In re: Bestwall LLC, No. 21-2263 (3d Cir. 2022)
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In its North Carolina bankruptcy proceedings, Bestwall wanted access to data owned by 10 trusts created to process asbestos-related claims against other companies. Bestwall was facing asbestos liability and wanted the data in order to calculate a settlement trust authorized by 11 U.S.C. 524(g). The data is held by the trusts’ claims processing agent, located in Delaware, which opposed Bestwall’s request. The Bankruptcy Court authorized the issuance of subpoenas. Once Bestwall served those subpoenas, the trusts asked the District Court for the District of Delaware to quash the subpoenas, repeating the same arguments that had been made in the Bankruptcy Court. Asbestos claimants whose information was in the database also joined in the motion to quash. The district court quashed the subpoenas.
The Third Circuit reversed and remanded with instructions to enforce the subpoenas as originally ordered. Allowing litigants to invoke issue preclusion on a motion to quash is also consistent with the doctrine’s “dual purposes” of “protect[ing] litigants from the burden of relitigating an identical issue with the same party or his privy” and “promot[ing] judicial economy by preventing needless litigation.” Bestwall may invoke collateral estoppel as a counter to arguments previously litigated in the North Carolina Bankruptcy Court.
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