Jackson Walker Draws Another Suit Over Bankruptcy Scandal

A group of 13 shareholders of biopharmaceutical tech company Sorrento Therapeutics allege in a new lawsuit that Dallas-based Jackson Walker’s decision to file its bankruptcy case in the Southern District of Texas was done to enrich the firm at the expense of the shareholders.

The allegations stem from a bankruptcy scandal involving a previously undisclosed romantic relationship between a former Jackson Walker bankruptcy partner, Elizabeth Freeman, and a then-sitting bankruptcy judge, David Jones, that rocked the Southern District of Texas and resulted in Jones’ resignation from the bench. In the 43-page lawsuit filed Friday in the Southern District of California, the shareholders allege that the decision to file “fraudulent” bankruptcy proceedings for Sorrento — a Delaware corporation headquartered in San Diego — in the Southern District of Texas “would never have” happened “but for the unlawful actions committed by defendants as described herein.”