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A bankruptcy judge allowed sexual-abuse survivors to resume lawsuits against parishes and other affiliates of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in suburban Long Island, N.Y., that have been paused since its chapter 11 filing in 2020, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Martin Glenn, who is presiding over the bankruptcy case of the Catholic Church’s seat in Long Island, denied the Diocese’s request to extend a stay on litigation to freeze state-court lawsuits targeting its parishes and other related entities. Negotiations between abuse survivors and the Diocese broke down months ago after it filed a settlement plan that the victims committee said it considers inadequate. The judge’s decision, which takes effect after June 15, would affect 228 out of 490 abuse lawsuits pending against the Diocese, its parishes and other related entities. “As it has throughout the Chapter 11 process, the Diocese will continue to seek and work toward a global settlement of all claims that fairly compensate survivors and allows the Diocese and parishes to continue their missions,” a Diocese spokesman said on Friday. Lawyers representing the victims committee said the court acknowledged the harm to survivors caused by delaying their rights to pursue their claims against the parishes, which are separate corporations that haven’t filed for bankruptcy. Rockville Centre is among a handful of dioceses in New York that filed for chapter 11 protection in 2020 after state lawmakers opened a temporary window to allow victims the opportunity to file time-barred civil cases over childhood sexual abuse. Several bankruptcy cases filed by Catholic dioceses, including Rockville Centre, in recent years have dragged on mired in litigation often with insurers with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line.

FTX Trading Ltd. and its affiliates joined a smattering of other creditors of bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global Holdco in objecting to extending court-mediated settlement talks, according to a court filing, Bloomberg News reported. Claiming to be a major Genesis creditor, FTX said it hadn’t been invited to court-appointed mediation that went on in May and included Genesis, its parent company Digital Currency Group and creditors such as crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co. FTX also said it was caught off guard when Genesis filed on Thursday to have FTX’s unliquidated claims estimated at zero. FTX says it is owed $3.9 billion. Genesis said that throwing out the FTX claims “is critical to avoid undue delay in the timing and amount of creditor distributions, and to expeditiously pursue confirmation of a chapter 11 plan.” The objection adds yet another complication to the attempts for a settlement between DCG, Genesis and its creditors. FTX is joining more than a dozen other individual Genesis creditors who have filed their objections to extending the mediation. Genesis is seeking to continue the talks through June 16, and claims to have the support of DCG and Gemini. A hearing on the extension is scheduled for Monday. Because FTX hasn’t been included, “the mediation is a waste of estate resources without the inclusion of the FTX Debtors and should not continue without the FTX Debtors’ involvement,” FTX said in its filing.

More than three dozen Buffalo (N.Y.) Diocese properties could soon be appraised for current values that ultimately may factor heavily into a settlement with sexual abuse claimants in the diocese’s chapter 11 bankruptcy court, the Buffalo News reported. Lawyers for the diocese are asking a federal judge to approve a request to hire KLW Appraisal Group to come up with valuations for 37 properties spread across six counties. The properties vary from 15 acres of vacant land in the Town of Hamburg near the Erie County Fairgrounds to a historically significant four-story office building in the heart of Buffalo’s medical corridor. They also include six school buildings, two retirement homes for priests, St. Joseph Cathedral, and the former Christ the King Seminary in Aurora. They were estimated collectively to be worth $16 million in 2020 when the diocese first sought chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in response to more than 200 Child Victims Act lawsuits alleging clergy and other diocese employees sexually abused children decades ago, according to a disclosure statement at the time. But the court papers also indicated that most of the properties had not undergone a recent appraisal.

A federal bankruptcy judge has ordered Diamond Sports to pay the full value of its media contracts to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers, the Associated Press reported. Judge Christopher Lopez made the ruling yesterday in Houston. Diamond Sports, which owns 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner, has been in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed in March. Diamond said in a financial filing last fall it had debt of $8.67 billion. In April, the judge ruled Diamond to pay half of what the teams were owed in rights fees. “I think the contract rate is the right answer here,” said Judge Lopez in issuing his decision after two marathon days of testimony. The decision is another chapter in what has been a contentious week in the strained relationship between MLB and Diamond Sports. On Tuesday, the last San Diego Padres game was aired on Bally Sports San Diego after Diamond Sports missed a rights payment fee and let the grace period expire. MLB took over production of Padres' telecasts, beginning with Wednesday's game at the Miami Marlins. Whether MLB takes over other teams and Diamond Sports lets other payments lapse after the grace period will have to be answered over the next four months. If Diamond rejects the terms of the agreement, the rights would revert back to MLB and the teams.

Johnson & Johnson yesterday faced the first trial in almost two years over claims that asbestos in its baby powder and other talc products causes cancer, as it seeks to settle thousands of similar cases in bankruptcy court. Emory Hernandez says that he developed mesothelioma, a deadly cancer, in the tissue around his heart as a result of exposure to J&J's talc products beginning when he was a baby. The company has denied that its talc contains asbestos, which is linked to mesothelioma, or causes cancer. Joseph Satterley, a lawyer for Hernandez, urged jurors in Alameda County, California court to reject the company's defenses and hold it responsible for his client's illness. Allison Brown, a lawyer for J&J, said in her opening statement that the company went to great lengths to ensure that there were no contaminants in its talc. She said that Hernandez's form of mesothelioma was very rare, and more likely related to a family history of heart disease and cancer. J&J subsidiary LTL Management in April filed for bankruptcy in Trenton, New Jersey proposing to pay $8.9 billion to settle more than 38,000 lawsuits, and prevent new cases from coming forward in the future. It is the company's second attempt to resolve talc claims in bankruptcy, after a federal appeals court rejected an earlier bid. Litigation has largely been halted during bankruptcy proceedings, but U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan, who is overseeing LTL's chapter 11, allowed Hernandez's trial to go ahead because he is only expected to live a short time.

Sam Bankman-Fried is seeking documents from a law firm that advised his defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange, saying in a court filing that they could help him beat fraud charges, Reuters reported. The former crypto mogul said the documents could prove that he relied on legal advice from Silicon Valley law firm Fenwick & West and did not believe he was breaking the law. Manhattan federal prosecutors must prove he knew his conduct was illegal. Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old founder of now-defunct FTX Trading, has pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court to 13 counts of fraud, conspiracy, illegal campaign contributions and foreign bribery. On Tuesday, he asked a judge to order prosecutors to turn over documents related to Fenwick’s legal advice on matters central to the government’s case, including FTX’s use of disappearing messaging services and failure to properly register with regulators. Bankman-Fried said in the filing that each of the charges against him requires the government to prove he acted willfully and that Fenwick’s legal advice could prove that he is innocent because he thought his actions were aboveboard. Bankman-Fried rode a boom in digital currency to a $26 billion net worth and became an influential political and philanthropic donor before FTX sought chapter 11 protection in November. Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in customer funds to plug losses in his hedge fund Alameda Research, which collapsed along with FTX last year after its risky cryptocurrency bets backfired.

It’s been over a year since blogger Tasha K lost to Cardi B in a legal battle over defamation. The gossip blogger has now filed for bankruptcy after claiming that she has less than $60,000 in total assets, Vibe reported. The YouTuber made salacious claims that the Bronx rapper had an incurable STD, was a prostitute and used drugs. Cardi B won the $4,000,000 case and has since voiced that she wants her money from Tasha, who’s repeatedly made jokes that she doesn’t have it. On Thursday (May 25) in a Florida federal court, Tasha née Latasha Kebe filed with claims that she can not pay out the hefty coin to the “Up” rhymer. According to Billboard, Tasha’s assets total out to $58,595, including a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado that’s collateral, two Louis Vuitton purses, $95 in her bank account, and her “UnWineWithTashaK” YouTube channel. The monetary value of her channel is listed as “unknown.” The bankruptcy filing reportedly also includes Tasha’s “Google account” asset worth $10,000 that was garnished in 2022 by Cardi’s attorneys. A shared income between Tasha and her husband was also listed at $156,021 in 2021 and $134,861 in 2022, from their online content creation. The document also includes an income of $30,000 per month from the pair.

Reversing the district court, the Second Circuit reinstated the bankruptcy court’s confirmation of the chapter 11 plan of Purdue Pharma LP and its inclusion of nonconsensual releases of creditors’ direct claims against nondebtors, Rochelle’s Daily Wire reported today. In the majority’s 74-page opinion, Circuit Judge Eunice C. Lee found statutory authority for nondebtor, third-party releases in Sections 105(a) and 1123(b)(6) of the Bankruptcy Code and in “this Circuit’s caselaw stating that a bankruptcy court has authority to impose such releases.” Circuit Judge Richard C. Wesley wrote a 14-page concurrence that reads like a dissent and urges the Supreme Court to grant certiorari to resolve the split of circuits. Judge Wesley concurred in the judgment because he saw the issue as having been resolved in In re Drexel Burnham Lambert Grp., Inc., 960 F.2d 285, 293 (2d Cir. 1992), Second Circuit authority that “has not been overruled either by the Supreme Court or by this Court sitting en banc.” The third judge on the panel was Circuit Judge Jon O. Newman. Having served 44 years on the appeals court, he is the most senior judge on the Second Circuit.

Johnson & Johnson’s first jury trial in nearly two years over allegations that its talc-based baby powder causes cancer could influence plaintiffs weighing the $8.9 billion settlement offer put forth by the company last month, Bloomberg News reported. The trial in Anthony Hernandez Valadez’s suit alleging he got mesothelioma from asbestos-contaminated talc in J&J products is scheduled to go before a jury Wednesday in state court in Oakland, California. Due to Valadez’s failing health, the case was allowed to proceed as an exception to the order putting all litigation on hold after J&J sought to wall off all of its talc liability in a chapter 11 bankruptcy for its LTL Management unit. J&J, which is trying to settle more than 40,000 talc cases in the bankruptcy, must convince 75% of plaintiffs to back its settlement offer. The company is hoping the chapter 11 halt to most jury trials will help it build support for the deal. But a big award for Valadez could convince more plaintiffs to go to trial, potentially tanking the deal. Over the years, New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J has steadfastly maintained its baby powder — sold in distinctive white bottles — never contained asbestos, is safe and doesn’t cause cancer. Executives say they are seeking a settlement to avoid billions in legal fees and expenses, along with a new wave of trials. “The company deeply sympathizes with anyone suffering from cancer and understands they are looking for answers,” J&J said in a statement on the Valadez trial. “However, the science doesn’t support that the exceedingly rare form of mesothelioma at issue in this case is connected to talc exposure.” In 2021, another Oakland jury awarded a woman more than $26 million in a talc case against the J&J. The company is appealing the verdict.