Mass Torts

Over the past decade, companies burdened with significant asbestos and other tort liability have utilized the so-called “Texas Two-Step” strategy to separate those tort liabilities from core assets and resolve them through the chapter 11 bankruptcy process. This session will cover isolating liabilities to preserve ongoing value with mass torts and corporate side changes, and subsequent bankruptcy issues, including venue, ongoing operations, valuations and third-party releases.

Third-party releases are a hot topic lately, with the recent district court opinions in the chapter 11 cases of Purdue Pharma and Ascena vacating bankruptcy court confirmation orders that approved plans providing for third-party releases.

This panel will discuss recent developments in mass tort bankruptcy cases, including the Purdue Pharma case and the Texas Two-Step (divisive merger), as well as its viability given recent rulings, including in In re DBMP LLC and In re Aldrich Pump, which suggest that divisive mergers may be subject to challenge as fraudulent transfers or under alter-ego, successor-liability and similar doctrines. Developments in third-party releases and legislation aimed at prohibiting third-party releases and limiting forum-shopping will also be discussed.

Sponsored by Business Reorganization Committee
Over the past decade, companies burdened with significant asbestos and other tort liability have utilized the so-called “Texas Two-Step” strategy to separate those tort liabilities from core assets and resolve them through the chapter 11 bankruptcy process. The “Texas Two-Step” involves a “divisional merger” permitted under the Texas Business Organizations Code and has garnered renewed national attention when it was used by Johnson & Johnson last month as the means to address tort liability arising from its talc products.