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After nearly a year in the making, American Healthcare Systems, LLC (AHS) purchase of Randolph Health for $10.2 million has been finalized, the Triad Business Journal reported. The deal closed on July 1, allowing AHS to acquire “substantially all of Randolph Health’s operating assets except for the Accounts Receivable,” a spokesperson for Randolph Health said. In early June, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein gave verbal approval of the deal. In March 2020, Randolph Health filed for chapter 11 protection, in accordance with a plan to seek debt restructuring while searching for a suitable buyer. While looking for a suitor, Randolph Health and Randolph County officials applied for a $20 million loan through the Rural Health Stabilization Program. In May, the Local Government Commission approved the Rural Healthcare Stabilization Program application from Randolph County for a loan of $12 million. A statement from the office of N.C. State Treasurer Dale Folwell, said the loan would act as a "linchpin" in the purchase offer from AHS. However, UNC Health, which had a lead role with the Rural Health Stabilization Loan Program committee, performed a separate evaluation of the purchase proposal and said it could not recommend the loan approval because the plan does not represent "a realistic and feasible path forward for Randolph Health." The funding was still approved and will be made available to AHS over several years now that the deal is complete. At this time, no funds have been dispersed, a Randolph Health spokesperson said.

A Sacramento, Calif.-based medical equipment manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy as it faces an $8.1 million legal judgment in a dispute over a device to treat diabetes, the Sacramento Business Journal reported. Bionica Inc. markets an insulin infusion pump that can be carried by patients in their pockets to regularly deliver insulin and can “rescue people who previously have had no chance for a normal life,” the company states on its website. Bionica operates out of a space in McClellan Park, and was incorporated in 2010, according to its filings with the California Secretary of State’s office. Bionica’s founder Gregory Gilbert and its sister company, Trina Health LLC, have been accused of false advertising of Bionica's diabetes products, in a lawsuit that the inventor of the company’s products, Dr. Thomas Aoki, filed in 2011. Amid the long legal battle, Bionica filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. In its filing, the company stated that its assets were between $50,001 and $100,000 and that it faced between $1 million and $10 million in liabilities. Most of those liabilities are connected to an $8.1 million judgment that was handed down by a federal judge late last year, Gilbert told the Business Journal. In the judgment handed down in November 2020, U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley found Gilbert liable for patent infringement and falsely advertising diabetes treatments that were invented by Aoki.

A landmark trial targeting multiple opioid manufacturers and distributors opened yesterday with lawyers for the government accusing the companies of bringing death and destruction to communities, the Associated Press reported. The case bought by Suffolk and Nassau counties and New York Attorney General Letitia James is part of a slew of litigation over an epidemic linked to nearly 500,000 deaths over the last two decades. But this case is unique in targeting the entire opioid supply chain and for being tried in front of a jury, instead of a judge. The case is being heard in a Long Island law school auditorium to accommodate the multiple defendants and their lawyers. Jayne Conroy, the lawyer for Suffolk County, said in her opening statement that she would try to show how drug makers and distributors had operated in a “parallel universe” from those experiencing the ravages of opioid addiction. Purdue Pharma was initially named in the case, as were some individual members of the Sackler family, before the company filed for bankruptcy. Cases against Purdue, Mallinckrodt, and Rochester Drug Cooperative are all now moving separately through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, according to James’ office. Defendants in the suit included Endo Health Solutions and its affiliates; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and its affiliates; Allergan Finance, LLC and its affiliates McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, according the attorney general’s office. Defendants say the claims are overly broad and their culpability cannot be proven, according to court documents. James announced Saturday that one defendant, Johnson & Johnson, agreed in an 11th-hour settlement to pay the state up to $230 million to stop manufacturing or distributing opioids.

Two years after Hahnemann University Hospital went bankrupt, the legal war over proceeds from the eventual sale of the hulking Center City property is heating up, with an early skirmish expected at a Wednesday court hearing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The latest conflict arises from the split of the Hahnemann and St. Christopher’s real estate from the hospitals, which filed for chapter 11 protection starting on June 30, 2019. The real estate was kept out of the bankruptcy. Some saw that split as an insidious move by Joel Freedman, the California businessman who paid $170 million — all of it borrowed — in 2018 for Hahnemann and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, to ensure that he would make money no matter what. First, Freedman agreed to court-approved mediation that could lead to some of the money from the sale of real estate going to businesses left with unpaid bills after the bankruptcy. Creditors have filed $8.5 billion in claims in the bankruptcy — though unduplicated claims are likely to be less than $300 million, a filing said. It’s too early to say how much money has been collected to pay those claims. And now, Freedman’s partner and major lender, Harrison Street Real Estate, wants to participate in the talks among the bankrupt business shells, unsecured creditors, and Freedman. Without Harrison Street’s participation, mediation “is doomed to fail” because it would have to approve any agreement, the Chicago real estate investment firm said in a filing. It’s unclear how much the Hahnemann buildings that Freedman owns will sell for because they are in poor condition, making them a costly redevelopment project. Lawyers for the bankrupt shell of Hahnemann have opposed the participation of Harrison Street in talks with Freedman, arguing that Harrison Street’s participation would slow progress, especially given that Harrison Street has refused to provide any documents during the unsecured creditors’ investigation of the original deal. Freedman has said that Harrison Street should participate in the talks. The dispute is scheduled for an online hearing Wednesday before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath in Wilmington.

Johnson & Johnson said on Saturday that it will pay $263 million to resolve claims it fueled an opioid epidemic in New York state and two of its largest counties, Reuters reported. The settlements remove the drugmaker from a jury trial scheduled to begin on Tuesday on Long Island, where several big opioid makers and distributors are also defendants. Johnson & Johnson did not admit liability or wrongdoing in settling with New York state, and with Nassau and Suffolk counties. The $229.9 million state settlement also calls for J&J to stop selling the painkillers nationwide. J&J said that the settlements were consistent with its prior agreement to pay $5 billion to settle opioid claims by states, cities, counties and tribal governments nationwide.

A government lawyer has selected the head of Squire Patton Boggs’ global restructuring practice to investigate the independence of a special committee that struck a deal with the Sackler family members who own the OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, Reuters reported. The U.S. Department of Justice’s bankruptcy watchdog, the U.S. Trustee, selected Squire’s Stephen Lerner for the role, according to court papers filed yesterday. The appointment comes a week after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, N.Y., said that he would allow an examiner to explore whether the special committee of Purdue’s board was influenced at all by the Sackler family members in reaching a settlement that protects them against opioid-related litigation. The judge said during a contentious court hearing on June 16 that he did not know of any evidence to suggest the deal was negotiated unfairly but would bring in an examiner anyway out of fear of misleading press reports. U.S. Trustee William Harrington said in yesterday’s court filing that in selecting Lerner for the role, he consulted with lawyers for Purdue and its official committee of unsecured creditors, as well as supporters and opponents of the settlement.

A holding company behind an assisted living provider with about 50 small communities in Texas and Alabama has filed for chapter 11 protection, Senior Housing News reported. The company, CP Holdings LLC, owns or partially owns 50 subsidiaries operating 24-suite assisted living communities in rural markets, 10 of which operate facilities under the Country Place Senior Living brand, according to the June 20 filing. Also included in the bankruptcy filing is Pacrim, a six-employee CP Holdings subsidiary that aids with strategy, operations and finances as well as accounting and development. CP Holdings’ current liabilities total just over $83 million, with the majority owed to Hong Kong-based lender Tor Asia Credit Master Fund LP. CP Holdings has proposed selling its assets to Tor under a stalking-horse sale.