Insurers’ Tangible Disadvantage Is Sufficient Injury for Article III Standing
2011
Publication| Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring
The Third Circuit held that two liability insurance carriers have standing to object to their insured’s plan of reorganization because “when a federal court gives its approval to a plan that allows a party to put its hands into other people’s pockets, the ones with the pockets are entitled to be fully heard and to have their legitimate objections addressed.”
Debtor Global Industrial Technologies, Inc. (GIT) was the holding company for a collection of companies that manufactured and sold heat shielding and other products. As a part of its business, GIT acquired A.P. Green Industries, Inc. (APG), a company that produced asbestos and/or silica containing products. APG later experienced significant asbestos-related liabilities—approaching $500 million—but its silica-related liabilities were substantially less. The debtors filed their bankruptcy cases in substantial measure to address their asbestos-related liabilities.