Few courtrooms in Texas are as busy these days as Houston Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez.
Lopez’s docket of more than 380 business bankruptcies, plus a couple thousand personal and consumer bankruptcies, includes some of the highest profile and bitterly disputed corporate restructurings currently pending in the U.S., including:
- Johnson & Johnson’s controversial $10 billion Chapter 11 Texas Two-Step restructuring under the subsidiary Red River Talc, which is an effort to resolve the tens of thousands of lawsuits filed against the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant for selling talc baby powder that allegedly caused ovarian cancer — a charge the company rejects but is still willing to pay $8.3 billion to settle through bankruptcy;
- Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Info Wars media company, which declared bankruptcy after families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting sued Jones for defamation and won $1.5 billion in damages for calling the shooting and the deaths of the children a hoax; and
- Diamond Sports Groups and its 20 Bally Sports Networks — broadcasters of professional baseball, basketball and hockey games — in its $100 billion bankruptcy fiasco.
Judge Lopez is also handling several cases reassigned to him in the fallout from the resignation of former Houston bankruptcy judge David Jones, who was forced to step down after it was revealed that he was in a yearslong secret relationship with a former bankruptcy law partner at Jackson Walker who was involved in some of the cases before him.
And late Tuesday, energy transition products maker Vertex Energy Operators filed for Chapter 11 restructuring, and the case was assigned to Judge Lopez as one of two bankruptcy judges now handling complex business bankruptcies in the Southern District of Texas.
“Judge Lopez is developing a national reputation for being one of the more thoughtful and smartest judges on the bankruptcy bench, especially when it comes to the more complex cases,” said O’Melveny & Myers partner Lou Strubeck.
Judge Lopez, a 2003 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, was appointed to the bankruptcy court in 2019 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit after practicing for 15 years as a corporate restructuring lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which operates one of the most prestigious bankruptcy practices in the U.S.
As a young lawyer, he worked on several significant Chapter 11 cases, including American Airlines, WorldCom, Enron, Global Crossing, SemGroup, General Growth Properties, Express Energy Services and International Aluminum.
In late 2022, Judge Lopez became one of the two judges who make up the Southern District of Texas’ special complex business bankruptcy panel.
Porter Hedges partner John Higgins said that Judge Lopez’s experience handling large business bankruptcies and restructurings during his time at Weil Gotshal make him an ideal judge.
“Judge Lopez understands the intricacies and complexities of these large billion-dollar cases,” Higgins told The Texas Lawbook in an interview in August. “He is a ferocious listener and learner. He is not afraid to ask questions, and he wants direct answers.”
Judge Lopez spent this Tuesday on the bench dealing with two extremely high-profile matters.
In afternoon hearing, the judge told lawyers involved in the Alex Jones and Info Wars bankruptcy that he would approve the liquidation of the Info Wars parent company, Free Speech Systems, and the websites and intellectual property it owns to help pay the parents in defamation judgments against Jones.
Hours earlier, Judge Lopez heard arguments in the J&J talc subsidiary bankruptcy, where lawyers for some of the plaintiffs and the U.S. Trustee want the prepackaged case transferred to the bankruptcy court in New Jersey, where it was filed — and subsequently dismissed — twice before.
The trustee and lawyers for some of the women who have sued J&J claiming the talc powder caused their ovarian cancer accuse J&J of improper forum shopping. The bankruptcy judge in New Jersey who previously oversaw the J&J bankruptcy said he would let Judge Lopez make the decision on proper venue.
Judge Lopez issued a stay of all proceedings, including a couple civil trials about to start against J&J, until he decided the issue of venue.
“I’m staying everything until we find out where this bankruptcy case will ultimately have a home,” the judge said from the bench.
Judge Lopez said he would hold a hearing on venue as soon as next week. His order staying all other proceedings extends through Oct. 11.
In a January 2023 CLE hosted by The Texas Lawbook and the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter, Judge Lopez said that the complex bankruptcy panel in the Southern District of Texas has been successful because “people like the level of consistency” that the judges provide. He also provided clear advice to lawyers who practice before him.
“Be very specific in the motions that you draft,” he said. “The motions need to say exactly what relief you want.”
Judge Lopez said too many lawyers who appear before him “fall in love with their scripts.” Instead of sticking to the script, lawyers need to “read where the court is going.”
“They’ve prepared very hard and they have these five points and they want to get through all five points,” he said. “But when the judge asks you a question, answer the question and don’t go back to the points in your scripts. I think people fall in love with their script too much.”
Judge Lopez also said that lawyers should not assume that he knows everything about the case or has reviewed all the exhibits.
“I only know what people argue in court or what they put on paper,” he said. “If there is something very important that you think I should know, don’t bury it in a footnote or page 65 of 70 pages. Make it very clear that you think something is very important. Lawyers know their case really well, and they assume that I know it as well. And the reality is that I don’t.
Paul Genender, a litigation partner at Paul Hastings who worked with Judge Lopez at Weil Gotshal, said the judge has the temperament, legal knowledge and experience, and intellectual curiosity that make him an excellent bankruptcy judge.
“Chris has all the tools to effectively tackle the biggest and most complex bankruptcy disputes but also the patience necessary to figure things out and get to the right result,” Genender said.