“Sidley Partner Rebuts Conflict Claim in Genesis Healthcare Case” —

• “Sidley Austin LLP partner Thomas R. Califano said he isn’t conflicted as counsel in the bankruptcy of Genesis Healthcare Inc., in a bid to fend off arguments for disqualification leveled by investor Joel Landau.”
• “Califano represented Landau’s investment vehicle ReGen Healthcare LLC in a limited capacity in late 2020. But that doesn’t taint his or his firm’s disinterestedness in lawsuits filed against Landau, the Sidley attorney said in a declaration filed with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.”
• “Landau, who has been accused of exerting control over Genesis to loot valuable assets from the nursing home operator before it filed for Chapter 11, last week urged the bankruptcy court to bar Califano and Sidley from the proceedings. Califano failed to fully disclose his connections to Landau and the confidential information he gleaned about the investor’s business interests, according to the disqualification bid.”
• “In his July 24 declaration, Califano said he briefly provided advice to ReGen when he was a lawyer at DLA Piper LLP about the risks of becoming a new investor in Genesis if the company filed for bankruptcy. The ‘limited engagement’ for ReGen, not Landau, didn’t cover ‘the underlying substantive terms or conditions of that investment,’ the attorney said.”
• “‘Neither ReGen nor Mr. Landau has ever been a client of Sidley, either before or after I moved to Sidley in April 2021,’ Califano said. ‘This representation from five years ago, while at a prior firm, will have no impact on Sidley’s representation.'”
• “A hearing on the motion before Judge Stacey G. C. Jernigan is set for Aug. 11.”
• “Landau and his corporate affiliates have been named as defendants in litigation filed by Genesis following the investor’s failed bid to buy the company out of bankruptcy. The investor, who has garnered attention from some US Senate and House Democrats over his private equity firm’s role in the Genesis bankruptcy, has argued that his investments saved the company from a liquidity crisis in early 2021.”

“Judge Blasts Firm Trying to Kick Him Off Phila. Zantac Litigation” —

• “A Pennsylvania judge says that a large Chicago-based plaintiffs firm has ‘effectively ground’ the city’s Zantac mass tort to a halt through a handful of recusal motions and related appeals.”
• “In a filing to the state Superior Court on Tuesday, Philadelphia Judge Joshua Roberts asked the intermediate appeals court to affirm his decision from April denying Keller Postman’s latest effort to recuse him from the consolidated litigation, where nearly 600 cases are pending.”
• “The firm had sought to recuse Roberts because his wife is a partner at Blank Rome, which represents Apotex Corp., a defendant in the broader mass tort. It’s the second time the firm has sought to kick Roberts from the litigation after it filed a recusal motion over his wife’s ties to her then-firm, Reed Smith, which represented Zantac manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline in litigation over the drug in other states.”
• “In the 14-page filing, Roberts cited testimony from Blank Rome’s counsel saying that his wife’s compensation is not directly impacted by Apotex, noted that Keller Postman filed its recusal motion in a case where Apotex is not a defendant, and said the firm is ‘attempting to create a perception of impropriety which otherwise does not exist[.]'”
• “‘From the beginning, following my initial disclosure in December 2023 as supplemented in May 2024, and up through the disclosure that Blank Rome represented Apotex, I have maintained that I can be fair and impartial,’ Roberts said. ‘That has never changed, but that has not stopped Keller Postman from seeking to create a conflict—where none exists—through its filings and statements.'”
• “In a footnote, Roberts suggested that the firm’s repeated efforts to recuse him may have crossed the line into violations of the conduct rules.”
• “‘The court notes that plaintiffs’ counsel has duties to their own clients which may be implicated by this ongoing and seemingly never-ending campaign,’ Roberts said before noting rules against pursuing frivolous actions and requiring lawyers to expedite litigation. ‘It is unclear whether the individual clients have been made aware of the delay in these proceedings, and whether they approve of this approach. Resolution of these issues, if any, is outside of the scope of this opinion.'”
• “Keller Postman represents Roberto Jimenez and other plaintiffs in the Zantac mass tort where plaintiffs alleged that the over-the-counter heartburn medication causes various forms of cancer. The firm filed its latest recusal motion in December, noting that Roberts’ wife began working at Blank Rome in February 2025.”
• “In denying the recusal motion earlier the spring, Roberts noted that only one case involves Apotex—Hilbert v. Boehringer Ingelheim—and that case was filed by Anapol Weiss, which has not sought his recusal. Roberts further explained that Blank Rome entered the Hilbert case in 2021 and that his wife did not join the firm until February 2025, which Roberts said he disclosed that same month.”
• “Roberts also said that his wife has been ‘walled off from having anything to do with Apotex,’ that her ‘compensation has no direct relationship to the amount of fees or income that Blank Rome earns from Apotex,’ and that her compensation from the firm ‘is not tied to Blank Rome’s representation of Apotex.'”
• “Robert reiterated those points in his filing that was entered on the mass tort docket Wednesday, and further noted that the firm not only appealed his recusal effort, but also served subpoenas on his wife, as well as Blank Rome and Reed Smith. The subpoenas were later withdrawn.”