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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) yesterday approved the wildfire mitigation plan submitted by PG&E Corp., Reuters reported. PG&E sought chapter 11 protection in January after facing liabilities of more than $30 billion in the wake of Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire in recent times. The Camp Fire killed more than 85 people, destroyed over 14,600 houses, mobile homes and other housing units, according to California’s Department of Finance. Earlier in May, the company said that it could set up a $105 million housing fund for wildfire victims, after a judge overseeing the bankruptcy of the company approved a motion seeking permission to establish the fund.

A team of attorneys says it has identified more than 250 abusers connected to the Boy Scouts of America, as the organization considers filing for bankruptcy ahead of an expected rush of sexual-misconduct lawsuits, the Wall Street Journal reported. The alleged abusers aren’t named in the Boy Scout’s publicly available ineligible-volunteer files and may not be known to the organization, said Tim Kosnoff, who leads the legal team. The Boy Scouts add individuals to the ineligible-volunteer list based on known or suspected violations of its policies. Kosnoff said that the abusers they have identified victimized more than 400 boys or men, who are now aged 14- to 97-years-old, while they were members of the Boy Scouts. The abuse took place in 49 states and Puerto Rico from the 1950s to 2017, the lawyers said. The lawyers said that they were taking as many as 30 intake calls a day from potential new clients who say they were abused. “Nine out of 10 are identifying perpetrators who do not appear in the perversion files,” Kosnoff said, referring to the ineligible-volunteer files.

The bankruptcy court presiding over PG&E Corp.’s chapter 11 case denied California ratepayers’ attempt to gain a seat at the negotiating table as an official committee, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. In papers filed on Tuesday, Judge Dennis Montali ruled that ratepayers aren’t creditors and don’t need separate representation apart from the official committee of unsecured creditors or the official committee of tort claimants. At a hearing earlier in May, Cecily Dumas, the lead lawyer for the official committee of wildfire victims, told Judge Montali that customers fear PG&E’s bankruptcy will end in higher rates for electricity. Official committee status would entitle ratepayers to hire professionals and to send the bill to PG&E. In addition to its own lawyers and advisers, PG&E in bankruptcy is required to pay for lawyers and advisers for other official committees. PG&E damages from wildfires last year could prove to be higher than $30 billion, the fire victims have said in court papers. With more than $24 billion owed to bondholders, lenders and other creditors, PG&E might have to raise rates if it wants to emerge from chapter 11 with all its debts paid.

The first major test of whether states can hold drugmakers accountable for the opioid crisis is headed to an Oklahoma courtroom, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a trial starting today, lawyers for Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter will argue that the marketing practices of Johnson & Johnson are to blame for widespread drug addiction that has devastated the state. The case is the first to go to trial of around 2,000 lawsuits brought by states, local municipalities and Native American tribes against pharmaceutical companies over their alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic. The outcome is likely to help shape the sprawling litigation nationwide, as both sides look for a win to use as leverage in broader settlement talks. Hanging over the trial will be the absence of a company that initially formed the crux of the state’s case: OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP. The company and its owners, the Sacklers, agreed in March to pay $270 million to settle the claims and avoid trial.

Harvey Weinstein, women who accused him of sexual misconduct, his former film studio’s board members and the New York attorney general’s office have reached a tentative $44 million deal to resolve lawsuits and compensate alleged victims of the Hollywood producer, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Lawyers involved in the discussions told a bankruptcy judge that they had reached a deal but didn’t offer specific financial terms. “For the first time, as of yesterday…we now have an economic agreement in principle that is supported by the plaintiffs, the [New York attorney general’s] office, the defendants and all of the insurers,” said Adam Harris, a lawyer for studio co-founder Bob Weinstein, to Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Harris said that the agreement, which hasn’t been finalized, would provide significant compensation to Weinstein’s alleged victims as well as creditors that did business with Weinstein Co. before it filed for bankruptcy last year. The $44 million proposal includes about $30 million allocated for plaintiffs, a broad category that includes alleged victims, former Weinstein Co. employees and studio creditors, and would cover the plaintiffs’ lawyers fees.

Debt holders are placing all-or-nothing bets on junk bonds from drug makers embroiled in lawsuits over the opioid epidemic and price-fixing, Bloomberg News reported. The investors are taking advantage of sliding prices for notes issued by companies such as Endo International Plc, Mallinckrodt Plc and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which face allegations that they’ve fueled the opioid epidemic, and that they’ve engaged in price-fixing of generic drugs. Mallinckrodt is also in a legal battle with the U.S. over a plan to slash reimbursements on Acthar, the company’s star drug. Some junior bonds are trading deep in junk territory, with credit raters warning that some Teva holders could get back only half of face value if there’s a default — or maybe nothing in Endo’s case. Notes of both companies slid in response to an expanded price-fixing lawsuit, with some trading at less than 80 and 70 cents on the dollar respectively, and Mallinckrodt’s 2023 notes slid to record intraday lows just above 60.

PG&E Corp. may set up a $105 million housing fund for victims of 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California, which set records for devastation and were blamed on the utility’s equipment, the judge overseeing the bankruptcy of the investor-owned power producer ruled on yesterday, Reuters reported. Creditors, which include wildfire victims, are fighting for funds as PG&E navigates bankruptcy stemming from the blazes and as the state plans for increasingly long and dangerous fire seasons its officials attribute to climate change. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali at a hearing approved a motion by PG&E seeking permission to establish the fund for people who lost homes in the fires and were uninsured or have used up or will exhaust their insurance. San Francisco-headquartered PG&E sought chapter 11 protection in January in the face of liabilities it estimated at over $30 billion in the aftermath of November’s Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire in modern times. The Camp Fire killed more than 85 people and destroyed more than 14,600 houses, mobile homes and other housing units, according to California’s Department of Finance.

The collapse last year of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge cost the university more than just a piece of its reputation: it says it has suffered $15.2 million in damages. And it was seeking in bankruptcy court to collect up to $5 million of that amount from an insurance policy held by its general contractor, Munilla Construction Management. But Wednesday the university announced in court it would relinquish any claim to that money, as long as all $5 million went to the pool of funds set aside for the victims of the collapse — the six who died and more than a dozen others who claim injuries, NBCMiami.com reported. In a statement, FIU said it made the decision "out of respect for the victims of the bridge collapse and their families. We believe this is the right course of action, because it will allow (them) to maximize their recovery and expedite the process of getting compensation to them." That means $42 million will now be available for the victims as part of MCM's liability for its role in the collapse. MCM, now called Magnum Construction Management, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, seeking to reorganize. It reported assets of just under $100 million, but 243 claims have been filed in the bankruptcy case totaling more than $287 million — and that amount does not include many claims for which no amount has been specified.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, determined that PG&E was culpable for the 2018 blazes that killed 85 people. Earlier this year, the company filed for bankruptcy after being mired in legal uncertainty from the incident. PG&E’s owners and lenders certainly ought to bear some burden, but future risks remain, and the utility’s chapter 11 filing exposes the weaknesses not only at the company but in the state of California, according to a Wall Street Journal commentary. While it is an easy scapegoat, the greater public interest is to put customers and the utility companies in a better spot, according to the commentary. Fairer liability laws, better city planning and a structure that shares the burden should be politicians’ focus.

Five U.S. states yesterday filed lawsuits accusing Purdue Pharma LP of illegally marketing and selling opioids, escalating the wave of litigation over a nationwide abuse epidemic, Reuters reported. Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin joined 39 states to file lawsuits targeting Purdue Pharma and its leaders, including former president Richard Sackler and his family. Officials accused Purdue Pharma of repeatedly making false and deceptive claims that opioids, including OxyContin, were safe for a wide range of patients seeking to reduce pain. “This is a bipartisan effort,” said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D). The lawsuits were announced six days after a North Dakota judge dismissed that state’s lawsuit accusing Purdue Pharma of overstating the benefits and trivializing the addiction risks of prolonged opioid use. North Dakota is expected to appeal. Purdue Pharma called the new lawsuits “misleading attacks,” and said that it will defend itself against them.