CHARLOTTE- Georgia Pacific entity Bestwall must wait ten more months for trial on its claim that fraud inflated its settlements of asbestos suits.
Bankruptcy judge Laura Beyer postponed proceedings to estimate Bestwall’s asbestos liabilities from next May to March of 2023, at a hearing on Oct. 19.
Beyer granted the delay to asbestos firms who claimed they needed further discovery.
Bestwall plans to bring to trial evidence that some plaintiffs recovered twice for their injuries by alleging different exposures in civil courts and private bankruptcy trusts.
Bestwall claims Georgia Pacific settled asbestos claims in courts for greater amounts than it would have paid if it had known the exposures that plaintiffs alleged in trusts.
Bestwall wants Beyer to estimate its future liabilities on amounts it would have paid in the absence of fraud.
Georgia Pacific created Bestwall in 2017, by splitting itself in two.
It assigned assets and operations to an entity by name of New GP, and it assigned liability for about 5,700 asbestos injury claims to Bestwall.
Bestwall petitioned for bankruptcy protection and proposed to establish a trust that would resolve all current and future claims.
Beyer granted Bestwall an estimation trial, over objections of plaintiff firms.
Earlier this year she ruled that plaintiff firms must answer a questionnaire for each client about exposures they alleged and settlements they received.
She ruled that anyone challenging her order must do so by motion in her court.
When the Maune Raichle firm of St. Louis tried to overturn her order in U.S. district court for Southern Illinois, Beyer imposed a $402,000 sanction.
She found Bestwall spent that amount defending the Illinois action.
At her hearing on Oct. 19, she denied certification of her sanctions order for appeal to the Fourth Circuit appellate court.
Instead, she granted leave to appeal the order to District Judge Robert Conrad.
A discovery dispute broke out at the hearing, and Beyer called it frustrating.
She told counsel for asbestos plaintiffs, “You just got your ten months to do discovery.”
She said she couldn’t tell the parties what to do about conversations between them, and told Bestwall counsel to file a motion about it.
“I wish I had words for a magical solution," Beyer said.
“It’s the court’s desire to get to the heart of the matter.”