In a recent article for Bloomberg Law by James Nani, Schulte Roth & Zabel partner Doug Mintz shared his thoughts on a recent finding from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that a Texas bankruptcy court exceeded its power in an electricity pricing dispute.

In addition to serving as guidance for companies dealing with sizable electric bills following 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, the Fifth Circuit’s opinion could spill over into bankruptcies involving other state-regulated utilities — at least those on the closed Texas power grid. As extreme weather conditions continue to unfold and put pressure on state-regulated resources, this could become a reoccurring issue.

According to Doug, “[i]t definitely is relevant to any Texas rate-driven cases that it’s going to continue to be set at the state level. And that makes sense for future cases, too. The Texas energy market is pretty volatile.”

Read the article here.