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Purdue Pharma LLP said that its decision on whether to file for bankruptcy to avoid being swamped by opioid lawsuits doesn’t depend on the timing of the first trial over its role in the public-health crisis, Bloomberg News reported. A judge in Oklahoma Friday refused Purdue’s, Johnson & Johnson’s and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s requests to push back a May trial of Oklahoma officials’ suit seeking to recover as much as $25 billion in current and future costs of dealing with the opioid epidemic. The makers of opioid-based painkillers said pre-trial information exchanges have bogged down and there’s no way they can be ready to face a state court jury in Norman, Oklahoma by May 28. Judge Thad Balkman rebuffed companies’ request, saying the case needed to move forward. Balkman also denied the companies’ request to stay the trial while they asked the state’s appellate courts to review his ruling. Purdue executives said on Friday that the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office has failed to turn over thousands of documents needed for trial and that “unfairly prejudiced Purdue’s ability to adequately prepare our defenses,” said Robert Josephson, a company spokesman.

The judge presiding over the Archdiocese of Agana bankruptcy case is questioning the legal fees sought by an attorney who specializes in extracting maximum settlements from insurance companies, the Guam Daily Post reported. Ford Elsaesser, the bankruptcy attorney for the Archdiocese of Agana, asked the court for approval to hire James Murray of the Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome LLP during a motions hearing Friday in the District Court of Guam. Murray leads Blank Rome's insurance recovery practice. His normal fee is $1,025 an hour. He has agreed to provide a 25 percent discount if he is hired to recover damages from the insurance companies who provide liability coverage for the archdiocese. That would bring his rate down to $755 an hour. Legal fees on Guam generally range from $150 to $300 an hour. "When I first saw those fees, I was shocked," said Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood of the District Court of Guam. She said this is not New York City, "that's way too much money." Elsaesser acknowledged that Murray's rates are "substantially" above local legal fees, but he said Murray's "specialty is unique." Edwin Caldie, the attorney for the unsecured creditors' committee, said that the victims are aware of the fees and comfortable with the choice of Murray. The committee represents the victims and they have the right to challenge any settlement agreements. However, Tydingco-Gatewood expressed concern about the precedent, saying that the rate she agrees to "could change the landscape" for legal fees on Guam. The judge took the matter under advisement and said she would issue her decision next week.

State pension funds have historically taken stands against controversial industries, like firearms and tobacco, sometimes divesting their investments to push companies to act. But in the opioid crisis, which has generated hundreds of lawsuits seeking to hold manufacturers and distributors accountable, the funds have mostly stayed on the sideline so far, Bloomberg News reported. Some of the biggest ones, including New York and California pension funds, hold investments in Endo International, the largest maker of opioids after privately held Purdue Pharma LP. Even in West Virginia, which has been racked by opioid-related deaths, the state pension fund has a $1.8 million equity stake in Endo. The opioid investments, to be sure, are tiny relative to the funds’ overall assets. And pension fund members may not know they are invested in the opioid industry. Many fund investments are held through indexes, which are passive vehicles, said Keith Brainard, research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. The New York State Teachers’ Retirement System, which manages about $122 billion, holds $3.1 million in Endo stock, about 75 percent through passively held indexes, a spokesperson said. Funds including California’s and New York’s say they generally oppose divesting from controversial companies because it doesn’t change corporate behavior. Instead, they say they try to engage with management through activist measures. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, CalSTRS, has been active with a group called Investors for Opioid Accountability, which represents 54 institutions. New York’s fund said it has asked opioid manufacturers to address potential financial, legal and reputational risks.

PG&E Corp. is asking a bankruptcy judge for permission to award as much as $235 million in performance bonuses to thousands of its workers after canceling similar incentive payments last year, Bloomberg News reported. PG&E wants court approval for its short-term incentive plan that covers employees who, under the 2019 plan, would be awarded bonuses if the San Francisco utility meets performance goals tied to safety and financial performance, according to a filing on Wednesday. Senior executives wouldn’t be eligible for the incentives, PG&E said. The company estimated a total bonus target of about $235 million, but listed an “aggregate maximum payout” of about $350 million. “The 2019 plan was formulated to provide continued market-based compensation and appropriate incentives for participating employees,” PG&E said on Wednesday, adding that safety accounts for 50 percent of employee performance measurements in this year’s incentive plan.

The contractor for a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University that collapsed is plotting a return to the construction business while negotiating a bankruptcy settlement fund for those killed or injured in the accident, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Magnum Construction Management LLC entered chapter 11 last week after the bridge collapse last March set off a federal investigation, sparked 18 personal injury and wrongful-death lawsuits and cost the company $200 million in project revenue. Company lawyer Jordi Guso said during MCM’s initial appearance yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami that the contractor was optimistic it could negotiate a settlement to the lawsuits, regain certifications and once again bid for construction work. While those lawsuits are now paused by the bankruptcy, Guso said that MCM would participate in a mediation scheduled for March 20 in an effort to reach a global settlement.

A federal judge is clamping down on PG&E Corp.’s safety practices and expanding oversight of the bankrupt utility, which is facing an estimated $30 billion in damages from wildfires sparked by its electrical lines, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. U.S. District Judge William Alsup didn’t put a dollar figure on what he’s requiring of PG&E if it wants to get back in compliance with the terms of probation for a criminal conviction growing out of an explosion in 2010. In an order filed in federal court in San Francisco, he indicated he would not require safety practices the company had warned could cost upward of $75 billion. Instead, Judge Alsup is requiring PG&E to make good on its own 2019 wildfire safety plan, a set of programs the company estimated will cost between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion. He did, however, tell PG&E to expect surprise inspections from Mark Filip, a court-appointed monitor charged with reporting on its safety practices. Filip has been watching over PG&E’s natural gas lines. If Judge Alsup’s proposed probation modifications take effect, PG&E’s electrical lines and vegetation management also will be part of his oversight mandate.

The Food and Drug Administration warned yesterday that it had found asbestos in cosmetics sold by Claire’s, a retailer that markets jewelry and makeup to teenagers, and urged consumers not to use the products, the New York Times reported. Consumer claims of asbestos, a known carcinogen, in some Claire’s cosmetics were reported in 2017. The company withdrew products from store shelves but did not recall them. The FDA, which received its test results in February, said that Claire’s refused to recall the products. The agency issued a safety alert urging consumers not to use certain eye shadows, compact powders and contour palettes. The regulator’s test results “show significant errors,” Claire’s said in a statement, adding that the items identified by the FDA had been “extensively tested by multiple independent accredited laboratories” in early 2018 and were found to follow safety regulations. The retailer filed for chapter 11 protection last March and emerged in October after shedding $1.9 billion of debt.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the state will “vigorously and aggressively” pursue its lawsuit against Stamford-based Purdue Pharma following a report that the maker of OxyContin is considering bankruptcy, the Hartford Courant reported. Filing for Chapter 11 protection would put a hold on all litigation against Purdue, including the lawsuit filed by Connecticut that challenges the drug company’s aggressive marketing of dangerous opioids. Tong confirmed that a bankruptcy filing by the company that made and marketed the world’s top-selling painkiller could complicate the state’s effort to pursue a legal case alleging Purdue’s aggressive marketing contributed to the deadly opioid crisis. "A bankruptcy filing include[s] stays of proceedings and follow[s] a very different set of rules than civil litigation," Tong said. “If they choose to go down that road, we will fight tooth and nail to make sure it’s not an impediment to us, to make sure Purdue Pharma pays for the tremendous damage done to people of our state.” In Connecticut, 1,038 people died of accidental drug overdoses in 2017, mainly opioids. From 2013 to 2016, the state experienced a fourfold increase in deaths from opioid overdoses.

PG&E Corp investor BlueMountain Capital Management LLC on Friday named 13 people it hopes to install as directors at the embattled power utility weeks after the company filed for bankruptcy in the wake of California’s catastrophic wildfires, Reuters reported. The hedge fund’s group of director nominees includes an expert in resolving victim claims, a former treasurer of the state of California, a prominent hedge fund manager, and people with banking and energy industry expertise. BlueMountain, which owns roughly 8 million PG&E shares, in January announced plans for a proxy contest, criticizing the company for filing for chapter 11 protection, a move it called unnecessary and harmful to investors. The company and the hedge fund have been talking and last week agreed to extended the deadline to nominate directors to Friday. PG&E said on Friday that it has had a “constructive dialogue” with shareholders and stakeholders.

The contractor that built a pedestrian bridge that collapsed and killed six people last year in Miami is filing for bankruptcy protection, the Associated Press reported. Miami-based Munilla Construction Management said in a press release on Saturday that the chapter 11 filing was not an attempt to escape responsibility that might arise for the March 15 collapse. It said that the company plans to resolve the claims as part of the debt restructuring process. The investigation into the bridge collapse continues, but a report released in November found design flaws that overestimated the strength of a critical section in the Florida International University bridge. Cracks were documented in the weeks before the collapse, but investigators have not blamed those errors for the collapse. The company is being sued by survivors and victims' families.