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Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger took the helm as apostolic administrator of the Buffalo (N.Y.) Diocese when former Bishop Richard J. Malone resigned in December and immediately pledged that the diocese would be more transparent in dealing with abuse survivors. But plaintiffs claim that under Scharfenberger, the diocese has continued trying to conceal information that could be helpful to abuse victims, the Buffalo News reported. They pointed to the diocese’s chapter 11 filing on Feb. 28, which put on hold more than 250 lawsuits in State Supreme Court, outraging many plaintiffs who said that they had sued to force the diocese to reveal documents and answer for its handling of abusive priests. Even prior to the bankruptcy, the diocese’s lawyers fought for weeks in State Supreme Court against the release of more than 1,000 pages of confidential documents from the personnel files of two priests who have been accused in more than a dozen lawsuits. A judge eventually ordered the diocese to hand them over, but only to attorney J. Michael Hayes, who had filed motions to get the material. Justice Deborah A. Chimes, at the request of the diocese's lawyers, ordered Hayes not to share the documents. Scharfenberger has defended the bankruptcy filing, saying it was the only way to settle equitably so many lawsuits and continue the church’s mission. He said the move was not an effort to limit discovery in the lawsuits, and he said on the day of the bankruptcy filing that he will do “everything possible” to make documents available to victims “for whom it will be helpful in their process of healing.” Diocese spokesman Greg Tucker last week reiterated Scharfenberger’s intent, saying that the bishop wanted to give people who brought claims access to “essential information” in priest personnel files, to the extent he can without violating confidentiality laws.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has agreed to drop his objections to a $20 billion financing package to lift PG&E Corp. out of bankruptcy, responding to concerns about how California’s largest utility will fare in turbulent financial markets, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The judge overseeing PG&E Corp.’s bankruptcy said yesterday that he would approve the financing package, which allows the company to raise $9 billion in new equity and $10.8 billion in new debt to dig itself out of chapter 11. Newsom has been a staunch critic of PG&E’s bankruptcy exit strategy, saying that it would bind the utility to pay excessive fees to big investment firms for a turnaround plan he has found unacceptable. But “given where the markets are,” Newsom agreed to not block the exit financing, his lawyer Matthew Hinker said at a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco.

Two dozen state attorneys general are trying to end bankruptcy protections for Purdue Pharma LP’s controlling Sackler family, saying that shielding them from lawsuits during settlement talks sends the wrong message about the justice system, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. California, New York and 22 other states filed court papers in Purdue’s bankruptcy case seeking permission to resume lawsuits against nine members of the Sackler family who own the opioid manufacturer. Protecting the family members, who haven’t declared bankruptcy themselves, gives the impression “that wealthy people can avoid having to answer for alleged wrongdoing,” according to a Thursday court filing. Those lawsuits have been on hold since October, when the judge overseeing the chapter 11 proceedings extended to the family the same shield against litigation that Purdue got automatically when it filed for bankruptcy. “Our family continues to believe that the bankruptcy reorganization process is the most efficient and effective way to reach a resolution that delivers critical resources to the individuals, families and communities most in need,” a Sackler spokesperson said. Purdue has proposed a settlement of thousands of lawsuits from states, local governments and Native American tribes accusing the company of helping fuel drug addiction through misleading marketing of its flagship opioid, OxyContin.

Bankruptcy Judge Robyn L. Moberly this week criticized a proposed USA Gymnastics financial settlement with the survivors of Larry Nassar that would release the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee from all current and future claims related to Nassar’s sexual abuse of young athletes, the Orange County (Calif.) Register reported. Judge Moberly at a hearing on Monday expressed her displeasure with the proposed settlement that would release the USOPC from liability without paying anything to survivors. USA Gymnastics, facing hundreds of lawsuit related to the sexual abuse of Nassar, the former U.S. Olympic and women’s national team physician, Don Peters, a former U.S. Olympic team coach, and Marvin Sharp, a former U.S. national team coach, and others, filed for protection under chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy in December 2018.The USOPC is named in many of those suits. USA Gymnastics has proposed $217-million settlement is part of a reorganization plan filed with the court earlier this year. A 77-page disclosure statement related to the settlement proposal states that if the 517 Nassar survivors would agree to release “any and all claims arising from or related to Abuse Claims or Future Claims.” In addition to the USOPC, the settlement proposal also calls for the release of former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny, Peters, former U.S. national team directors Bela and Martha Karolyi, five Karolyi-related businesses, 2012 Olympic coach John Geddert, former USA Gymnastics senior vice president Rhonda Faehn, former USA Gymnastics board chairman Paul Parilla, former USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi, former USA Gymnastics national teams manager Amy White, former USA Gymnastics sports medicine official Debra Van Horn and the All Olympia Gymnastics Center in Southern California.

The attorney representing a creditors committee of clergy abuse survivors told a judge this week that it may seek standing in the case to challenge the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s (N.M.) movement of assets before it filed for bankruptcy, the Albuquerque Journal. “The committee is ready to move forward on standing motions to avoid fraudulent conveyances that we believe occurred when the archdiocese corporately reorganized,” James Stang, a Los Angeles-based attorney representing the committee, said on Monday. Parties in the chapter 11 case were in court on Monday updating a federal bankruptcy judge on the status of mediation. In court filings, the committee said that offers and counteroffers have been exchanged, but the archdiocese and creditors have not been able to reach an agreement on the terms of a reorganization plan. A third mediation session is scheduled for next week. One impediment they’ve discovered, the committee says, is a move by the archdiocese before filing for bankruptcy to incorporate all of its parishes and to transfer substantial property to a real estate trust of which the archdiocese and parishes are beneficiaries. A substantial amount of money was also moved into a trust.

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison after breaking his courtroom silence with a rambling plea for mercy in which he professed to be “totally confused” by the #MeToo movement that spelled the Hollywood producer’s downfall, the Associated Press reported. His accusers — those who testified against him and many others who have spoken out elsewhere against the former Hollywood mogul — hailed the near-maximum punishment for his rape and criminal sex act convictions as long overdue. Weinstein, who arrived at the courthouse yesterday in a wheelchair and was taken to a hospital after complaining of chest pains hours after the court hearing, could spend the rest of his life behind bars. He faced a minimum of five years and a maximum of 29 years in prison.

PG&E Corp. has come to terms with federal and state first responders, who have agreed they won’t take money set aside for victims of the wildfires that drove California’s largest utility into bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Announced at a hearing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco, the utility’s agreements with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and state agencies clear up a major trouble spot for PG&E, which is racing to meet a June 30 deadline to emerge from bankruptcy. PG&E filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2019 and is proposing a $59 billion bankruptcy exit plan, which earmarks $25.5 billion for insurance companies, cities and people with damages stemming from fires linked to PG&E equipment. As Judge Dennis Montali weighed the company’s bid for approval to start the voting process on the plan, lawyers announced the agreements with FEMA and California agencies. Due to the agreements, people who lost loved ones, homes and businesses to the blazes of 2017 and 2018 will no longer have to worry that they will be forced to share with government emergency services the $13.5 billion earmarked for fire victims under PG&E’s proposed chapter 11 plan. California is dropping its claims to recoup about $300 million it spent on firefighting and emergency services, while FEMA has agreed to chop its claim from $3.9 billion to $1 billion. Additionally, FEMA has agreed it will only attempt to collect after all individual victims are paid in full from the $13.5 billion.

A settlement between the Diocese of New Ulm, Minn., and sexual abuse survivors has been approved, KTSP.com reported. The $34 million settlement deal was presented in a Brown County courtroom yesterday. The diocese filed for bankruptcy after 93 people claimed they were sexually abused by priests and others in the church. According to a statement from the bishop, funds for the settlement come from $26 million in diocesan and parish insurance coverage, $7 million in cash contributions from the diocese and a total of $1 million contributed by all parishes within the diocese, including parishes with no claims against them. Another important part of the settlement is the names of priests who have been credibly accused of abusing children are now public.

A key document PG&E filed with state regulators shows its plan to resolve the case and pay victims of fires its power lines caused comes with a price tag of $57.65 billion, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The exit plan would be funded partly by PG&E raising more than $44 billion in new financing. State law requires PG&E to resolve its bankruptcy without raising rates. Most of the financing, about $28.5 billion, would come through new debt held at the company and subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Co. “This ... will be the largest capital raise in the utility industry and one of the largest in corporate history,” said Jason Wells, chief financial officer of PG&E Corp., when he was questioned on Feb. 28 at a public hearing before the California Public Utilities Commission. The comments from Wells were among many insights revealed when PG&E executives and others spent seven business days, from Feb. 25 through Wednesday, answering questions at the utilities commission’s office in San Francisco. The hearings were an essential step related to PG&E’s bankruptcy, because state regulators must sign off on the company’s plan to resolve the case. The bankruptcy exit plan would, if finalized, fund more than $25 billion in settlements related to fires blamed on PG&E, including the 2017 Wine Country wildfires and the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County.

PG&E Corp. has unveiled a proposal to pay employees up to nearly $454 million through 2022 under incentive plans that include most of its senior executives, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Ahead of a planned exit from chapter 11 protection later this year, PG&E filed papers on Wednesday saying that the compensation plans are “designed to incentivize all eligible PG&E employees to perform in line with key goals of the enterprise.” The bankrupt California utility is proposing a short-term incentive plan that would provide up to $266 million for roughly 10,000 employees, including senior executives, and a long-term incentive plan worth up to $187.8 million solely for 400 of its most senior executives. The judge presiding over PG&E’s bankruptcy has separately approved a compensation package covering Chief Executive William D. Johnson. After wildfires linked to PG&E equipment swept California starting in 2017, the company, faced with criticism, scrapped a 2018 bonus plan. Incentive compensation for most of the top brass was also temporarily suspended in 2019 after PG&E filed for chapter 11 protection, though an incentive package for 2019 later received court approval.