On December 9, 2022, Davis Polk Restructuring co-head Marshall Huebner spoke at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2022 Winter Leadership Conference. In the opening plenary “Great Debates” session, he debated a retired bankruptcy judge about whether bankruptcy courts have the authority to approve nonconsensual releases of direct claims held by third parties against nondebtors.

The debate was highlighted in a Debtwire article titled “American Bankruptcy Institute’s winter leadership conference poll shows most agree bankruptcy courts have authority to approve nonconsensual third-party releases.” The article quoted a number of Marshall’s arguments, including that more than “85 decisions going back 31 years have endorsed third-party releases in rare but appropriate circumstances. No court in history has held, in the mass tort context, that a third-party release is not appropriate under the Bankruptcy Code” and noted that he prevailed at the debate by a wide margin – with final votes being approximately 70%/30% in his favor.

For more information, please visit the event website.

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