In late December 2023, U.S. bankruptcy court in North Carolina denied motions to dismiss the Texas Two-Step mass-tort bankruptcy cases of entities created to resolve the asbestos liability of the Trane companies. This type of maneuver involves splitting a company into two, moving the liabilities to one company, and then seek bankruptcy protections to absolve that company of liability. In the opinion (pages 32-39) denying the Trane companies the ability to execute this maneuver, the bankruptcy court extensively cites to and quotes from three of Professors Brubaker's articles on the subject: (1) "The Texas Two-Step and Mandatory Non-Opt-Out Settlement Powers," in the Harvard Law School Bankruptcy Roundtable; (2) "Assessing the Legitimacy of the 'Texas Two-Step' Mass-Tort Bankruptcy," in the Bankruptcy Law Letter; and (3) "Mandatory Aggregation of Mass Tort Litigation in Bankruptcy," in the Yale Law Journal Forum.
Read the full opinion from the bankruptcy court.
Read "Assessing the Legitimacy of the 'Texas Two-Step' Mass-Tort Bankruptcy," from the Bankruptcy Law Letter, cited in the opinion.