Toughest Issues in Mass-Tort Bankruptcies Bench-Bar Summit
The Rabiej Litigation Law Center will hold a Bench-Bar Leadership Summit Addressing Several of the Toughest Issues in Mass-Tort Bankruptcies at the Cleveland State University College of Law on November 13, 2025.
Eight federal judges will join 20-25 practicing lawyers and other experts on five panels considering potential solutions to the identified problems. Registrations for the summit will be limited to a maximum of 15 additional lawyers and other experts. The smaller size and the addition of more federal judges will ensure an in-depth analysis and enhance the likelihood that courts will adopt the practical solutions recommended in the Center’s forthcoming best practices.
The summit will address not only draft best practices developed by a team of nine judges and nine lawyers and other experts on topics discussed at the Center’s November 14, 2024, summit at George Washington University School of Law, but also fundamental issues, which have perplexed the bench and bar for years.
The panels will address:
- Understanding the Reasons for Tort Lawyers’ Objections to Mass-Tort Bankruptcy and Lifting Automatic Stay for Selected Number of Tort Cases to Proceed in Civil Litigation;
- Proposed Best Practices, Including Plain-English Forms; Consensual-Release of Nondebtor Liability Provisions; Proof of Claims Expansion; and Parens Patriae Claims;
- Handling Lawyers’ Contingency Fee Agreements with Individually Retained Clients in MDL-Actions, Including Common-Benefit Fee Withholdings;
- Estimating Values of Individual Tort Claims for Purposes of Voting on a Proposed Plan of Reorganization, Instead of Indiscriminately Assigning $1 for Every Claim; and
- Model Plain-Language Summary Disclosure Notice and Consensual Nondebtor Release Provision.