Cyprus Mines and its insurers sparred before a Delaware bankruptcy judge Wednesday over the appointment of a future claims representative in the talc miner's Chapter 11 case, with the insurers arguing a candidate endorsed by the company and current tort claimants would lack independence.
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WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) - A former employee of a firm that processed thousands of sexual-abuse claims submitted to the court overseeing the bankruptcy of the Boy Scouts says recruiters were offered bonuses to sign up claimants and sometimes changed their forms to make the claims more viable, though a lawyer and part-owner of the company calls her claims completely unbelievable.
The statement was included in a filing by Century Insurance objecting to a plan in which the Scouts would pay $1,500 each to claimants who vote in favor of its plan of reorganization. The group’s insurers have accused plaintiff lawyers of trying to hijack the bankruptcy process by recruiting more than 95,000 abuse claimants to flood the court with claims and overwhelm other creditors.
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Tort Claimants Can t Alter Committee Makeup In Cyprus Ch. 11
Law360 (May 18, 2021, 4:08 PM EDT) A Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday denied a request by a group of talc personal injury claimants to change the makeup of the tort claimants committee in Cyprus Mines Corp. s Chapter 11, saying she did not see any conflicts of interest involving its current members.
While U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein expressed concern that committee members may be delegating their responsibilities to their counsel, the fact that those attorneys also represent parties involved in the creation of a settlement with Cyprus parent Imerys Talc America does not in and of itself create a conflict of interest, she ruled.