Mass Torts

Regional judges will strive to answer questions on current issues.

The petition is filed. At the § 341 meeting, the trustee asks the debtor whether there have been any personal-injury actions, whether the debtor has the right to sue someone, and whether the debtor inherited any assets 180 days prior to the petition date or within 180 days after the petition date. However, debtor clients often intentionally or inadvertently fail to disclose an asset. This panel will explore best practices for dealing with these and other post-filing litigation pitfalls, and for handling cases where there are undisclosed or undiscovered assets.

This panel will discuss recurring issues related to mass tort cases, including the automatic stay, third-party releases (Sun Edision, Midway Gold, Purdue), venue-selection and estimation. The panelists will also offer an analysis of such key recurring issues as the use and propriety of bankruptcy for solvent debtors, and bankruptcy abuse vs. bankruptcy planning.

The panelists will discuss the collapse of the Surfside condominium in Miami, and the resulting receivership and other disasters that have forced insolvency professionals to allocate resources, sometimes importing tort concepts.

This panel will analyze and explore issues and obstacles faced by debtors, creditors and other interested parties in recent mass tort bankruptcy cases. Topics to be covered will include tort claimant committees and government plaintiffs, estimation and jury trials, and channeling injunctions and settlement trusts.