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3M Co., facing more than 200,000 lawsuits accusing it of harming soldiers with defective combat earplugs, opened a new round of mediation yesterday overseen by the same federal judge the industrial conglomerate has been feuding with since July, Bloomberg News reported. The company blames U.S. District Court Judge M. Casey Rodgers for letting a multibillion-dollar legal problem become so intractable that one of 3M’s units filed bankruptcy in a failed effort to get the suits away from her. Rodgers accuses 3M of trying to undermine the biggest multi-district litigation (MDL) in U.S. history and pledged to investigate the company’s motives. The unusual legal feud will hang over two days of negotiations led by a mediator in Florida who was appointed by Rodgers just seven weeks after she questioned whether 3M made a good faith effort in a previous round of failed mediation. Refusing to negotiate in good faith during a court proceeding can lead to sanctions. Judge Rodgers, based in Pensacola, Fla., and 3M both declined to comment on the conflict. The company reiterated its view that the lawsuits should be resolved by a different federal judge in Indianapolis, where a key 3M unit is based. Rodgers is preparing hundreds of thousands of suits for trials across the U.S. in which 3M would face claims it sold faulty earplugs to soldiers, causing hearing damage. Losses in 10 test trials already have resulted in $300 million in jury awards and tens of millions more in legal fees.

Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc., the biggest electricity co-op in Texas, won bankruptcy-court approval to poll its creditors on a $1.4 billion compromise over allegedly exorbitant power purchases during the extreme winter storm that hit the state last year, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The proposed settlement would ease the burden on Brazos and its member cooperatives from the storm-related bills that drove it into chapter 11. Brazos has been fighting the nearly $1.9 billion invoice it received from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or Ercot, saying the Texas grid operator overcharged for electricity after winter storm Uri, which knocked out power to millions for days and spiked electricity prices. Power generators including Calpine Corp. and NRG Energy Inc. that sold electricity to Brazos would have two choices under the settlement plan. They could collect from Brazos in full over 30 years or opt for quicker payments by taking on average a discount of nearly 24 cents on the dollar on their invoices. Brazos would make up front payments totaling over $1.15 billion to Ercot, the state’s clearinghouse for buying and selling electricity, to distribute to generators still owed money from bills the co-op incurred during the winter storm. In addition Brazos would make 12 payments annually of up to $13.8 million each and hand over a portion of the $116 million in proceeds from the sale of its generation assets, according to court documents filed on Tuesday. Judge David Jones of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston will take up approval of the chapter 11 plan in November, he said at a court hearing. The judge on Tuesday authorized Brazos to solicit votes from creditors on the restructuring plan, and the plan is expected to become effective by Dec. 30 if approved.

An independent examiner will probe the digital asset holdings of Celsius Network LLC, a further sign of the intense scrutiny the crypto lender is facing in bankruptcy, Bloombergs News reported. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in a hearing yesterday signed off on a request to appoint an examiner in the case. The move originated with an arm of the Justice Department that oversees bankruptcy court, which has repeatedly called for heightened transparency during the insolvency proceedings. The examiner will, among other things, look into how Celsius stores its crypto and whether various account types are commingled, court papers show. The examiner has not yet been selected. The scope of the examination was pared down following discussions between the US Trustee and lawyers for Celsius creditors. Lawyers for the crypto lender’s official committee of unsecured creditors worried that a broad examination would duplicate work already being done by the committee, wasting time and money, Greg Pesce of White & Case said on behalf of the group in the hearing. The creditor committee is already undertaking a wide-ranging investigation of the company and its officers, including whether Celsius or Chief Executive Officer Alex Mashinsky engaged in any misconduct in the run-up to the bankruptcy. The group has begun engaging with Mashinsky and is receiving information about his withdrawals from the platform, Pesce said.

Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan said yesterday he has received threats related to the bankruptcy of a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary he is overseeing, with some messages suggesting that the case is an effort to "cover up" harms allegedly caused by J&J's talc products, Reuters reported. Judge Kaplan said at a hearing that he and his staff have been getting angry and menacing messages through phone calls, voicemails, emails and social media posts since his February decision not to dismiss the bankruptcy case of LTL Management LLC. J&J created the subsidiary in October, assigned its talc liabilities to it and put it in bankruptcy a few days later, in an attempt to resolve approximately 38,000 lawsuits alleging that its Baby Powder and other talc products caused mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. J&J, which has denied the allegations and said that its products are safe, did not immediately return a request for comment. Judge Kaplan did not say how many threats the court had received or who they were from, but cited a specific tweet from August which called him a "murder cover upper" and included a vague threat that "your day is coming" as an example. The judge said that he admired "the zealous advocacy on emotionally charged issues" from the lawyers on the case, but asked them to "have awareness about the words" they use, cautioning them that overheated rhetoric can invite harassment and undermine the court system. Judge Kaplan pointed to a recent court filing from plaintiffs' attorneys that said the bankruptcy court's jurisdiction is "not for sale," saying it unfairly implied he has personally benefited from LTL's bankruptcy.

The U.S. Justice Department's bankruptcy watchdog said on Monday that a law firm and chief restructuring officer hired by Infowars' parent company failed to disclose they were working for the business at the same time they represented other Infowars affiliates during an earlier chapter 11 case, MarketWatch.com reported. U.S. Trustee Kevin Epstein said in court filings that the law firm Shannon & Lee LLP and proposed CRO W. Marc Schwartz failed to disclose the dual representations in retention applications in the first bankruptcy which involved corporate affiliates holding Infowars intellectual property. During the first bankruptcy, both professionals also represented Infowars parent Free Speech Systems LLC which was not in chapter 11 at-the-time, the U.S. Trustee said. The earlier Infowars bankruptcy was dismissed and FSS subsequently filed chapter 11 in July. Epstein said the judge overseeing FSS' chapter 11 case should deny Shannon & Lee and Mr. Schwartz's requests to be retained in the current bankruptcy case because they failed to comply with chapter 11 disclosure rules meant to weed-out potential conflicts of interest when they didn't disclose their connection to FSS in the first Infowars bankruptcy. Epstein said that the judge should deny the retention applications "to protect the integrity of the bankruptcy system."

A lawyer for families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting told a Connecticut jury on Tuesday that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will never stop profiting off destructive falsehoods unless he pays for the lies he told about the massacre, Reuters reported. The lawyer, Christopher Mattei, made his assessment during opening statements at a trial being held in a state court about 20 miles from where 20 children and six staff members were killed on Dec. 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jurors will decide how much in damages Jones owes 13 family members of victims as well as one FBI agent for claiming the massacre was a hoax. Jones' trial in Waterbury, Conn., comes one month after a jury in Austin, Texas, awarded two parents $49.3 million in a similar case. Infowars is based in Texas. Mattei told jurors it was important to stop Jones and his right-wing Infowars brand from "preying on people who are helpless" and encouraging years of harassment from Jones' followers. He said Infowars drew millions of followers with bogus claims about Sandy Hook, and made as much as $800,000 a day selling supplements, doomsday supplies and other products.

Endo International plc sued hundreds of state and local governments on Friday, seeking a ruling that their lawsuits accusing the company of helping fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic must be paused during the pharmaceutical company's bankruptcy, Reuters reported. In a filing in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Endo said if those lawsuits are allowed to continue, the company will not be able to focus on successfully completing its restructuring, including a comprehensive resolution of the opioid claims. Endo filed for chapter 11 protection on Aug. 17, seeking to address its high debt load and resolve more than 3,100 lawsuits accusing the company of deceptively marketing prescription opioids like Opana by downplaying the risk of addiction. Before filing for bankruptcy, Endo reached a $450 million settlement with more than 30 states to resolve the lawsuits, but it still faces litigation risk from state and local governments that have not agreed to participate in the settlement. Other state and local governments, including Florida and West Virginia, had previously settled their opioid claims against Endo.

The Boy Scouts of America secured approval of a $2.46 billion reorganization plan from a bankruptcy judge on Thursday that will allow the youth organization to exit chapter 11 and settle decades of claims by more than 80,000 men who say they were abused as children by troop leaders, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in Wilmington, Del., signed off on the restructuring plan after the Boy Scouts made changes to address portions of a previous settlement proposal she had rejected. The biggest change in the amended plan was the removal of a $250 million settlement payment from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which Judge Silverstein refused to approve. Judge Silverstein said that part of that settlement proposal went too far in attempting to protect the Mormon church from abuse claims that were only loosely connected to scouting activities. The Irving, Texas-based organization has said the reorganization will allow it to continue its scouting mission free from the threat of costly litigation.

E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. has agreed to pay $438.5 million to settle claims by 34 U.S. states and territories that it downplayed its products' risks and targeted underage buyers, several states announced yesterday, Reuters reported. As part of the settlement, Juul has agreed to refrain from some kinds of marketing, including the use of cartoons, product placement and depictions of users under 35. The deal stems from a two-year investigation led by Connecticut, Texas and Oregon. Juul, which has not admitted wrongdoing, called the settlement "a significant part of our ongoing commitment to resolve issues from the past," and said that the marketing restrictions were consistent with its practices since it undertook a "company-wide reset" in 2019. The company at that time pulled most flavors from the market and halted much of its advertising under pressure from regulators. Juul previously settled similar claims by Arizona, North Carolina, Louisiana and Washington. Some states, including New York, California, Massachusetts and Illinois, are continuing to pursue claims against Juul.