Judge Says She’ll Likely Send Talc Ch. 11 Plan Out For Vote

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Law360 (November 4, 2024, 7:30 PM EST) — A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Monday she will likely give a pair of talc producers permission to send their Chapter 11 plans out for a creditor vote, saying she was satisfied with the changes made since last week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein told counsel for Imerys Talc America Inc. and its former parent Cyprus Mines Corp. she will likely approve the finals forms of their plan disclosure statements after getting a chance to examine them Tuesday.

“All the changes today sounded appropriate. You picked up on the things we picked up on in chambers,” she said.

Imerys sought Chapter 11 protection in 2019, and Cyprus followed suit in 2021, both aiming to address a growing pile of lawsuits accusing them of supplying talc contaminated with asbestos.

Imerys submitted a Chapter 11 plan to the court in 2021, but it failed when Judge Silverstein ruled that nearly 16,000 creditor votes for the plan had been invalid. Imerys and Cyprus then ended mediation with creditors and insurers and submitted joint plans in February that, in the most recently revised version, will create a nearly $1.1 billion trust fund to pay talc injury claims.

Over the course of two days of hearings last week, counsel representing insurance carriers and a dissenting group of talc claimants argued the proposed plan was unconfirmable, the disclosure statement not informative enough and the voting procedures insufficient to weed out invalid claims.

Imerys is represented by Mark D. Collins, Michael J. Merchant and Amanda R. Steele of Richards Layton & Finger PA and Jeffrey E. Bjork, Kimberly A. Posin and Helena G. Tseregounis of Latham & Watkins LLP.

Cyprus Mines is represented by Kurt F. Gwynne, Jason D. Angelo, Paul M. Singer and Luke A. Sizemore of Reed Smith LLP.

Aylstock Witkin is represented by Deirdre M. Richards of Elliott Greenleaf PC and Michael L. Tuchin, Samuel M. Kidder and Nir Maoz of KTBS Law LLP.

The insurers are represented by White and Williams LLP, Plevin & Turner LLP, Kennedys LLP, Ifrah PLLC, Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP, Ruggeri Parks Weinberg LLP, Dilworth Paxson LLP, Stamoulis & Weinblatt LLC and O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

The U.S. Trustee’s Office is represented in-house by Linda Richenderfer.

The cases are In re: Imerys Talc America Inc. et al., case number 1:19-bk-10289, and In re: Cyprus Mines Corp., case number 1:21-bk-10398, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

–Editing by Brian Baresch.

By: Rick Archer