© Reuters. A gavel and a block is pictured on the decide’s bench on this illustration image taken within the Sussex County Courtroom of Chancery in Georgetown, Delaware, U.S., June 9, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. Chapter Decide David Jones in Houston, who oversees extra main Chapter 11 circumstances than another U.S. decide, mentioned on Friday he’s going through an ethics evaluation over a beforehand undisclosed romantic relationship and is stepping down from dealing with massive circumstances.
Jones mentioned over the weekend he has been in a years-long romantic relationship and shared a house with chapter legal professional Elizabeth Freeman, who had been a legislation clerk for him. Till not too long ago, Freeman labored at Jackson Walker, a neighborhood legislation agency that filed many circumstances in Jones’ Houston courthouse.
Jones mentioned at a courtroom listening to within the chapter case of drilling firm Arethusa Offshore that he’s underneath investigation from the New Orleans-based fifth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals and that every one his chapter circumstances involving massive corporations could be assigned to different judges in the course of the investigation.
“I hope which you can respect that the integrity of the method is just extra vital than a single case and you’ve got my real apologies for the inconvenience that I’m inflicting,” Jones instructed the corporate’s attorneys.
Chief fifth U.S. Circuit Decide Priscilla Richman, in a misconduct criticism made public afterward Friday, mentioned there was possible trigger to imagine Jones violated the codes of conduct that govern judges by, amongst different issues, failing to keep away from an look of impropriety.
Richman mentioned that whereas Jones and Freeman weren’t married, the components that apply to recusing from a case involving a decide’s partner apply equally when a decide maintains each a family and an intimate relationship with somebody they aren’t married to.
But, she wrote, Jones by no means recused himself from circumstances involving Jackson Walker or disclosed his relationship with Freeman. The decide accredited attorneys’ charges sought by Jackson Walker for work on chapter issues during which billing data confirmed Freeman carried out “substantial” providers, Richman mentioned.
The Houston chapter courtroom on Friday additionally up to date its case task guidelines to take away Jones from a two-judge panel that oversees all complicated circumstances involving greater than $200 million in debt.
Authorized ethics consultants have mentioned Jones ought to have disclosed the connection or recused himself from circumstances involving Jackson Walker.
A spokesman for Jackson Walker mentioned the agency consulted exterior ethics counsel after studying in regards to the romantic relationship in March 2021.
“From the time we first realized of this allegation Ms. Freeman was instructed to not work or invoice on any circumstances earlier than Decide Jones,” Jackson Walker spokesman Jim Wilkinson mentioned. “We’re assured that we acted responsibly.”
Freeman, by her legal professional, declined to remark.
Jones has been the busiest chapter decide within the U.S. since January 2016, overseeing 11% of all Chapter 11 bankruptcies involving greater than $100 million in liabilities, in line with information from Debtwire, which gives analysis and intelligence on credit score markets. He not too long ago presided over the bankruptcies of JC Penney (OTC:), Neiman Marcus, Social gathering Metropolis and Chesapeake Vitality (NYSE:), amongst many others.
The 2-judge panel for complicated circumstances is an outlier amongst U.S. chapter courts, which generally assign circumstances randomly amongst all of their judges.
Chapter Decide Marvin Isgur, who stepped down from the panel a yr in the past, will substitute Jones, and all of Jones’ complicated circumstances shall be randomly assigned to Isgur or the panel’s different member, U.S. Chapter Decide Christopher Lopez.
