Bankruptcy Judges Peck and Gropper to Retire

Bankruptcy Judges James Peck and Allan L. Gropper will step down in 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Judge Peck took the bench in 2006 and two years later was handed the case of a lifetime when Lehman Brothers collapsed into the largest ever bankruptcy in September 2008. Just over three years later he approved a plan that would pay back creditors at least $65 billion — a number that has since increased to around $80 billion — an outcome few thought possible when the investment bank went under. Judge Peck has also helped broker settlements in several complicated cases, including Residential Capital creditors’ $2.1 billion settlement with Ally Financial Inc. Before being appointed, Judge Peck was a partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP representing debtors and creditors. He will step down from the bench effective Jan. 31, 2014.
Judge Gropper has served since 2000, and presided over several key cases, including that of Kodak Corp. He also recently issued one of the most important decisions of his judicial career, saying Anadarko Petroleum is liable for billions of dollars in cleanup costs for Tronox Ltd., whose bankruptcy he presided over. Judge Gropper will step down from the bench effective Oct. 3, 2014. Click here to read the press release from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.