Judge Phillip Shefferly of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Michigan in downtown Detroit set a deadline of February 11 for all parties to file their pleadings in the dispute. The judge said he has set aside time to hear arguments on February 13 and 14.
DETROIT (Reuters) - A bankruptcy court judge set a hearing date on Monday of February 13 to weigh arguments between Chrysler LLC and one of its suppliers, Plastech Engineered Products Inc, in a dispute that has already led the automaker to close four assembly plants.
Judge Phillip Shefferly of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Michigan in downtown Detroit set a deadline of February 11 for all parties to file their pleadings in the dispute. The judge said he has set aside time to hear arguments on February 13 and 14.
Chrysler, which terminated its contracts with Plastech, wants the court to allow it to take control of tooling equipment it tried to seize on Friday before Plastech filed for bankruptcy protection to stop the automaker.
Chrysler said in court filings and in an official statement that it already has closed four assembly plants and the rest of its operations could quickly grind to a halt if it does not get that equipment to other suppliers.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Plastech said in court documents that many of the moldings Chrysler wants to take are attached to entire assembly lines used to build parts for other customers.
(Reporting by Nick Carey, writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Andre Grenon)
