Going for Broke

Corporate scandals bring down companies. But wealthy firms and their executives use the bankruptcy system to kill lawsuits over sexual abuse and deadly products by demanding legal immunity as a condition of any settlement with creditors. The legally shielded people and entities get all the benefits of bankruptcy without the financial and reputational damage of filing Chapter 11 themselves.

J&J’s secret baby powder bankruptcy plan

J&J’s covert ‘Project Plato’ team crafted a strategy to redirect cancer plaintiffs out of trial courts and into a bankruptcy process. Documents show how the healthcare conglomerate planned a ‘Texas two-step’ maneuver to limit payouts to plaintiffs alleging the company’s iconic Baby Powder and other cosmetic talc products sickened them. Full Story

February 04, 2022

The bankruptcy ‘innovation’ that halted thousands of lawsuits from sick plaintiffs

Four major companies, led by one lawyer, have used so-called Texas two-step Chapter 11 filings to divert lawsuits over their allegedly deadly products into bankruptcy court — without filing Chapter 11 themselves. A whistleblower provides insight into the secretive process. Full Story

June 23, 2022

Corporate chiefs dodge lawsuits over opioids, sexual abuse

Scandals brought down Harvey Weinstein’s movie studio and major opioid supplier Mallinckrodt. But their wealthy owners, directors and executives were granted lifetime immunity from related lawsuits in bankruptcy court–an overwhelmingly common tactic in major U.S. Chapter 11 cases, Reuters found in a review of more than 600 major bankruptcies over a decade. Full Story

November 07, 2022

Boy Scouts, Catholic dioceses find haven from sex abuse suits in bankruptcy

Lawmakers around the U.S. have tried to grant justice to victims of decades-old incidents of child sexual abuse by giving them extra time to file lawsuits. Now some of the defendants in these cases, including church and youth organizations, are finding a safe haven: America’s bankruptcy courts. Full Story

December 30, 2022

Further coverage

J&J tried to get federal judge to block publication of Reuters story

February 4, 2022

A Reuters Investigation

Going for Broke

How Corporate America uses bankruptcy to escape accountability

A Reuters Investigation

Going for Broke

How Corporate America uses bankruptcy to escape accountability

J&J’s secret baby powder bankruptcy plan

The bankruptcy ‘innovation’ that halted thousands of lawsuits from sick plaintiffs

Corporate chiefs dodge lawsuits over opioids, sexual abuse

Boy Scouts, Catholic dioceses find haven from sex abuse suits in bankruptcy

Further coverage

J&J tried to get federal judge to block publication of Reuters story