Craig Litherland is a partner whose practice focuses on corporate bankruptcy and complex claims resolution. In particular, he specializes in bankruptcy reorganizations that involve mass tort problems and bankruptcy related insurance disputes.
Craig represents corporate debtors, committees, future claimant representatives and plan trustees with respect to bankruptcy plan structure and negotiation matters and insurance disputes related to bankruptcy cases that involve numerous tort claims arising from asbestos, silica, breast implants, other medical devices, noise induced hearing loss, and exposure to other carcinogenic materials. Examples include:
- Represented Dow Corning Corporation in its bankruptcy reorganization that resolved hundreds of thousands of claims world wide related to breast implants and other medical devices sold by the company. Craig also assisted Dow Corning with the resolution of disputes with insurers over responsibility for the costs associated with these tort claims.
- Represented Kaiser Aluminum, Shook & Fletcher, and JT Thorpe in connection with the structuring of their bankruptcy plans of reorganization to resolve asbestos, silica and other types of tort claims, including, in the cases of Shook & Fletcher and JT Thorpe, pre-packaged plans of reorganization.
- Represented Federal-Mogul Corporation and its affiliates in their bankruptcy reorganization cases as insurance counsel to address insurance disputes related to insurance coverage for thousands of asbestos claims and environmental claims.
- Represents or represented the committees of asbestos claimants in the Babcock & Wilcox, Plibrico, and Burns & Roe bankruptcy reorganizations as special insurance counsel dealing with insurance disputes related to the insurance coverage available to pay asbestos and silica claims.
- Participated with others from the Firm in the representation of the future claimants’ representative as special insurance counsel in the Combustion Engineering case.
- Participates in the representation of the plan trusts that deal with asbestos and silica claims resulting from the reorganizations of Celotex, JT Thorpe, Shook & Fletcher, and Plibrico.
Over the course of his career, Craig has represented debtor corporations, trustees, committees and other parties in connection with bankruptcy cases in the convenience store, aircraft manufacture, oil and gas, off-shore drilling, farming, heavy equipment manufacturing, real estate development, telecommunications, mortgage servicing, truck and container shipping, and pipe manufacturing industries.
Craig is currently the co-chair of the Insurance sub-committee of the ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee.
Prior to joining the Firm, Craig was a shareholder in the Houston and Austin, Texas offices of Sheinfeld, Maley and Kay, P.C. He currently resides in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas.
