Attorneys on the case suggest the unusual move suggests unsecured claims such as trade debts won’t be paid. 

Chrysler has proposed selling parts of its operations to a new company owned by a union-aligned trust, Italian carmaker Fiat, and the Canadian and US governments. 

But this week’s requests by Chrysler’s lawyers at Jones Day, in which they asked for “superpriority” in determining the order of payment, suggests the lawyers “are not optimistic about a carve out”, David Skeel, a law professor with the University of Pennsylvania told Reuters. 

“I’ve never heard of asking for that explicitly,” Skeel said. “It’s uncommon for lawyers not to get paid. I suspect they’re not optimistic about a carve out.”

Another lawyer said the Jones Day request suggests his clients could get nothing.