court

Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan halted by SCOTUS

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked Purdue Pharma’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy that shielded the founding Sackler families from liability in the nation’s opioid epidemic.

The application for a stay, brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, was presented to Justice Sonia Sotomayor and referred by her to the wider court, which agreed to hear argument on whether the nation’s bankruptcy laws allow a court to approve, as part of a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11, a release from litigation for third parties who are not themselves filing for bankruptcy.

A bankruptcy court judge had approved the reorganization plan for Purdue Pharma that reconstituted the company under another name while paying out billions of dollars to cities, states and Native American tribes afflicted by the opioid crisis — and insulated the descendants of the founding Sackler brothers from liability claims.

A federal judge in New York initially blocked the reorganization, however, ruling that bankruptcy laws do not allow liability shields to be given to parties that aren’t actually filing for bankruptcy.

An appellate court disagreed, reinstating the bankruptcy plan, and the DOJ asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

In a statement, Purdue Pharma

Read the rest

Zali Burrows loses appeal

Burrows has represented former Auburn mayor Salim Mehajer, murderer Bassam Hamzy and terrorist Hamdi Alqudsi, and briefed counsel on behalf of several clients held in immigration detention in human rights cases. She stood as a candidate for the Palmer United Party in the seat of Blaxland in the federal election of 2013.

She filed a separate claim in the NSW Supreme Court on October 20 last year to have the $130,000 order against her set aside, alleging that Macpherson Kelley Lawyers had acted fraudulently in obtaining the order.

In December, she applied to the Federal Circuit and Family Court for an extension to the bankruptcy notice until that matter could be heard. However, Judge Nicholas Manousaridis dismissed her application, finding that she had “no reasonable prospects” of setting aside the judgment debt on any of her fraud claims.

Burrows has since lodged an amended statement of claim in the Supreme Court, alleging Macpherson Kelley made false statements to the court in 2020 when obtaining the $130,000 costs order. Macpherson Kelley say in their defence that part of the evidence they provided to the court was factually wrong but claim this was immaterial to the outcome.

Get the day’s breaking news,

Read the rest

After 8 years, Milford strip club settles lawsuit with dancers

After 8 years, Milford strip club settles lawsuit with dancers
FILE PHOTO: Keepers Gentlemen's Club at 354 Woodmont Road on Tuesday, January 26, 2016. The club was sued by dancers saying they were not being paid the minimum wage.

FILE PHOTO: Keepers Gentlemen’s Club at 354 Woodmont Road on Tuesday, January 26, 2016. The club was sued by dancers saying they were not being paid the minimum wage.

Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media

A hearing in the case had been scheduled for Monday morning on a request from the dancers’ lawyer to have a $200,000 judgment in the case taken from a land use settlement between the town of Stratford and Gus Curcio, a resident convicted of extortion in the 1980s who is also linked to the club.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Krayeske would not discuss the specifics of the agreement Monday.

“The matter is settled,” he said, declining further comment. 

The settlement comes a month after a bankruptcy trustee in the case of Joseph Regensburger, a Fairfield man who was once president of the club, said he could not find any assets to satisfy the dancers’ claims, even though a Department of Justice lawyer has alleged the bankruptcy was a ruse designed to hide assets. 

The bankruptcy hearing had seemed to have left the former exotic dancers who sued the club in 2015 alleging wage theft years away from seeing a dime of

Read the rest

St. Clare’s pensioners want lawsuit against Albany Diocese restarted after bankruptcy filing

The legal team representing the St. Clare’s Hospital pensioners has filed a motion requesting the case be sent back to state court.

In March, the Diocese of Albany announced it was filing for bankruptcy. Bishop Ed Scharfenberger insisted that the diocese didn’t see any other alternative, after settling 50 of over 400 cases brought under the Child Victims Act.

The filing put a hold on the lawsuits involving 1,100 St. Clare’s pensioners who worked at the former hospital in Schenectady. They lost some or all of their retirement savings when, in March 2019, the St. Clare’s Corporation petitioned the state Supreme Court to dissolve, claiming it had run out of money.

Six months later, a group of advocates, including the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York and the AARP, filed a lawsuit against the Diocese seeking damages for the pensioners.

In late 2022 a judge ruled the pensioner’s should merge with one filed in May by the Attorney General’s office.

Meryl Grenadier is a Senior Attorney at AARP Foundation.

“Our clients are what is considered, what is called ‘unsecured creditors’ in the bankruptcy proceeding,” said Grenadier. “And in order to obtain any money out of the bankruptcy

Read the rest

Minnesota Supreme Court approves disbarment of attorney after fraud conviction in bankruptcy scheme – Bemidji Pioneer

Minnesota Supreme Court approves disbarment of attorney after fraud conviction in bankruptcy scheme – Bemidji Pioneer

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Supreme Court has approved an agreement disbarring former Willmar, Minnesota, attorney Gregory Ron Anderson from the practice of law for his felony conviction of fraud.

Gregory Anderson

Gregory Anderson

The Supreme Court issued a news release Tuesday, Jan. 3, stating that it had issued an order Dec. 30 in which it approved the disbarment as sought in a petition from the director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility for Anderson’s alleged professional misconduct.

Anderson, 63, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on Dec. 7 to serve 18 months in prison for a conviction of fraud in the bankruptcy proceedings of former Kerkhoven Mayor James Rothers. Anderson must also serve a year of supervised release following his prison term and pay fines of $20,000.

The federal court found that Anderson had created fake liabilities to create the appearance that Rothers was insolvent when, in fact, Rothers could easily have paid all of his creditors, according to information from the U.S. District Attorney’s office.

Rothers pleaded guilty to fraud Dec. 13 and is serving two years of probation.

Anderson had agreed as part of a plea agreement in his case to voluntarily accept disbarment.

Read the rest