Aldrich Pump responds to motion for dismissal of bankruptcy case

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., June 2 – Aldrich Pump LLC responded to a motion from a group of claimants to dismiss its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in court documents filed Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

Aldrich responded specifically to a dismissal motion from law firm Maune Raichle Hartley French & Mudd, LLC on behalf of a group of 47 mesothelioma claimants.

Another dismissal motion has been filed by the official committee of asbestos personal injury claimants. However, a response to the committee’s motion isn’t due until June 15, while the company had to respond to the Maune Raichle motion by Thursday.

In defending its Chapter 11 case, Aldrich said that the future claimants’ representative, representing 80% of the asbestos claimants, wants the proceedings to move forward toward a plan which equitably and efficiently pays all legitimate asbestos claims.

The Maune Raichle group has argued the case should be dismissed because of the debtors’ lack of financial distress.

Aldrich said that, because the motion was filed almost three years after the cases started, it should be denied on the grounds of laches.

The company also said it is “obviously no coincidence” that the dismissal motion was filed six days after the Third Circuit’s final panel opinion regarding the case of Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LTL Management, LLC.

“That opinion dismissed, for lack of financial distress, LTL's Chapter 11 petition as a result of a guaranty of the debtor's liabilities by a publicly traded parent company with $400 billion to $500 billion of value, more than $30 billion of readily available cash, and a credit rating higher than that of the United States,” Aldrich said in its response.

“Those facts do not exist in these Chapter 11 cases.”

The company noted that the movants didn’t cite any Supreme Court or Fourth Circuit opinion dismissing a Chapter 11 petition for lack of financial distress, and added that the Third Circuit is unique among other circuits in its history of dismissing cases on those grounds.

Davidson, N.C.-based Aldrich provides climate control solutions. The company filed bankruptcy on June 17, 2020 under Chapter 11 case number 20-30608.

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