Matter of Whitcomb & Keller Mortgage Co.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
715 F.2d 375 (1983)
Data-Link Systems (defendant) provided essential computer services to Whitcomb & Keller Mortgage (W&K, debtor) under a contract, and W&K owed Data-Link roughly $13,000 when it filed Chapter 11; Data-Link continued providing paid services until W&K arranged to sell related assets to Unity Savings, at which point Data-Link stopped servicing W&K, prompting a court-ordered injunction requiring continued performance while W&K decided whether to assume or reject the contract. Data-Link counterclaimed seeking either a declaration that W&K had assumed the contract by accepting its benefits, or an order forcing W&K to assume or reject within a set deadline; the court ultimately found W&K hadn't assumed the contract, that no forced timeline was needed since Data-Link was being paid for postpetition work and otherwise protected, and after W&K formally rejected the contract and its reorganization plan was confirmed, found at trial that the rejection was proper and Data-Link's prepetition claim wasn't entitled to priority; the district court affirmed, and Data-Link appealed.
Whether the nondebtor party to an executory contract may be compelled to continue performing under the contract without the debtor-in-possession assuming the contract.