GreenTech Automotive Inc. wants a bankruptcy court to toss a $35 million claim by Plastech Holding Corp., arguing that an earlier lawsuit involving the two companies was permanently dismissed, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. GreenTech Automotive, an electric car maker whose backers once included former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, in February filed for bankruptcy along with several affiliates, seeking protection from creditors after having raised $141.5 million from hundreds of investors under a program allowing immigrants to qualify for permanent U.S. residency. GreenTech had blamed the bankruptcy filing on several factors, including a series of “negative articles” in 2013 by a conservative online publisher, as well as lawsuits filed by investors and state and local governments in Mississippi, where GreenTech was expected to churn out cars but where efforts fell flat. GreenTech had also said in its initial chapter 11 filing in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Va., that another blow came around 2015 when Plastech “falsely accused” it of interfering with Plastech’s relationship with a Chinese automaker. GreenTech said that case was dismissed last year after it was established that the Michigan company “forged the Chinese company’s signature on a fictitious agreement.” But by then GreenTech said it incurred heavy legal expenses, and was forced to terminate its own relationship with the Chinese company, costing it tens of millions of dollars and effectively destroying it “as a viable enterprise.”
