A trustee representing equipment noteholders who are owed $1.2 billion is suing AMR Corp. to block the American Airlines parent from refinancing the notes without covering certain early-repayment fees, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. The lawsuit filed Friday joins a similar adversarial suit filed in early November by the representative of $174.2 million in secured notes. AMR is trying to refinance a total of $1.3 billion in equipment notes and to avoid this fee on all of those notes. U.S. Bank National Trust Association, in a complaint filed as part of AMR's chapter 11 case, said that AMR's request to refinance the notes with $1.5 billion in new financing is purely to take advantage of the favorable credit market. The refinancing has nothing to do with AMR's bankruptcy filing, it said, and the company's attempt to avoid paying certain obligations to noteholders violates the terms of the indenture agreement.
