The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company

New York Court Rules (Sort of) on Whether Electricity is a Good or a Service

It seems only fitting that recent decisions by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and its bankruptcy court regarding the nature of electricity should have sent, at least initially, a jolt through the energy community.  Perhaps the Southern District court would lead the charge for one side or the other in an ongoing debate over whether electricity constitutes goods or services—a controversy that has potentially far-reaching implications (in bankruptcy cases, concerning the priority of claims of electricity providers, and, in ordinary transactions, for the tort liability of  electricity providers). In the end, however, the outcome of the litigation was something less than electrifying.  Here’s what happened.

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