The following comes to us from the Law & Economics Center at Scalia Law.
The Law & Economics Center at Scalia Law to Hold Virtual Panel Discussion Analyzing Reforms to the Bankruptcy Code and Examining Case Law Developments in Mass Tort Bankruptcies Next Week
On Friday, March 18, 2022, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST, the Law & Economics Center at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School will host a virtual event entitled Bankruptcy and Mass Torts: Examining the Economics, Purposes, and Structure of Bankruptcy Law in Light of Developments in Congress and the Courts. A panel of experts will address the questions and concerns facing Congress as it debates reforms to the Bankruptcy Code and discuss case law developments.
The time-tested law that has developed under the United States Bankruptcy Code creates a sophisticated set of rules, structures, and procedures to preserve value in distressed businesses to protect stakeholders and maximize the return to creditors. Recent uses of legal mechanisms to take advantage of Chapter 11 and other provisions of the Code—including corporate restructuring and divisional mergers by companies facing liabilities from mass tort litigation—have drawn criticism in Congress and challenges in court.
Are these filings employing useful mechanisms to maximize the intended economic benefits of the Bankruptcy Code, or are they abuses of process? How do these bankruptcies affect litigants’ rights to recover? Are safeguards in the Bankruptcy Code and corporate law sufficient to control fraud, or are reforms necessary? Is there a problem with the Code that needs solving? What are the unintended consequences of tinkering with the Bankruptcy Code? These are questions facing Congress as it debates reforms to the Bankruptcy Code and for courts determining whether to allow bankruptcies to proceed under these circumstances.
To take part in the virtual discussion, register here. The panelists: Anthony Casey (Deputy Dean and Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, The University of Chicago Law School), Alexandra Lahav (Ellen Ash Peters Professor of Law, University of Connecticut School of Law), Samir Parikh (Professor of Law, Lewis & Clark Law School), and Lindsey Simon (Assistant Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law). The panel will be moderated by Donald J. Kochan (Professor of Law and Deputy Executive Director, Law & Economics Center, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School).