Lehman creditors ask court to consider competing plans

(Reuters) - A group of Lehman Brothers creditors, including the largest U.S. public pension fund and hedge fund Paulson & Co, has asked a bankruptcy judge to consider its reorganization plan for the bankrupt company at the same time that Lehman's own plan is up for consideration.

The creditor group filed a reorganization plan in December that would combine claims and assets of Lehman's various units and pay creditors from a single pool. Lehman's plan would treat each entity separately, allotting payouts to creditors from the entity that owed them money.

"Coordinating the approval process for the competing disclosure statements will promote efficiency and fairness," the group said in a court filing on Tuesday.

The creditors' group includes the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers). The group said rival reorganization plans should be considered simultaneously to "prevent any party from claiming an advantage through procedure over substance."

In March, Goldman Sachs Group <GS.N> said it is part of a creditor group that may also file an alternative plan for Lehman.

About $1.2 trillion in claims were filed against Lehman after its collapse into bankruptcy during the financial crisis in September 2008. Many claims were dismissed, and Lehman Chief Executive Bryan Marsal estimated in January that allowed claims would be about $322 billion and total payouts about $60 billion.

The case is In re: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-13555.

(Reporting by Santosh Nadgir and Sakthi Prasad; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Maju Samuel)