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SCOTUS Grants Stay to Highland Capital in Dispute with Ex-CEO

The U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency stay to Highland Capital Management, halting a lower court decision that allowed former CEO James Dondero to sue parties involved in the firm’s bankruptcy. Justice Samuel Alito issued a one-page order that pauses a March ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had permitted Dondero to pursue litigation against individuals previously deemed protected by a North Texas bankruptcy judge in relation to Highland Capital’s bankruptcy and restructuring.

Mark Curriden

Judge Lopez: No Do-Overs for Lawyers in J&J Talc Powder Bankruptcy Dispute

Less than 48 hours after lawyers representing some of the thousands of women claiming that Johnson & Johnson talc powder caused their ovarian cancer asked a Houston judge for “a do-over” and to reconsider his ruling dismissing their efforts to reach a settlement agreement through the bankruptcy court, the judge issued his answer Thursday: No can do.

Mark Curriden

Kirkland, Norton Rose Fulbright to Advise Clean Energy Business in Billion-dollar Bankruptcy

California-based Global Clean Energy Holdings, a renewable fuels company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of Texas early Wednesday. Citing between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities and assets in its original petition, Global Clean Energy and 15 of its affiliated companies hired Kirkland & Ellis as its lead legal advisor and Norton Rose Fulbright Houston partner Jason Boland as its local legal bankruptcy counsel.

Mark Curriden

Bankruptcy Judge Isgur Rips GWG Holdings Trustee’s Lawyers on Lack of Due Process Notice to Investors 

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur ended a hearing Friday morning in the GWG Holdings case after finding lawyers for the trustee had failed to meet their due process obligations under the constitution to provide bondholders with notice of how a proposed settlement would impact them. “I find there is not due process notice and this is not a close call,” he said, adding the effort of the lawyers to inform bondholders, some of whom put their life savings in the company, that they could expect to get back only about 3 percent of what they invested was “completely deficient” and “an embarrassment.”

Michelle Casady

WDTX Chief Judge Removes Jackson Walker Bankruptcy Fee Cases from SDTX Chief Bankruptcy Judge

Chief U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas, Alia Moses, has taken control of the 34 bankruptcy cases where the U.S. Trustee is seeking to clawback millions in fees awarded to Dallas-based Jackson Walker. “This unique case nevertheless requires stiff measures. The need to reestablish public trust and confidence in the court system alone impels withdrawal in this highly unusual case,” she wrote.

Michelle Casady

Houston Judge Rejects $9B Bankruptcy Effort By J&J

Houston Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez ruled late Monday that multiple flaws require him to dismiss Johnson & Johnson’s third attempt to use the federal bankruptcy courts to rid itself of 90,000 cases filed across the country by women suing pharmaceutical giant for making and selling baby powder that they claim caused their ovarian and other gynecological cancers. In a 57-page opinion, Judge Lopez said his ruling to reject J&J’s efforts to create a separate subsidiary in Texas called Red River Talc for the sole purpose of funding a $9 billion resolution of its talc powder cancer litigation through the bankruptcy process was "not an easy one, [but] it is the right one.”

Mark Curriden

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