On October 19th, the Wall Street Journal reported that the electric vehicle startup Mullen Automotive Inc., gained court approval to buy an Indiana manufacturing plant and assets from Electric Last Mile Solutions for $92 million. Such deal, which boosted Mullen’s share prices by 64%, includes Electric Last Mile Solutions’ manufacturing plant in Mishawaka
On October 12th, Bloomberg reported that Alex Jones will join his bankrupt media production company, Free Speech Systems, in a court-supervised settlement with the families of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims. Specifically, Jones’ media company had filed a chapter 11 petition for bankruptcy in July of this year, in the Southern District
Mayer Brown partners Aaron Gavant and Sean T. Scott and associate Danielle A. Corn recently published an article for Mayer Brown’s Perspectives & Events portal on the June 6, 2022, United States Supreme Court decision that resolved a circuit split and invalidated a 2017 statute that increased U.S. Trustee fees in 48 states—but not Alabama
Reuters reports that the New Jersey bankruptcy judge overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings of Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LTL Management will allowing certain talc tort cases against Johnson & Johnson to proceed while LTL Management proceeds in bankruptcy. Specifically, Judge Michael Kaplan has stated that he may allow some of the 38,000 lawsuits against Johnson &
The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Treasury moved on Tuesday to block U.S. investors from purchasing Russian debt in secondary markets. As a response to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, Treasury had originally prohibited the purchase of newly issued Russian government and corporate debt but Treasury has now expanded that policy to
The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “SDNY”) has been a longstanding epicenter of Chapter 11 filings. Historically seen as one of the more pro-debtor forums in the country, large companies often filed in the SDNY to take advantage of that stance. Some debtors appear to have attempted to direct their cases to specific judges within the district who were seen as particularly pro-debtor. One recent example was the bankruptcy filing by OxyContin producer, Purdue Pharma. Facing a historic indictment by the Department of Justice, along with mounting tort claims relating to the marketing of its drugs, Purdue—a company headquartered in Connecticut—changed the mailing address of one of its units from Albany to White Plains six months before filing for bankruptcy.[1] As a result, Purdue was able to file its petition in the bankruptcy court in Westchester (within the Southern District) so that it could be heard by Judge Robert Drain, a longtime judge with extensive experience over cases for large-chapter 11 debtors and the only commercial bankruptcy judge in Westchester.[2] Purdue rationalized its decision by stating that “White Plains is about 15 miles from our corporate headquarters and is the closest federal Bankruptcy courthouse,” yet many took issue with this supposed rationale.[3] Purdue was also not an isolated case. Nationwide, a subset of three judges (including Judge Drain)—out of the total three hundred and seventy-five bankruptcy court judges—heard 57% of all large public company Chapter 11 filings in 2020.[4]
Continue Reading Attempting to Close the Shops: New York and Virginia Adopt Random Case Assignment to Discourage Forum Shopping
On Tuesday, December 21, Bloomberg Economics reported that the latest strain of COVID-19, Omicron, is set to halve fourth quarter global economic growth. According to Bloomberg, the global economy is expanding at just 0.7% in the final three months, which is half the pace of the third quarter. The European economy is on pace for
Fox Business reports that Boy Scouts of America’s insurer Chubb Ltd. has pledged to contribute $800 million to the Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy settlement deal. Boy Scouts of America, which filed for bankruptcy in February 2020, is currently on track to settle with approximately 82,500 tort claimants who claim they were sexually abused as children by troop leaders. The latest contribution by Chubb raises the total amount of available funds to resolve the claims to more than $2.7 billion. The fund is also backed by Boy Scouts of America’s primary insurer, the Hartford Financial Group, as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ultimately, Boy Scouts of America’s emergence from Chapter 11 hinges on a settlement with tort claimants, and, while several victims have voiced support for the settlement deal, a separate committee of claimants voiced concerns that the deal compromises too much in exchange for a quick exit. The abuse claimants have until December 28th to vote on the reorganization. [Fox Business; Dec. 13, 2021]
Continue Reading What We’re Reading This Week [December 16, 2021]
In its August 5th, 2021 VeroBlue Farms decision,[1] the Eighth Circuit lent its voice to a growing body of criticism of the equitable mootness doctrine contending that its use to bar challenges to confirmed reorganization plans should be circumscribed. Laying out a new investigation that must be undertaken before using the doctrine to bar confirmation order appeals, the Eighth Circuit emphasized that reviewing courts must: (1) make “at least a preliminary review of the merits” of an appeal to determine the strength of the claims at issue; (2) assess the “amount of time that would likely be required” to resolve the merits of such claims on an expedited basis; and (3) consider the potential equitable remedies that might still be available even after a plan’s implementation, should the appeal prove successful, which would not undermine the plan or harm third parties.
Continue Reading Mootness Muted? – Eighth Circuit Circumscribes Use of Equitable Mootness Doctrine to Bar Bankruptcy Plan Appeals
The Wall Street Journal reports on Purdue Pharma’s continuing confirmation hearing covering the company’s proposed reorganization plan centered around a $4.5 billion settlement with its founders, the Sackler family. Currently, the Sackler family is named in civil litigation which alleges that the family knowingly fueled opioid addiction through the marketing of OxyContin, an opioid painkiller.