Publication Date
Summer 2024
First Page
1667
Document Type
Comment
Abstract
Recent scholarship has paid significant attention to the strategic exploitation of Chapter 11 reorganization procedures by corporations seeking to circumvent mass tort liability. The presence of these structural issues evoke serious concerns about the suitability of bankruptcy as a method for resolving mass tort claims and its role in deterring future wrongful conduct. However, reorganization procedures, like Chapter 11, do offer some advantages for mass tort claimants. By consolidating claims and enabling continued business operations during the pendency of proceedings, reorganization has the potential to more efficiently resolve mass tort claims and yield a greater pool of potential recovery for claimants.
This Comment presents an alternative method of reorganization to resolve mass torts. It suggests that equity receiverships—a once common remedial mechanism now displaced by Chapter 11—provides a process for reorganization that better ensures corporate accountability for tortious conduct. It also outlines a framework to revive equity receivership practice as a remedy for modern mass torts. A return of equity receiverships would provide a much-needed alternative to Chapter 11, enhancing the position of disadvantaged tort victims in our legal system and discouraging corporate debtors from using bankruptcy to minimize tort liability.
Repository Citation
Aadir
A.
Khan
From Historical to Cutting-Edge: Equity Receiverships as a Tool to Resolve Mass Torts,
172
U. Pa. L. Rev.
1667
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol172/iss6/4