Chapter 11 cases involving mass tort and complex personal injury claims often require the resolution of novel legal issues that stretch the bounds of existing precedent. As these cases evolve, they can also impact claims against other debtors unrelated to the case at hand through court-approved injunctions, releases or settlements.
With the dismissal of Johnson & Johnson's second talc bankruptcy, plaintiffs lawyers are doubling down on their plans to pursue trials across the country.
What is different about this distressed cycle is that most of the lenders are not foreclosing and taking title to the CRE assets, managing, and leasing them for a few months and then selling the properties. They are more likely to sell the note/mortgage rather than foreclose on the property. This presents a unique and interesting opportunity for astute distressed investors, who are experienced in acquiring mortgage notes secured by commercial property and in the arduous foreclosure and bankruptcy process,
In recent years, as extensive pre-bankruptcy planning has evolved, bankruptcy filings frequently involve affiliates of larger companies, engineered with a structuring of liabilities in mind. The question of whether these targeted filings are for a legitimate bankruptcy purpose or should be dismissed has been the subject of significant high-profile litigation.
By enabling defendants to shield themselves from mass tort liability, the "Texas Two-Step" is a new obstacle for plaintiffs pursuing mass tort cases against manufacturers of dangerous products.
The verdict, which excluded punitive damages, could have been much larger. But the jury's award has the potential to threaten the $8.9 billion settlement and, as a result, a proposed Chapter 11 reorganization plan in the bankruptcy of Johnson & Johnson's LTL Management.
An involuntary bankruptcy petition is a limited, risky remedy for both creditors' counsel and debtor's counsel. The fee problems encountered by counsel for the petitioners and the putative debtor in this case provide a cautionary tale.
The Second Circuit had a tough call to make in the Purdue Pharmacy bankruptcy appeal: What to do about the release given to the Sackler families who had agreed to contribute $5.5 to $6 billion to Purdue's reorganization plan but were not themselves in bankruptcy.
Simply because the expert is retained by counsel in anticipation of litigation, does not automatically render all communications privileged.
U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham found that 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies, which is financially solvent, had no "valid reorganization purpose" to file for Chapter 11 protection last year.
