payment of administrative expense claims is June 13, 2022.
There are exceptions to the deadline, including that no proof of administrative expense claim is required to be filed if such administrative expense claim: has been incurred in accordance with an order of the court or with the written consent of the applicable government parties expressly granting such administrative expense claim; is a professional claim; is an intergovernmental claim; is an administrative expense claim of the IRS for the payment of taxes incurred by any of the debtors during the period from and after the commonwealth petition date; is an Employees Retirement System petition date or Public Buildings petition date, as applicable; relates to actions occurring in the ordinary course during the period from and after the respective debtor’s petition date up to and including the effective date; relates to a claim that is subject to the provisions of the ACR order, including, without limitation, “grievance claims” relating to any of the debtor’s collective bargaining agreements, or is the subject of a pending motion seeking allowance of any administrative expense pursuant to Bankruptcy Code section 503(b) as of the entry of the Confirmation Order.
All administrative expense requests must be filed either by completing the electronic proof of claim on the claims agent’s website at https://cases.primeclerk.com/puertorico/EPOC-Index, by first class mail, hand delivery, or overnight courier, at the following address: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Claims Processing Center, c/o Prime Clerk LLC, 850 Third Avenue, Suite 412, Brooklyn, NY 11232. Administrative expense requests will be deemed timely filed only if actually received by the Prime Clerk by 5 p.m. on June 13.
The administrative expense requests can not be delivered by facsimile, telecopy, or electronic mail transmission; however, they may be submitted through the Prime Clerk’s website: https://cases.primeclerk.com/puertorico/EPOC-Index.
Meanwhile, with the deadline for filing objections to the Highways and Transportation Authority having expired June 8, the Title III court is slated to hold a hearing at 9:30 a.m. on June 17 that will determine the adequacy of the disclosure statement of the HTA, which is in bankruptcy.