In re Communication Dynamics, Inc., (Bkrtcy.D.Del.)

Claims - Rejection damages claim was prepetition claim for purposes of setoff.

The statutorily mandated treatment, as a claim that arose immediately prior to the commencement of the debtors' Chapter 11 case, of a damages claim arising out of an affiliated debtor's rejection of an executory contract to purchase a minimum amount of product that an asset purchaser produced using the acquired assets was not just for purposes of determining the claim and of either allowing or disallowing it. The rejection damages claim also had to be regarded as a prepetition claim for setoff purposes. Thus, the asset purchaser could use the claim in order to reduce its own obligation to debtor on promissory notes, provided that this obligation was also a prepetition obligation, and that the requisite mutuality existed. a bankruptcy judge in Delaware disagreed with a contrary case out of New York.