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A bankruptcy judge has again shielded Johnson & Johnson from jury trials in roughly 40,000 pending talc-related lawsuits, advancing the company’s second attempt to resolve mass cancer claims through the chapter 11 system, though he cautioned J&J faces an “uphill battle” ahead, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, N.J., on Thursday extended to the healthcare-products company the same protection against talc-related trials enjoyed by its subsidiary LTL Management LLC, a vehicle created by J&J to carry its talc-related liabilities into chapter 11. The freeze on jury trials will last through mid-June while LTL moves through bankruptcy, Judge Kaplan said. His ruling marks the second time he has frozen jury trials in tort litigation alleging that J&J’s talc products cause cancer, which the company denies. The judge granted similar protections to J&J after LTL’s initial entry into chapter 11 in 2021 to give the company breathing room to negotiate with talc claimants and their lawyers on a settlement plan. A federal appeals court threw out that bankruptcy case this month, but LTL filed for bankruptcy again hours later, this time with a settlement offer supported by some plaintiffs’ law firms. That offer, valued at $8.9 billion, would rank among the largest tort settlements ever if accepted.

BlockFi was granted more time to file a bankruptcy exit strategy on Wednesday, some five months after the crypto lender went bust, BlockWorks.co reported. Joshua Sussberg, BlockFi’s attorney, said the company is exploring potential sale of its assets at a recent hearing. The firm is also looking for an external backer for a potential restructuring deal. The company now has until May 15 to file an exit plan, per court docs. Judge Michael Kaplan reportedly said it was worth extending the deadline to ease the way for a smooth continuation of the case. Sussberg described the duration of the extension as “modest,” and said the company would have a plan ready for assessment by unsecured creditors within two weeks. BlockFi filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 28, shortly after its bailout partner FTX. Under bankruptcy code, debtors are ideally meant to propose a chapter 11 plan in the first 120 days of the filing. This meant BlockFi should have presented a plan by March 27. But on March 21, the company filed a motion to extend the deadline for its chapter 11 plan by 90 days to June 26. “Given the size and complexity of these chapter 11 cases, much work remains,” BlockFi’s lawyers said. It’s estimated BlockFi altogether owes more than 100,000 creditors up to $10 billion.

The U.S. government reached an agreement with Voyager Digital Ltd. allowing the bankrupt cryptocurrency platform to sell its user accounts to Binance.US, meaning Voyager customers will be able to access their funds again, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Federal authorities have agreed to allow a key part of Voyager’s chapter 11 plan—the transfer of customer accounts to Binance.US—to go ahead while a related government appeal of a narrow provision in Voyager’s reorganization continues, according to court papers filed Wednesday. Various state and federal regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission opposed the Binance.US deal, which was approved in bankruptcy court only to be put on hold by appellate judges. The government has said a provision in Voyager’s chapter 11 plan could tie regulators’ hands in taking future enforcement actions against the parties involved in distributing its cryptocurrency. Voyager has said the provision is necessary to protect those involved in implementing the court-approved chapter 11 plan.

A former US Secret Service agent who specializes in probing financial cybercrime supported anonymity for creditors in the FTX bankruptcy because of risks from the criminals who stalk the cryptocurrency sector, Bloomberg News reported. Identifying customers of the fallen crypto exchange “imposes a severe and unusual risk of identity theft, asset theft, personal attack, and further online victimization,” Jeremy A. Sheridan, managing director in the blockchain and digital assets practice of FTI Consulting Inc., said in a filing on Thursday. FTI Consulting is the financial adviser for the official committee of unsecured creditors in the five-month-old FTX bankruptcy. Early in the case a judge agreed to keep the names of the 50 biggest unsecured creditors secret. The US Bankruptcy Code normally requires the names be filed in public documents. The U.S. Trustee and several media companies, including Bloomberg News, unsuccessfully fought to have the names of FTX customers made public earlier this year, arguing that their names would be listed if they were creditors in any other bankruptcy case. Naming customers with bigger crypto holdings is like “placing a target on their back and facilitating fraudulent schemes by malefactors,” Sheridan said.

Beverly Hospital filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, a step that hospital officials said was needed to avoid the closure of the Montebello facility, the Los Angeles Times reported. Hospital officials said their goal is to find a buyer to keep the hospital open and maintain crucial services for residents in Montebello and nearby communities, including El Monte, Whittier and East Los Angeles. They laid the blame for their financial plight on surging costs that they said had outpaced government reimbursements to care for low-income patients. “The need to restructure is regrettable, but to save the hospital, we were forced to take these necessary steps,” Beverly Hospital President and Chief Executive Alice Cheng said in a statement announcing that the facility had filed voluntary petitions for Chapter 11 under the bankruptcy code. “It’s a sad situation, but it’s essential for us to continue to provide healthcare for the people of our community.” Hospital officials said they had secured up to $13 million in financing to enable the hospital to keep operating without interruption as it pursues options for a sale, aiming to find a buyer “who can ensure the longevity of the hospital so that it can continue to serve the communities that need it the most.”

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc and its subsidiaries in the United States filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, Virgin Orbit filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after the satellite launch company struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed launch in January. On Wednesday, the company proposed a May 4 deadline for indications of interest for its assets, asking the court to approve bid procedures including interest deadlines, and a bid deadline of May 14, 2023, it said in the statement. "We expect the filing of the plan and disclosure statement will help us to efficiently conclude the Chapter 11 process once we have completed the sale of the company," Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit said in the statement. The company is seeking the sale of its assets, after laying off roughly 85% of its 750 employees.

Lordstown Motors Corp said on Thursday it has received a delisting notice from Nasdaq and is evaluating actions including a reverse stock split to meet the minimum bid price requirement set by the exchange, Reuters reported. The company received the notice because the closing bid price for the electric-truck maker's class A common stock fell below the minimum required price of $1 per share for 30 straight sessions, according to a regulatory filing. Like other EV companies, Lordstown has been plagued with surging costs and supply challenges, and missed the delivery target for its Endurance pickup truck. Its shares have lost over 50% of their value so far this year. Lordstown had put in a proposal on April 11 for its annual shareholder meeting, slated for May 22, to get an approval to carry out a reverse stock split of its class A common stock in the ratio ranging from one-for-three to one-for-fifteen. The notice has no immediate impact on the company's stock listing and Lordstown Motors will have until Oct. 16 to regain compliance with Nasdaq's rules.

Reversing the Second Circuit, the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous opinion today in MOAC Mall Holdings LLC, deciding that Section 363(m) is not jurisdictional. It’s a limitation on the remedy available to an appellate court on an appeal from an order approving a sale, according to a special edition of Rochelle's Daily Wire. Section 363(m) says that the reversal or modification “of an authorization under subsection (b) or (c) of this section of a sale or lease of property does not affect the validity of a sale or lease [to a purchaser in good faith] . . . unless such authorization and such sale or lease were stayed pending appeal.” The Second and Fifth Circuits have held that Section 363(m) is jurisdictional. The Third, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits have held that it is not. The opinion for the Court by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was her first since her elevation in June 2022.

More than three years after filing for bankruptcy, the Boy Scouts of America said it has emerged from chapter 11 after an appeals court denied opponents’ request to pause the youth group’s reorganization efforts, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The chapter 11 plan became effective Wednesday, officially ending the Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy case and beginning the process of creating the largest-ever compensation fund for victims of childhood sexual abuse. The bankruptcy plan includes roughly $2.4 billion to resolve more than 82,000 individual claims of sexual abuse, which dogged the Boy Scouts for decades before it filed for chapter 11 protection in 2020. The plan was approved last year by a bankruptcy court, but some non-settling insurers and sex-abuse survivors appealed. On Wednesday, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied their request for a stay, allowing the plan to take effect. The Boy Scouts say the size of the settlement fund could grow, partly through settlements with the insurers that didn’t reach agreements to cap their exposure on policies they sold the youth group. Those non-settling insurers are expected to continue with their appeal.