In re A.H. Robins Co.

215 B.R. 112, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 1786, 1997 WL 702747
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedOctober 31, 1997
DocketBankruptcy No. 85-01307-R
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 215 B.R. 112 (In re A.H. Robins Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re A.H. Robins Co., 215 B.R. 112, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 1786, 1997 WL 702747 (E.D. Va. 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

MERHIGE, District Judge.

The matter is before the Court upon the Motion by the Daikon Shield Claimants Trust for entry of Administrative Order No. 2. The Trust filed its Motion on September 22,1997, and served it and a Notice of Hearing setting the matter for hearing on October 21, 1997, upon Daikon Shield Claimants or counsel for Daikon Shield Claimants whose claims remained left to be resolved in arbitration under § E.5(a) of the Claims Resolution Facility (“CRF”) or litigation under § E.5(b) of the CRF. The Trust’s Notice advised all interested parties that, pursuant to Local Bankruptcy Rule 109(H)(3)(b), all objections to the Motion were due no later than October 14,1997.

The Court received ten timely-filed objections to the Trust’s Motion. One of them, filed on behalf of claimant Joyce Ward (Docket No. 30090) was withdrawn by the movant on October 20, 1997, the day before the hearing (Docket No. 30110). An eleventh objection,- presented by Katherine Kerby of the law firm of .Gholson, Hicks & Nichols on behalf of Daikon Shield Claimant Shirley Wilbanks, was not filed with the Clerk until October 28, 1997 (Docket No. 30115), seven days after the hearing, and thus was untimely.

The Trust’s Motion came on for hearing before this Court as scheduled at 2:00 p.m. ET on October 21, 1997. The Court heard argument from counsel for the Trust and received into evidence eight exhibits offered by the Trust. The Court also heard arguments from James F. Szaller, Kirk McQuid-dy, and Anthony J. Nemo as counsel to various Daikon Shield claimants, and from Lynn Gold, an unrepresented Daikon Shield claimant. After consideration of the evidence and arguments of the parties, the Court determines that the Trust’s Motion should be granted, with certain modifications.

A. The Trust’s Motion.

On June 26, 1991, this Court entered its Administrative Order No. 1 to set certain parameters for cases as they began to move through Arbitration and Litigation under §. E.5(a) and § E.5(b) of the CRF. That Order was affirmed on appeal over numerous objections. In re A.H. Robins Co., Case No. 85-01307-R, Docket No. 11500 (E.D.Va. nunc pro tunc June 26, 1991), affirmed, 42 F.3d 870 (4th Cir.1994). The Trust’s Motion for Administrative Order No. 2, invoking the same jurisdiction of this Court that led to Administrative Order No. 1, asked for certain deadlines and other relief as the Trust is now nearing the completion of all arbitration and litigation proceedings on Daikon Shield Claims.

The Trust’s Motion asked the Court to enter as Administrative Order No. 2 an Order that would:

(1) Scope of Order: provide that the Order will be binding upon all persons holding Daikon Shield Personal Injury Claims in arbitration under § E.5(a) of the CRF or in litigation under CRF - § E.5(b) of the CRF and their attorneys, if any, and the Trust and its attorneys.
(2) Trial Deadline: require that the trials on the merits of all Daikon Shield Claims in litigation be concluded, or commenced, on or before July 31,1998.
(3) Arbitration Deadline: require that the hearings on the merits of all Dai-kon Shield Claims in arbitration be concluded on or before October 30, 1998.
(4) Disallowance for Failure to Meet Deadlines: provide for the disallowance of the Daikon Shield Claims of all plaintiffs who miss these deadlines.
(5) Automatic Certification for Arbitration: provide that any plaintiff who, after the date of the Order, alters his or her election from litigation to arbitration, as allowed by the Trust, shall be considered certified by the Court to proceed to arbitration as of the date of [115]*115the Trust’s execution of the plaintiffs Election and Arbitration Agreement, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Amended Administrative Order No. 1 (Docket No. 11500), without the necessity for an Application for Certification or a Certification Order for such claimant for arbitration.
(6) Closing the Document Depository: modify paragraph 4 of this Court’s Amended Administrative Order No. 1 to permit the Trust to close the Document Depository established under that paragraph and dispose of the documents in the Depository as deemed appropriate.

The Trust submitted that it was attempting to conclude all Daikon Shield Claims and wind up its affairs so it might make its final pro rata distribution to eligible claimants under § G.14 of the CRF and then close. The Trust urged that the relief requested in its Motion was necessary to assist it in achieving those goals.

B. The Objections to the Trust’s Motion.

The nine objections to the Trust’s Motion before the Court raised various arguments, which can be summarized as:

(1) a challenge to this Court’s jurisdiction to enter deadlines for arbitrations and trials and to disallow claims for failing to meet them, based upon this Court’s previous rulings that distinguish between matters that are day-to-day operations of the Trust and not subject to judicial review, and matters that are elevated above the realm of day-to-day operations that are reviewable by the Court, and upon the contention that this Court lacks the power under the Plan to disallow a Daikon Shield Claim;
(2) the suggestion that there is no reason to attempt to conclude the Trust’s operations on any sort of accelerated schedule;
(3) the contention that the Trust needs to conclude its mission by settling cases through negotiations, or by being deprived of certain defenses or positions in the eases; and
(4)the argument that setting a deadline for the trial of eases would impermissi-bly infringe upon the right of claimants to a jury trial under the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Court will address each of these objections in turn.

C. Decision.

1. The Court’s Jurisdiction.

In § 8.05(d) of the Plan, this Court retained the express jurisdiction to enter orders in aid of the Plan and CRF. Section 8.05 also provides that this Court’s retained jurisdiction did not include jurisdiction over or the authority to monitor the “day-to-day operations” of the Trust.

On many occasions when asked by claimants to overturn a decision or policy of the Trust, this Court has acknowledged this limitation on its retained jurisdiction over Trust activities. Several of these rulings involved deadlines set by the Trust to move claims through the CRF process before they reached arbitration or trial. See In re AH. Robins Co. (Evans v. Daikon Shield Claimants Trust), 213 B.R. 809 (E.D.Va.1997) (May 1, 1996 deadline on Option 3 offer); In re A.H. Robins Co. (Dunbar v. Daikon Shield Claimants Trust), 209 B.R. 364 (E.D.Va.1997) (July 1, 1991 Option election deadline); In re A.H. Robins Co. (Tucker v. Daikon Shield Claimants Trust), 204 B.R. 192 (E.D.Va.1996) (October 1, 1996 deadline to elect among ADR, arbitration or trial); In re A.H. Robins Co. (Rothbard v. Daikon Shield Claimants Trust), 197 B.R. 509 (E.D.Va.1996) (June 30, 1995 Late Claims material deadline); In re A.H. Robins Co. (Hamilton v.

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Related

King v. Dalkon Shield Trust (In re A.H. Robins Co.)
219 B.R. 161 (E.D. Virginia, 1998)
In Re AH Robins Co., Inc.
216 B.R. 175 (E.D. Virginia, 1997)
Nelson v. Dalkon Shield Trust
216 B.R. 175 (E.D. Virginia, 1997)

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215 B.R. 112, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 1786, 1997 WL 702747, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ah-robins-co-vaed-1997.