Law firm White & Case LLP will stay in charge of a $14 billion bankruptcy lawsuit against Argentina’s YPF SA, a judge said, rejecting complaints that a lawyer’s career move had undermined the state oil giant’s defense, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The ruling said that YPF failed to show why White & Case should be ousted as counsel to the bankruptcy trust that has sued YPF in the litigation, which seeks to hold the Argentine oil company responsible for the costs of cleaning up New Jersey’s contaminated Passaic River. Judge Christopher Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., issued the ruling Tuesday. Judge Sontchi said that White & Case had erected sufficient safeguards after hiring Jessica Lauria, a former top legal strategist to YPF, in October 2020. Ethical and law firm procedures will protect against disclosure of information that could be used against YPF, he found. Even though Ms. Lauria is no longer involved in the Passaic River litigation, YPF feared inadvertent disclosures of its confidential information.
