Pfizer Inc.'s non-operating Quigley Co. unit won permission to have creditors vote on a bankruptcy plan that would bar most asbestos claims against the two companies, as a judge said that the issue of whether Pfizer bought votes will be addressed later, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein yesterday approved Quigley's sixth reorganization plan draft after objections that it will not resolve whether Pfizer devised the plan in bad faith and manipulated the bankruptcy for its benefit. An issue that keeps resurfacing -- whether Pfizer’s actions are “just another attempt to buy the vote” of asbestos claimants -- will be addressed at a trial when Quigley seeks final confirmation of its plan after a vote, Judge Bernstein said.
