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earmarked for reclamation, is clearly property of the estate having been funded mainly by <br /> liquidation of MCR's real property in Coal Basin. Finally, the causes of action asserted by MCR in <br /> the instant case clearly arose out of the same transaction or occurrence out of which the claim of <br /> DMG arose. Here, DMG filed a claim for reclamation of the Coal Basin Mine Site, the exact <br /> transaction and occurrence upon which MCR bases its claims in its Amended Third Party <br /> Complaint. <br /> 1 1 U.S.C. j 106, was amended as of October 22. 1994. MCR's Second Amended Plan of <br /> Liquidation was confirmed by the Colorado Bankruptcy Court on April 11, 1994. However, even if <br /> the current version of 11 U.S.C. § 106 does not apply to this matter, the predecessor version of § <br /> 106 yields the same result. A copy of the pre-October 1994 statute is attached as Exhibit J. The <br /> prior version of 11 U.S.C. § 106(a) states, "A governmental unit is deemed to have waived <br /> sovereign immunity with respect to.any claim against such governmental unit that is property of the <br /> estate and that arose out of the same transaction or occurrence out of which such governmental <br /> unit's claim arose." For purposes of the claims asserted by MCR in the instant case, there is no <br /> substantive difference between the two versions of § 106. The result is the same: DMG has <br /> waived its sovereign immunity by participating in the bankruptcy. <br /> The Tenth Circuit in In re Straight, 143 F.3d 1387 (1Oth Cir. 1998) cert. denied 119 S.Ct. <br /> 446 (1998), discussed § 106. In that case, the Court found that the State of Wyoming had waived <br /> its governmental immunity by joining the ranks of creditors seeking benefits from the bankruptcy <br /> court, citing Gardner v. Neiv Jersey, 329 U.S. 565 (1947). The Court went on to discuss the <br /> 1994 amendment to 11 U.S.C. § 106(b) and concluded that once a state files a proof of claim, it <br /> waives sovereign immunity. The Straight court stated that § 106(b), codifies an existing <br /> equitable circumstance under which the state can choose to preserve its immunity by not <br /> 8 <br />