Ralph Brubaker | DEV-College of Law | Illinois

ABI quotes Brubaker on asbestos case

Law News — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Bankruptcy Judge David S. Jones of New York ruled recently on a chapter 11 plan from cosmetics company Revlon regarding asbestos claims arising from products containing talc. In his ruling, Judge Jones noted that future asbestos claims can be discharged without a trust. In the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Rochelle’s Daily Wire, Professor Ralph Brubaker provided a counterpoint to a University of Chicago professor, claiming that “discharging the claim of a future claimant who has not yet been injured or discovered the injury” is unconstitutional and akin to something from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Read his full comments here.

Brubaker paper cracks SSRN’s Top Ten download list

Law News — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 16:45:00 +0000

Professor Ralph Brubaker’s article, “Mass Torts, The Bankruptcy Power, and Constitutional Limits on Mandatory No-Opt-Outs Settlements,” was recently added to SSRN’s Top Ten Download list. The article, published by the Florida State University Business Review, is an examination of “constitutional tensions produced by aggressive efforts to resolve mass-tort liability through federal bankruptcy proceedings, as illustrated by nonconsensual nondebtor (or third-party) releases and the so-called Texas Two-Step maneuver.”

Download and read the article on SSRN.

Brubaker publishes new article on implications of Purdue Pharma ruling

Law News — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 16:30:00 +0000

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, Professor Ralph Brubaker—who submitted an amicus brief in the case—published an article in the Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable on the implications of the ruling and issues that remain unsettled after the ruling. “Unless bankruptcy is to become a facile end-run around multiple constitutional protections for both individual tort claimants and state sovereignty,…the ‘subject of Bankruptcies’ (within the meaning of the Constitution’s Bankruptcy Clause) must be limited by a requirement of necessity for bankruptcy relief,” Brubaker writes.

Read full coverage from the Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable.

Brubaker talks Bayer, Texas Two-Step bankruptcy with Bloomberg

Law News — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 18:30:00 +0000

Bayer AG is considering employing the controversial legal tactic known as the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy to address the thousands of lawsuits alleging that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. The strategy, which involves splitting assets and liabilities into separate units, with the unit burdened by liabilities being placed into bankruptcy to facilitate a global settlement, is an area of expertise for Professor Ralph Brubaker. Speaking to Bloomberg, he suggested that although the courts may ultimately refuse this tactic, bankruptcy could provide Bayer with time to propose a settlement while halting ongoing litigation.

Read the full Bloomberg article online.

Law360 quotes Brubaker on mass tort claims and nondebtor parties

Law News — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 18:15:00 +0000

A recent $2.5 billion bankruptcy settlement between the Boy Scouts of America and childhood sexual abuse survivors seemed to put a close to an awful chapter in the victims lives, until the settlement was halted by the U.S. Supreme Court due to concerns over the legality of mandatory releases of claims against nondebtor third parties. Writing about the settlement, Law360 highlights broader debates about the fairness of handling mass-tort claims in bankruptcy courts, where settlements may favor one side over the other and quotes Professor Ralph Brubaker, and expert in this area. The article explores the history of such releases, their impact on mass-tort litigation, and ongoing legal disputes over their validity.

Read the full article from Law360.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court cites Brubaker in decision denying dismissal of asbestos case

Law News — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 19:15:00 +0000

The United States Bankruptcy Court Western District of North Carolina recently denied a motion to dismiss the bankruptcy of companies implicated in asbestos liability cases, citing and quoting from several articles by Professor Ralph Brubaker. The case involves Texas Two-Step mass-tort bankruptcy, a topic in which Brubaker has researched and published extensively. The decision cites to and quotes from “On the Nature of Federal Bankruptcy Jurisdiction: A General Statutory and Constitutional Theory,” from the William & Mary Legal Review; “Explaining Katz’s New Bankruptcy Exception to State Sovereign Immunity: The Bankruptcy Power as a Federal Forum Power,” from the American Bankruptcy Institute Legal Review; and “The Texas Two-Step and Mandatory Non-Opt-Out Settlement Powers,” in the Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable.

Read the decision online.

Brubaker receives Lawrence P. King Award from Commercial Law League of America

Law News — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 20:45:00 +0000

Professor Ralph Brubaker has received the Lawrence P. King Award for Excellence in the Field of Bankruptcy by the Commercial Law League of America. Below is the text of the press release announcing the award.

Commercial Law League of America Announces 2024 Lawrence P. King Award Recipient

Rolling Meadows, IL, February 29, 2024 – The Commercial Law League of America (CLLA) and its Bankruptcy Section are pleased to announce that they will present the Lawrence P. King Award to Ralph Brubaker at the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) in Seattle, WA on September 19, 2024.

The King Award: Each year, the Executive Council of the Commercial Law League’s Bankruptcy Section presents the Lawrence P. King Award to recognize a lawyer, judge, teacher, or legislator who exemplifies the best in scholarship, advocacy, judicial administration, or legislative activities in the field of bankruptcy. The award is designed to recognize the lifetime achievements of Professor King, which include contributing to the practice of bankruptcy law through teaching, by working to elevate the profession and through bankruptcy-related legislative activities.

This year’s recipient — Ralph Brubaker — is the James H.M. Sprayregen Professor of Law at the University of Illinois, where he teaches courses in bankruptcy, bankruptcy procedure, corporate reorganizations, federal courts, conflict of laws (private international law), contracts, and restitution. Professor Brubaker has three degrees from the University of Illinois, including his J.D. summa cum laude and an M.B.A., and he received Bronze Tablet distinction (highest honors) and C.P.A. certification as an undergraduate. He clerked for Judge James K. Logan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and he practiced in the bankruptcy and corporate reorganization group with the law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (now Squire Patton Boggs) in Cleveland, Ohio. Professor Brubaker was a member of the faculty at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia from 1995 until 2004, when he returned to his alma mater.

Professor Brubaker is the Editor-in-Chief and a contributing author for West’s Bankruptcy Law Letter, he is co-author of a bankruptcy casebook, and he has written dozens of journal articles and essays. He is particularly expert in the complex jurisdictional and procedural facets of federal bankruptcy proceedings. Professor Brubaker has been an editorial advisor for the American Bankruptcy Law Journal, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, and the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal. He is a member of the American Law Institute, a Conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, for which he has been the Scholar-in-Residence.

Professor Brubaker has served on the executive committee of the board of directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), and he was a member of the advisory committee on business enterprise sales for the ABI’s 2014 Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11.

Rochelle’s Daily Wire analyzes bankruptcy court ruling citing Brubaker

Law News — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 16:45:00 +0000

The strength of Professor Ralph Brubaker’s scholarship provided “considerable force” in the mind of Bankruptcy Judge J. Craig Whitley of Charlotte, N.C., and he cited Brubaker’s work extensively when denying a motion to dismiss a pair of “asbestos” chapter 11 cases where the family of companies could pay $250 million in current and future liability. In Rochelle’s Daily Wire from the American Bankruptcy Institute, the decision is analyzed and Brubaker added his own commentary. Though this case does not discuss the Purdue Pharma case before the Supreme Court, the author notes that it has overlap in bankruptcy courts not sanctioning nonconsensual, nondebtor, third-party releases.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court extensively cites Brubaker in denying Texas Two-Step ploy

Law News — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 19:00:00 +0000

In late December 2023, U.S. bankruptcy court in North Carolina denied motions to dismiss the Texas Two-Step mass-tort bankruptcy cases of entities created to resolve the asbestos liability of the Trane companies. This type of maneuver involves splitting a company into two, moving the liabilities to one company, and then seek bankruptcy protections to absolve that company of liability. In the opinion (pages 32-39) denying the Trane companies the ability to execute this maneuver, the bankruptcy court extensively cites to and quotes from three of Professors Brubaker’s articles on the subject: (1) “The Texas Two-Step and Mandatory Non-Opt-Out Settlement Powers,” in the Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable; (2) “Assessing the Legitimacy of the ‘Texas Two-Step’ Mass-Tort Bankruptcy,” in the Bankruptcy Law Letter; and (3) “Mandatory Aggregation of Mass Tort Litigation in Bankruptcy,” in the Yale Law Journal Forum.

Read the full opinion from the bankruptcy court.

Read “Assessing the Legitimacy of the ‘Texas Two-Step’ Mass-Tort Bankruptcy,” from the Bankruptcy Law Letter, cited in the opinion.

Brubaker tells Bloomberg decision in Purdue Pharma case may have wide implications

Law News — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 19:00:00 +0000

In the pending U.S. Supreme Court case regarding Purdue Pharma’s litigation shield for the Sackler family, the decision of the Court could impact widely used non-debtor releases in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. Professor Ralph Brubaker suggested to Bloomberg Law the ruling might affect cases involving mass torts, including cases involving the Catholic diocese, Boy Scouts, Rite Aid, and Highland Capital. The decision’s implications may also extend to asbestos-related bankruptcies and the use of non-consensual third-party releases under Section 524(g) of the bankruptcy code.