Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants of Bestwall LLC v. Bestwall LLC
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 24-1493 · judgment August 1, 2025
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
Wealthy conglomerate Georgia-Pacific contrived a way to sequester its asbestos liabilities in bankruptcy. It split itself in two, placing its asbestos liabilities with one new entity designed for bankruptcy (“Bestwall”), while enabling another new entity to operate outside of bankruptcy (“New GP”). Bestwall then filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition in North Carolina, where it conceded that funding from New GP enables it to pay any conceivable current and future liabilities. The bankruptcy court refused to dismiss Bestwall’s bankruptcy for lack of good faith under 11 U.S.C. § 1112(b)(1). It found that Bestwall’s ability to pay all its liabilities meant its petition was not “objectively futile” under Fourth Circuit precedent, and it refused to consider Bestwall’s subjective bad faith. The court later refused to dismiss Bestwall’s bankruptcy for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and again refused to dismiss for lack of good faith. The court recognized that Bestwall’s conceded ability to pay its debts presented a jurisdictional question under the Constitution’s Bankruptcy Clause, art. I, § 8, cl. 4, but it concluded that the Clause imposed no jurisdictional limit on Bestwall’s bankruptcy. A divided Fourth Circuit panel affirmed, and a sharply divided en banc court denied rehearing. The question presented is: Whether a debtor with a conceded ability to pay all liabilities now and in the foreseeable future properly can invoke bankruptcy protection.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
David C. Frederick
Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C.
For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day
Proceedings
- Jun 01 2026Petition DENIED.
- May 12 2026DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/28/2026.
- May 12 2026Reply of petitioner Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants of Bestwall LLC filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 27 2026Brief of respondent Bestwall LLC in opposition filed.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amicus curiae of Public Justice filed.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amici curiae of Bankruptcy and Legal History Professors filed.
- Mar 26 2026Brief amicus curiae of Professor D. Theodore Rave filed.
- Mar 26 2026Amicus brief of The Asbestos Creditors’ Committees in The DBMP and Aldrich Bankruptcies not accepted for filing. (To be resubmitted - March 31, 2026)
- Mar 26 2026Brief amici curiae of Asbestos Creditors’ Committees in the DBMP and Aldrich Bankruptcies filed. (Resubmitted - April 7, 2026)
- Mar 26 2026Amicus brief of American Association for Justice not accepted for filing. (To be corrected - April 03, 2026)
- Mar 26 2026Brief amicus curiae of American Association for Justice filed. (Corrected)
- Mar 25 2026Brief amici curiae of Senator Richard Durbin, et al. filed.
- Mar 23 2026Brief amici curiae of Bankruptcy Law Professors filed.
- Mar 13 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 27, 2026.
- Mar 12 2026Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 26, 2026 to April 27, 2026, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 20 2026Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 26, 2026)
- Jan 23 2026Application (25A837) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until February 20, 2026.
- Jan 16 2026Application (25A837) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 28, 2026 to February 20, 2026, submitted to The Chief Justice.