The equity committee and its representative, Susman, have not really been able to do anything to this point as far as making a case to the court in regards to its own valuation of the WMI estate by providing critical financial information. Of course, we still have not even see this from the debtor's side.
Judge Walrath did not even give the EC the right to intervene until the last possible moment in the first eighteen months leading up to the last day to file a POR by the debtors.
We have now gone through this two month window of exclusivity and the EC and Susman still have been unable to get anything accomplished as far as competitive valuations. This is not to say that they have not been working very hard. So far, their greatest victory has been to be allowed access to information by the Judge even though she turned down the examiner. Well, that did not work out since the other parties are not complying with the Judge's request.
So, here we are. If the Judge really believes that the estate has enough money to trickle down to equity (at least preferreds) then she must give the EC and Susman its opportunity to present its case. According to EC and Susman, they need to get at many pertinent documents and other important information to properly make its own case. Thus, the Judge must give them what they need and this means true discovery and potentially an examiner to get at the details.
The Judge must allow the EC make its case. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to allow the EC to form in the first place. Based on what Susman has already entered before the court, it is clear that many issues still need to be resolved in this case including a more complete understanding of the assets involved. The Judge knows this and will come through for equity tomorrow by allowing them the discovery they will need to proceed AND the time it will take to get this done.
It is now time for the EC to have its turn to produce its own case which could result in its own POR or even take this thing to trial