Historically, courts have respected the view that filing for bankruptcy is a well-recognized way for a business to respond when the claims of creditors, including those bringing lawsuits, threaten the viability of that business. This is especially true in cases of mass tort liability. The bankruptcy process provides a fair and efficient way to resolve both current and future claims.
Plaintiffs' lawyers are aggressively pushing the message that the bankruptcy process isn't fair, and reforms are needed to exempt some lawsuits from the bankruptcy process. Why the opposition? The simple fact is that trial lawyers often benefit from the worst abuses of our legal system. They want to generate as much leverage for themselves as possible, and bankruptcy court stands in their way. Their motivation is largely self-serving: plaintiffs’ lawyers stand to earn millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees should mass tort litigation be allowed to continue.
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