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Many survivors of fires caused by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) in 2017 and 2018 are still waiting for compensation from the multibillion-dollar fire victim trust that the company set up, PBS Newshour reported on Sunday, according to The Hill. PG&E filed for chapter 11 protection in 2020, placing about 70,000 claims from fire survivors into the U.S. bankruptcy system. Around half of the deal that was struck in 2019, however, is payable through PG&E stocks. Many of the victims impacted by the fires caused by PG&E reportedly still lack the funds to rebuild their lives, two or three years after the fires took place. In an effort to prevent future wildfires caused by power lines, PG&E announced last week that it would spend between $15 billion and $20 billion to bury about 10,000 miles of its power lines.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is bolstering efforts by Democratic lawmakers to stop the owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP from using the company’s bankruptcy to shield themselves from lawsuits blaming them for the opioid crisis, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Massachusetts Democrat is sponsoring a Senate bill set to be introduced next week that calls for prohibiting owners of bankrupt businesses or other individuals who haven’t filed personal bankruptcy from getting so-called nonconsensual third-party releases protecting them from litigation by government entities and private citizens. A companion bill in the House is also slated to be introduced next week. The type of legal protection the Sacklers seek has traditionally been available only to those filing for bankruptcy, Warren said. “If the Sacklers want to stop those lawsuits, they can file for bankruptcy just like normal people do when they’re overwhelmed by debts,” Warren said. “There is not one set of laws for everybody in this country and a special exception for rich people. The Sacklers are trying to get something special for themselves and I want to cut them off at the pass.” The Sacklers are offering to pay about $4.5 billion in exchange for protection from private lawsuits, as well as enforcement actions from states that oppose Purdue’s chapter 11 plan. The bankruptcy plan has the support of most creditor groups and more than 30 states but is opposed by a handful of other states, the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog. Members of the Sackler family have denied wrongdoing and have said their settlement is an important step to help those suffering from opioid addiction. Lawyers for the Sacklers have said in court papers that family members who served on Purdue’s board acted “lawfully and ethically” and have been unfairly accused of contributing to the opioid crisis.

On the day that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, N.Y., filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2019, Bishop Salvatore Matano renewed his apology to those who had suffered sexual abuse by priests or other church personnel, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. The volume of sexual abuse claims and the diocese's bankruptcy case are inextricably linked. Its chapter 11 filing came just a month after New York state opened a one-year legal window to file civil lawsuits for past instances of sexual abuse. Nearly two years have now passed since the Rochester diocese filed its chapter 11 petition with the diocese and victims still at an impasse. The deadline to file claims against the Diocese of Rochester came and went last August, but there have been few signs of any progress towards a resolution. Instead, the two main parties in the case have become deadlocked, filing a series of competing legal motions last month asking U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Warren to intervene and complaining that the other side was being unreasonable in the court-ordered mediation process. Last week, Judge Warren made it clear that he’d had enough. At the outset of a hearing conducted by telephone July 9, Warren noted that he’d read every word of the more than 1,000 pages of legal filings, urging the parties to keep their oral arguments brief. What followed was each side explaining in great detail why the other side was responsible for the lack of progress in mediation. A lawyer representing abuse survivors accused the diocese of trying to make “backroom deals” with insurance companies to limit the amount of money available to pay survivors. Another lawyer, representing the diocese, countered that the amount of money being sought was “out of the stratosphere” and “completely unrealistic.” Eventually, Judge Warren appeared to tire of the back and forth and interjected. Judge Warren made clear that he expected to see some significant progress in the short term, and that if he were called upon again to resolve a stalemate, it was likely that everyone would walk away unhappy. “The court wishes to remind the parties that if the path to non-consensual resolution persists, all parties are at risk for an unfavorable outcome,” Judge Warren said.

The cleanup and reclaiming of coal mines in seven Appalachian states will cost billions, and Kentucky and West Virginia have the largest bills coming due, according to an environmental group’s new report, the Associated Press reported. Total reclamation liability for the two states is between $4.1 and $5.8 billion, with less than half of that covered by existing bonds, according to estimates in the report by Appalachian Voices. Pennsylvania’s estimated liability is roughly identical to Kentucky’s, at $1.9 billion to $2.25 billion, although it has an advantage in that up to two-thirds of that liability is covered by bonds. Reclamation of coal sites typically includes improving the environment and reversing the damages of surface and underground mining. As the coal mining industry has declined over the last decade, corporate bankruptcies have increased, and “large-scale mine abandonment by several companies” has occurred in Kentucky and West Virginia, it said. The seven states, which also include Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia, have about 633,000 acres (256,000 hectares) in need of reclamation. Kentucky and West Virginia have about 400,000 of those acres (162,000 hectares), the report said. But an opportunity exists in the potential for thousands of reclamation jobs, the report said. The seven states have lost about 27,000 coal mining jobs over the last decade.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said he will oppose OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan, arguing that his state, one of the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, would get shorted in settlement money, the Associated Press reported. “I remain vigorously opposed to a proposed allocation formula that would distribute settlement funds largely based on a state or local government’s population — not intensity of the problem,” Morrisey said yesterday. Purdue’s plan to reorganize into a new entity that helps combat the U.S. opioid epidemic got a big boost last week as 15 states that had previously opposed the new business model gave their support. The agreement from multiple state attorneys general, including those who had most aggressively opposed Purdue’s original settlement proposal, was disclosed last Wednesday in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York. It followed weeks of intense mediations that resulted in changes to Purdue’s original exit plan.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday called on the Justice Department to investigate the National Rifle Association for bankruptcy fraud, saying the financially stable gun-rights group abused the system when it sought bankruptcy protection in the wake of a New York lawsuit seeking to put it out of business, the Associated Press reported. A judge rejected the NRA’s bankruptcy case in May, ruling the nonprofit organization had not acted in good faith. NRA leaders made clear that the organization was “in its strongest financial condition in years” and was seeking bankruptcy protection so it could changes its state of incorporation from New York to gun-friendly Texas. Schumer said that the NRA’s continued heavy spending on advertising criticizing proposed gun control measures and the nomination of gun control lobbyist David Chipman to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives are further evidence that its bankruptcy filing was inspired by legal, not financial, concerns. “They recently told the judicial branch of government that they are bankrupt after the lawsuit by Tish James, and at the same time they’re saying they’re bankrupt, they’re spending millions of dollars on ads to stop universal background checks,” Schumer said, referencing New York Attorney General Letitia James. “That demands an investigation by the Justice Department.” The Justice Department declined comment.

Sharity Ministries Inc., a medical-cost-sharing nonprofit for Christians, has filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to keep operating amid accusations by state authorities that it deceived consumers by running a sham health-insurance business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The nonprofit said that it would use bankruptcy to break many of its contracts with Aliera Cos., which provides administrative, marketing, sales and other services to Sharity, according to papers filed Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Aliera is also under investigation by state authorities for allegedly evading insurance regulations. Sharity operates a healthcare sharing ministry that covers certain medical expenses submitted by its roughly 10,000 members from voluntary contributions made by other members, according to court papers. In October, New York state accused Aliera and Sharity of running a sham insurance business in a manner designed to evade regulation. Although Aliera and Sharity say they aren’t health insurers and don’t guarantee the payment of claims, they advertise in New York as healthcare alternatives, state officials said. A hearing on the New York matter is scheduled for this fall. Sharity has said that it pays a medical expense if it deems the request eligible and if there are enough member contributions to cover that expense. Regulators in California, New Jersey, Texas and Georgia are also investigating Sharity, according to court papers.

A bankruptcy judge has set a July 29 hearing on the proposed $850 million settlement agreement the Irving, Texas-based Boy Scouts of America has with attorneys representing some 60,000 victims of child sex abuse, giving insurance companies and others who oppose it more time to weigh in, the Associated Press reported. The agreement was reached last week by attorneys for the Boy Scouts, abuse victims, local Boy Scouts councils and lawyers appointed to represent victims who might file future claims. The Boy Scouts had wanted the hearing to take place on July 20 in front of Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein, but at a status hearing she pushed the settlement hearing back to later in the month. Attorneys who represent insurance companies, thousands of other abuse victims and local scout sponsoring organizations such as churches said that they needed more time to gather information about the agreement and file objections. The Boy Scouts of America sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020, moving to halt hundreds of lawsuits by men who were molested as youngsters decades ago by scoutmasters or other leaders. The filing was intended to try to reach a global resolution of abuse claims and create a compensation fund for victims. But attorneys for the organization have been unable to reach agreement with all the parties involved in the case to allow the 111-year-old organization to continue operating.

More than a dozen states have dropped their longstanding objections to OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s reorganization plan, edging the company closer to resolving its bankruptcy case and transforming itself into a new entity that helps combat the U.S. opioid epidemic through its own profits, the Associated Press reported. The agreement from multiple state attorneys general, including those who had most aggressively opposed Purdue’s original settlement proposal, was disclosed late Wednesday night in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. It followed weeks of intense mediations that resulted in changes to Purdue’s original exit plan. The new settlement terms call for Purdue to make tens of millions of internal documents public, a step several attorneys general, including those for Massachusetts and New York, had demanded as a way to hold the company accountable. Attorneys general for both states were among the 15 who agreed to the new plan, joining about half the states that had previously approved it. Nine states and the District of Columbia did not sign on. Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as a way to settle about 3,000 lawsuits it faced from state and local governments and other entities. They claimed the company’s continued marketing of its powerful prescription painkiller contributed to a crisis that has been linked to nearly 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.

The Boy Scouts of America's insurers will have more time to build their opposition to the youth organization’s proposed settlement with tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children by group leaders, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in Wilmington, Del. said during a virtual hearing yesterday that she will push back a preliminary July 20 court hearing on the deal to July 29, giving insurers that could be on the hook for claims coverage more time to prepare their case against the deal. The delay, though only a little more than a week, could cause the Boy Scouts to push back their eventual exit from bankruptcy, which the organization had previously hoped to do by the end of the summer. The organization filed for chapter 11 protection in February 2020 in an attempt to resolve nearly 300 sex abuse lawsuits. Last week, the Boy Scouts reached a deal with representatives of approximately 60,000 sex abuse claimants. Insurers say that the settlement validates, and requires insurance coverage for tens of thousands of claims without proper vetting. They have repeatedly accused the Boy Scouts’ lawyers of leaving them out of critical mediation sessions that led to the deal with survivor groups. The Boy Scouts’ attorneys have denied that allegation.