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The Buffalo (N.Y.) Diocese dramatically cut spending after filing for bankruptcy, eliminating most of its funding of Catholic elementary schools while paying lawyers millions of dollars over the past year, the Buffalo News reported. Court records show the diocese spent $3.8 million on lawyer fees and other bankruptcy-related expenses in the first year of bankruptcy — an amount nearly equal to the subsidies it used to provide to 34 Catholic elementary schools. Most of the schools ended up being able to absorb the loss of the diocese aid in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an enrollment boom and a windfall of taxpayer-funded Paycheck Protection Program loans and grants for parishes and schools. Operational diocese spending between March 1, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021, was down by 113% when compared with the diocese’s most recently published financial statement, according to an analysis of court records and financial statements. Spending on regular operations, such as pastoral costs, central support ministry and religious personnel development for the 12 months of bankruptcy was $8.5 million. It was $18.2 million in the diocese’s 2019 fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31, 2019.

The National Rifle Association and New York attorney general’s office plan to hold settlement talks in the coming days to see if they can resolve disputes over the gun rights organization’s bankruptcy case, lawyers for both sides said yesterday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Negotiations are intended to gauge if either the NRA or state authorities can narrow or resolve legal fights that will be the subject of a scheduled trial examining the gun group’s decision to file for chapter 11 protection in January, and whether its leadership had the authority to do so. New York authorities have said the case should be thrown out. The trial, now scheduled to begin in early April, concerns New York’s request to dismiss the bankruptcy case or displace the NRA’s management through appointment of an independent trustee. Such discussions are common in bankruptcy proceedings. But talks will be especially difficult because of the charged politics around the gun group, a lawyer for the NRA said during a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas.

Greensill Capital’s U.S. subsidiary filed for bankruptcy protection, extending the U.K. financing startup’s insolvency proceedings to New York, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Greensill Capital Inc., owned by the London-based parent, filed a chapter 11 petition yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, listing up to $50 million in estimated assets against up to $100 million in liabilities, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in employee obligations. Most of the U.S. unit’s 70 employees were terminated last week, according to court papers. The U.K. company filed for insolvency protection earlier this month after losing credit insurance that was critical to the complex business of supply-chain finance, a form of short-term corporate lending. Greensill made supply-chain loans to companies, then packaged them up into notes, selling those on to investors.

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Ford Motor Co. must face product-liability claims stemming from serious auto accidents in Montana and Minnesota, a setback for corporations seeking to limit their exposure to lawsuits in state courts, the Wall Street Journal reported. The court, in an opinion by Justice Elena Kagan, ruled unanimously that Montana’s and Minnesota’s jurisdiction over Ford was appropriate because the auto maker “has a veritable truckload” of business contacts with both states, including advertising, selling and servicing the vehicles that the lawsuits claimed were defective. Ford argued that jurisdiction was improper because the two specific vehicles involved in the crashes — a 1996 Explorer in one case and a 1994 Crown Victoria in the other — weren’t originally sold or built by Ford in Montana and Minnesota. The Supreme Court said that didn’t matter. When a company like Ford serves a market for a product in a state and that product causes injury in the state to one of its residents, the state’s courts may entertain the resulting suit,” Justice Kagan wrote. The decision affirmed rulings by the high courts of both states.

Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain extended an injunction on lawsuits against members of the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, until April 21, NPR reported. Judge Drain made the ruling yesterday from his court in White Plains, N.Y., while urging parties to move swiftly to hash out a final deal over the future of the embattled drug company. More than two dozen state attorneys general are still hoping to move forward with separate civil claims against the Sacklers, who earned more than $10.8 billion selling opioids. According to Judge Drain, however, that kind of legal scrum would "irreparably harm the ability to conclude these negotiations." He also suggested the threat of new state lawsuits against the Sacklers was a "misguided" effort to gain leverage over the family in bankruptcy talks. At issue is how Purdue Pharma and its owners will be held accountable for their role in an opioid epidemic that's killed more than 450,000 Americans. The drug-maker filed for bankruptcy in 2019, facing an avalanche of claims linked to the marketing and sale of its highly addictive painkiller Oxycontin.

A prominent paparazzi agency has filed for chapter 11 protection after a lengthy legal battle against Meghan Markle, FoxBusinessNews.com reported. Splash News & Picture Agency reportedly reached a settlement with the Duchess of Sussex in December over a case she filed earlier that year claiming an invasion of privacy after photographs snapped her and her son at a Canadian park. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Splash filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, noting that in addition to a global pandemic keeping celebrities off the streets and in their homes for a year, the cost of battling Markle in court caused it to default on a loan now worth nearly $1 million. "Splash’s financial problems stem from three sources," Splash’s president, Emma Curzon, said in a declaration submitted as part of the bankruptcy (per THR). "As a consequence of the global pandemic the availability of celebrity images has declined and budgets within media companies have been cut to reflect wider macro-economic challenges. This situation has been exacerbated by two ongoing litigation cases and the costs of defending these cases." Although part of the case was settled in court, it’s unclear if Markle and Splash are done with their legal battle. However, Curzon noted that the cost of pushing the fight forward is simply not feasible for Splash at this time.

The first lawsuits protesting exorbitant gas prices during February’s historic deep freeze have begun, Bloomberg News reported. CPS Energy, a Texas utility, is suing energy giants including BP Energy Co., Chevron Corp. and Energy Transfer. CPS supplies over 1.1 million customers in the San Antonio area with power and gas, and is disputing charges amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars at a minimum in 13 lawsuits. “The aftermath of a declared statewide disaster should not be a ‘jackpot’ for gas sellers,” CPS said in a lawsuit against Energy Transfer obtained by Bloomberg. The deadly cold that battered parts of the U.S. and roiled energy markets last month is expected to result in waves of litigation involving producers and traders of power and natural gas. At the time, ice on wind turbines and frozen pipelines led to sweeping blackouts, and oil and gas wells shut down. Traders and power suppliers struggled to find fuel to meet obligations, causing gas to trade at hundreds of times normal levels. Electricity in Texas surged to $9,000 per megawatt-hour. There have been similar lawsuits filed involving power prices, though not gas. Earlier this month, a unit of Exxon Mobil Corp. sued Macquarie Energy LLC after having a declaration of force majeure rejected by the energy trader. On Monday, Spire Missouri Inc., a utility company, filed a lawsuit against Symmetry Energy Solutions LLC over failed natural gas deliveries that allegedly caused over $100 million in losses. Symmetry is also being targeted by CPS.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says her office secured a guarantee through bankruptcy court to process refunds for Boston Sports Clubs customers who were charged for their memberships during the pandemic, WCVB.com reported. Last year, WCVB showed how Boston Sports Clubs kept charging members during the shutdown despite laying off staff and closing its doors. When the gym reopened, members say BSC made it nearly impossible to cancel without further charges, a violation of Massachusetts state law. After receiving thousands of complaints, Massachusetts Attorney General Healey sued BSC in the fall and the company declared bankruptcy. Healey now says her office secured a guarantee through bankruptcy court to process refunds for customers. Now, almost 600 customers will be getting back about $127,000, or an average of $215 each. Healey said her lawsuit is still moving forward and is seeking further assets from the company and its former leaders to make sure everyone who is entitled to a refund will get one.

McKinsey & Co. will pay $45 million to settle an investigation by Nevada of the big consulting firm’s role in fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic, Reuters reported. Nevada had been the lone holdout among U.S. states investigating McKinsey’s conduct, and Monday’s settlement boosts the firm’s payout for opioid settlements to about $641 million. McKinsey had in early February reached a $573 million settlement with 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, plus $23 million of settlements with Washington state and West Virginia. A McKinsey spokesman said the firm did not admit wrongdoing or liability, believes its past work was lawful and has denied contrary allegations. The settlements came after lawsuits showed how McKinsey advised drug manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin, on how to market opioids, including by targeting high-volume prescribers.

Investors will recover less than half of what they put into a collection of Northern California apartment buildings, office parks and other real estate without realizing the business that owned them was running as a Ponzi scheme, according to bankruptcy professionals who took it over after its founder’s death, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The management of Professional Financial Investors Inc. filed court papers on Sunday outlining a chapter 11 plan that proposes to sell or operate properties and pursue lawsuits to recover as much as possible for creditors owed more than $675 million. The bankruptcy professionals want the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco to aid the cleanup process by making a formal declaration that Professional Financial was a Ponzi scheme as far back as 2007. The company owes at least $237 million to individuals who bought debt instruments it issued, and they aren’t the only creditors. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other bank lenders are first in line to be repaid, secured by top priority on deeds of trust at dozens of properties. Other investors can expect to recover from 35% to 50% of the money they put into Professional Financial, according to court papers. The chapter 11 plan is backed by formal and informal groups of investors who have been on the scene since July 2020, when the business began to fall apart after the death of its founder, Kenneth Casey.