City of Chester Bankruptcy Case – filed on November 10, 2022

Case #: 22-13032
Court: United States Bankruptcy Court – Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Debtor: City of Chester, Pennsylvania

We encourage ratepayers to visit the Donlin Recano website for real-time access to publicly available documents filed in the bankruptcy case.

Recent CWA Federal Bankruptcy Court Filings

• On July 8, 2025, the Chester Water Authority (the “CWA”) filed the Chester Water Authority’s Motion for Entry of Order (the “Motion”). The Motion seeks entry of an order ruling on the Motion by Chester Water Authority for Protective Order and to Compel Discovery (ECF 823) (the “CWA Discovery Motion”) and Debtor’s Motion for an Order Compelling Chester Water Authority to Respond to Discovery Requests (ECF 821) (the “Debtor Discovery Motion”), as well as the Court’s statements made during the telephonic conference held on May 12, 2025 (the “5/12/25 Telephonic Conference”).
• On July 2, 2025, Chester Water Authority filed an Objection to the Debtor’s Motion (I) to Enforce Order Entered Pursuant to Rule 2004 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, (II) for the Imposition of Sanctions, and (III) for Certain Access to CWA Property
• On June 4, 2025, Chester Water Authority filed an Omnibus Response to the Debtor’s Motion for an Order Compelling Chester Water Authority to Respond to Discovery Requests (Dkt. No. 821, the “Motion to Compel”) and to the Debtor’s Motion for a Protective Order (Dkt. No. 822, the “Motion for Protective Order”)
• On March 10, 2025, Chester Water Authority filed a Motion for Stay Pending Appeal and Exhaustion of the Appellate Process of the Order and the Amended Order Enforcing the Automatic Stay Against Chester Water Authority

We encourage ratepayers and interested members of the public to read these documents.

Status of PA Supreme Court Case

In April of 2022, the PA Supreme Court granted CWA’s petition to appeal. The case was then put into stay due to Chester City’s bankruptcy filing in November 2022.  In October 2024, the bankruptcy court allowed the stay to be lifted so that the PA Supreme Court case could proceed. Oral arguments in the PA Supreme Court case were heard on May 14, 2025. The three issues being reviewed are the following:

• Does the City of Chester have the right to seize the assets of Chester Water Authority pursuant to Section 5622(a) of the Municipal Authorities Act, 53 Pa.C.S. § 5622(a), and sell those assets to address its own unrelated financial distress, while overriding the representational rights granted by Act 73 of 2012, 53 Pa.C.S. §§5610(a.1), 5612(a.1), to Delaware and Chester Counties?

• Did the Commonwealth Court commit reversible error by failing to follow Burke v. N. Huntingdon Twp. Mun. Auth., 136 A.2d 310, 313-14 (Pa. 1957), which is controlling precedent that only an authority can authorize transfer under the predecessor to Section 5622(a)?

• When a municipality is statutorily mandated to appoint members to a water or sewer authority board pursuant to Section 5610(a.1) of the Municipal Authorities Act, does the Act provide such a municipality with the same rights to convey authority property as a municipality who voluntarily joins a joint authority pursuant to Section 5610(a)(2)?

CWA is anxiously awaiting the ruling from the court.

Why can’t CWA comment further?

See below from the proposed July 8th order, which you can view here. An appeal has been filed.