MSI Corporation Files a Chapter 11

By: Katie Imler, Law Clerk

June 10, 2013

On June 7, 2013, MSI Corporation, a specialty metals processor, filed for a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Case No. 2:13-bk-22457). The company, located at 210 First Street, Vandergrift, PA 15690, processes metals such as titanium alloys, copper, and steel. MSI Corporation also offers material conditioning such as cast slab milling, grinding, and plate polishing.

The Chapter 11 case has been assigned to the Honorable Judge Jeffery A. Deller. Michael J. Roeschenthaler of McGuireWoods LLP, 625 Liberty Ave., 23^rd Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.  A summary of the case docket can be found here.

Debtor listed $10-$50 million in assets and $1-$10 million in liabilities. The largest unsecured creditors are mostly for trade debt including: Euler Hermes Collections $279,230.11, Dynamark Security Centers $32,617.76, D&S Industrial Contracting $27,040.00, H&K Equipment Company $22,038.30, and Production Abrasives, Inc. $19,740.00.

Schedules are due June 21, 2013. The Disclosure Statement and Plan of Reorganization are due October 7, 2013.

The Weirton Steel Chapter 11 Bankruptcy & My 20-Minute Conversation with Gretchen Weir

NOTE:  This is not necessarily related to bankruptcy.  But, on second thought, maybe it is.  Just short of its 100th birthday, Weirton Steel Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) on May 19, 2003.   Here the NY Times article published the day after the filing.  As detailed in the Weirton Steel wikipedia entry, by bankruptcy court order, the assets were auctioned with most being acquired by ISG. ISG then formed a new division called ISG Weirton Steel. On April 5, 2005, ISG completed a merger with Mittal Steel.  Then again in 2006, Mittal Steel completed a merger with Arcelor thus resulting in a new company known as Arcelor Mittal. While I was practicing bankruptcy in Philadelphia at the time of the initial bankruptcy filing, I would then relocate to Pittsburgh in 2004 and work for a boutique commercial bankruptcy firm who served as counsel to the creditors’ committee in the Weirton Steel Ch. 11 case.  I was raised in Weirton, West Virginia and returned last year (after 21 years away) to open a law office there.

      So I attended the Weirton Festival of Nations this past Saturday. I had to man the Rotary booth. I brought along my children.

Weirton Steel

I had the privilege of sitting next to E.T. Weir’s lovely wife Gretchen at the Festival. Her late husband was the grandson of E.T. Weir, who founded the Weirton Steel Corporation. He is the man after whom our town and high school were named. Gretchen Weir traveled here with her dynamic daughter from New York City to donate memorabilia to the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center and to address the audience as a part of the opening ceremony for the Festival. She and I talked about many things.   I told her what it was like growing up in Weirton and what it is like now. I have reflected much about my upbringing in Weirton and my continued close bonds with my childhood friends.Gretchen asked me to what extent the mill was still operating and I said I wasn’t exactly sure but, to my relief, I see smoke sputtering out of a few remaining stacks. I told her my mom and I drove down Main Street just on Friday and shuttered when we noticed another part of the mill had been demolished.

Festival of Nations

I explained Weirton was, at one time (and probably still is), one of the most ethnically diverse towns in the state of West Virginia. There were numerous ethnic enclaves- Italian, Greeks, Polish, Serbs, etc. The Festival this weekend was a celebration of this diversity. Performances, foods, booths, etc. My children and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I was a kid we used to have the “International Food Festival” each July. It was a 3-4 day event. I used to LOVE it. I still have my “half-Italian” red, green and white pin. I told Gretchen that Weirton was so unique because there were not significant economic disparities (i.e, the haves and have nots). Most all of our pops, of course, worked in the mill; our moms had to quit working once they got married (!!! ). Most families were in the middle class and experiencing a similar way of life. Weirton native Anna Egan Smucker wrote a lovely children’s book title NO STAR NIGHTS about growing in Weirton, this way of life. I happened to borrow it from the local Mary H. Weir library çand have been reading it to my children for the past few weeks.

Me at my Law Office in Weirton

Gretchen and her daughter were kind and interested and enthusiastic about urban renewal and where Weirton can go from here. Gretchen even let me take a photo with her to post to Facebook!!This post is a chapter in a turnaround story about urban renewal and the evolution of a small steel mill town.   TO BE CONTINUED …

Weir High School Logo