bankruptcy court

Estes enters as serious financial backer in Yellow bankruptcy

Yellow Corp. has received an offer from rival less-than-truckload giant Estes Express Lines that would fund its short-term efforts to wind down its operations via Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. An attorney for Nashville-based Yellow, which was No. 6 on the 2023 for-hire FleetOwner 500, said on Aug. 11 that the Estes Express “financing proposal [had] continued to gel” late last week.

Richmond, Virginia-based Estes Express (No. 11 on the for-hire FleetOwner 500) surfaced earlier last week as a possible source of so-called debtor-in-possession (DIP) funding for Yellow, which filed for protection from its creditors on Aug. 6 and is looking to sell off its equipment and real estate in the next two months. Yellow has an estimated $1.5 billion in debt, but its assets to sell are substantial: 12,700 tractors (about 1,000 of them leased) as well as 42,000 trailers (of which 7,200 are leased), 169 terminals, and six warehouses run by its Yellow Logistics subsidiary. And the entry of rival Estes Express as a financial backer has introduced complications and interest in the fate of Yellow’s holdings.

See also: Fleet failures playing role in fueling used-truck market surge

Yellow executives and their attorneys have said since filing Chapter 11

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August 18, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Sandy Hook Families Say Alex Jones Cannot Hide Behind Bankruptcy

Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families who won historic defamation damages against the Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones told a federal bankruptcy judge in Houston on Tuesday that Mr. Jones should not be allowed to use his Chapter 11 filing to evade $1 billion-plus verdicts made against him.

The families asked that the judge, Christopher Lopez, order Mr. Jones to pay them the full damage awards, with no possibility of a trial or a forced settlement over a lesser amount — in legal terminology, to make Mr. Jones’s debts to the families “non-dischargeable” through bankruptcy. If the judge rules in the families’ favor, Mr. Jones would likely be working the rest of his life to pay the debt.

Mr. Jones spent years spreading lies that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax aimed at gun control. Families of 10 victims sued him for defamation, and in trials in Texas and Connecticut were awarded about $1.4 billion in damages. As the cases went to trial, Infowars declared bankruptcy, and Mr. Jones declared personal bankruptcy late last year.

The families have been fighting him in bankruptcy court

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August 16, 2023 by ATTORNEY

J&J Is Left Weighing Options After Second Talc Bankruptcy Tossed

Johnson & Johnson may be forced to pivot to other legal avenues to resolve tens of thousands of cancer claims after its latest bankruptcy court setback.

J&J cannot use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary, LTL Management LLC, to settle claims that its talc-based products, like baby powder, caused cancer, Judge Michael Kaplan of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey ruled July 28.

The ruling leaves J&J boxed out of its preferred venue to settle the claims, although the company said it would appeal. Aside from an appeal, J&J can settle individual claims, negotiate with plaintiff firms or pursue a global settlement.

J&J didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawyers pursuing claims against the company are weighing next steps, and some have said they are continuing to discuss a resolution with J&J.

Although it would be more challenging for the company to resolve all claims through mass tort litigation,“there are ways of resolving this outside of bankruptcy,” said Otterbourg PC attorney Adam Silverstein, who represents the official committee of claimants in the LTL bankruptcy.

LTL was not in “imminent and immediate financial distress” and therefore did not qualify for the benefits of bankruptcy, Kaplan ruled.

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August 4, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Judge Who Axed J&J Bankruptcy Move Handed Biden a Vacancy

Judge Who Axed J&J Bankruptcy Move Handed Biden a Vacancy

When Tom Ambro got a call from a friend in 1990 who mentioned “eleven-ten,” he thought it was a reference to the time rather than the section of the bankruptcy code that covers airplanes.

Ambro, then a transactional lawyer at Richards Layton & Finger in Wilmington, Del. agreed to represent aircraft financiers in Continental Airlines’ second bankruptcy.

That case, which he later argued before the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, altered the trajectory of Ambro’s career, pivoting his focus to bankruptcy. He ultimately returned to the Third Circuit as a judge, where he is perhaps the foremost authority on bankruptcy law sitting on any federal appeals court.

“He’s probably forgotten more bankruptcy than many circuit judges will hope to learn,” said Bruce Markell, a former bankruptcy judge who now teaches at Northwestern University.

Ambro, 73, is still making a mark even after recently taking senior status, penning the decision that struck down a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary’s bankruptcy earlier this year.

He may not have semi-retired at all if not for the election of fellow Delawarean Joe Biden, who had shepherded Ambro’s nomination through the Senate 20 years ago. By taking senior status, Ambro handed his

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July 22, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Attorney’s Fees For Fraudulent Transfer Deemed Not Dischargeable

One of the most interesting and talked about creditor-debtor — and thus asset protection — cases in recent years was the one which was the subject of my article Lawyer, Law Firm And Bank Exposed To Civil RICO And Other Liability For Assisting A Debtor Post-Claim In Kruse (Nov. 24, 2021). As the article title suggests, this case involves a debtor who engaged in a number of transfers after a car wreck with the specific purpose of defeating the judgment enforcement rights of the very seriously injured victim in that accident. Today, we examine a subsequent ruling in that case which further illustrates that post-claim planning can not only fail, but also put the debtor in a much worse position than if nothing had been done at all.

Christina Kruse won a judgment in excess of $2.5 million against Steven Weller arising out of a auto accident. Later, Kruse brought a fraudulent transfer lawsuit against Weller and others to set aside Weller’s post-claim transfers of his assets to family member and a newly-created LLC. The Iowa state court ultimately entered an order in 2018 which set aside these fraudulent transfers. These are the background facts.

More

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July 20, 2023 by ATTORNEY
December 2024
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