Eric Goodman

Practice Areas

BANKRUPTCY & RESTRUCTURING

BANKRUPTCY LITIGATION

MASS TORTS BANKRUPTCY

LITIGATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

ENERGY

FINANCE

INSURANCE RECOVERY

CLASS ACTIONS AND MULTI-DISTRICT LITIGATION

Career

Eric Goodman is a partner in Brown Rudnick’s Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Practice Group. Eric’s practice includes the representation of creditors’ committees, national and international companies, federal banking regulators, debtors, secured lenders, and trade creditors in a broad range of matters, including Chapter 11 cases, out-of-court restructurings, cross-border insolvency matters, and bankruptcy-related acquisitions. He has significant litigation experience and has performed substantial work with respect to matters involving insolvent financial institutions, mass tort bankruptcies, distressed automotive suppliers, intellectual property rights in bankruptcy, and the oil and gas industry.

Eric is a member of INSOL International, the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, and a contributing author to Inside the Minds: Creditors’ Rights in Chapter 11 Cases, 2012 ed., and the second edition of Bankruptcy Business Acquisitions, a comprehensive guide to selling and acquiring assets in bankruptcy. Eric has also authored several articles addressing the rights of creditors under the Bankruptcy Code and the Uniform Commercial Code.

Eric is recognized as a leading bankruptcy litigator by Chambers USA and The Legal 500, with clients noting: “Eric is a great example of a creative thinker who is always several chess moves ahead. He’s stunningly effective.” “He is a truly brilliant lawyer” and “an incredibly skilled tactician.” “He is an extremely smart and strategic thinker, and is able to find new approaches to solve problems.” “Eric is even-handed and very much a diplomat. He bridges the differences between the disparate parties.” “Eric is a zealous guardian of his client’s interests.” “Eric is a tough negotiator who knows all the details. He is also calm and cool in the courtroom.”

Professional Memberships

INSOL International

National Association of Federal Equity Receivers

Work Highlights

In recent years, Eric has worked on the following matters:

Creditor-Side Experience

Crown Boiler: Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 case of Crown Boiler, a manufacturer of residential and commercial heating equipment.

Vanderbilt Minerals: Talc-Asbestos Claimants Committee in the Chapter 11 case of Vanderbilt Minerals, a Connecticut-based mining company.

Carbon Health Technologies: Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 case of Carbon Health Technologies, a California-based health technology company and modern healthcare provider.

Genesis Healthcare: Ad Hoc Group of Certain Holders of Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Claims in Chapter 11 case of Genesis Healthcare, a healthcare provider with nearly 200 centers in the United States.

Valves and Controls US: Asbestos Claimants Committee in Chapter 11 case of Valves and Controls US, a valve manufacturer for the oil and gas industry.

Powin: Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 case of Powin, a global clean energy batter storage integrator.

Red River Talc: Official Committee of Talc Claimants in Chapter 11 case of Red River Talc, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

Cosmed: Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Chapter 11 case of Cosmed, a provider of sterilization services.

Exactech: Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Chapter 11 case of Exactech.

Tehum Care Services: Bankruptcy counsel to the Official Committee of Tort Claimants in the Chapter 11 case of Tehum Care Services (f/k/a Corizon Health), a provider of nationwide healthcare services to prisons and jails. After successfully defeating a Rule 9019 settlement, we created a Chapter 11 plan structure that provides substantially higher recoveries for tort victims and provides each tort victim with the choice of continuing their litigation unfettered against non-debtor defendants in the civil justice system or participating in a settlement fund created by the Chapter 11 plan. If confirmed, this case will mark the first time a divisive merger case resulted in a confirmed Chapter 11 plan and a settlement that provides actual compensation to tort victims and, at the same time, actual optionality to tort victims who want to pursue their claims.

Representing the Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee in the bankruptcy cases of Kidde-Fenwal, Inc. (“KFI”). KFI is the first major bankruptcy case involving mass-tort liability to water-providers, property owners, personal injury victims, and governments stemming from the manufacture and sale of PFAS chemicals, primarily their Aqueous Film Forming Foam (“AFFF”). KFI, a subsidiary of Carrier-Global, filed for Ch. 11 protection on the heels of several large industry settlements involving other major manufacturers of AFFF in the AFFF multi-district litigation. Brown Rudnick is honored to represent the plaintiffs and all other unsecured creditors in this milestone bankruptcy case.

Lead global counsel to AB Volvo, PSA Automobiles and Opel Automobile in the highly complex global restructuring of Takata Corporation and its affiliates, one of the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of automotive safety systems. Assisted Volvo, PSA and Opel in navigating the complex issues arising out Takata’s restructuring, which included the sale of substantially all of Takata’s assets through in-court bankruptcy proceedings in the United States and Japan and coordinated out-of-court restructurings in Europe, China, and other jurisdictions.

Represented the Official Committee of Tort Claimants of PG&E Corporation and its regulated utility subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Company in connection with the approval of PG&E’s $59 billion reorganization plan, which involved the issuance of new debt and equity to pay for $25.5 billion in wildfire-related claims. Led litigation against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and certain California State Agencies involving claims of first impression under the Stafford Act and California law exceeding $4 billion.

Representing the Official Committee of Talc Claimants in the LTL Management LLC (J&J) bankruptcy case. In October 2021, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) completed a broadly observed and highly controversial corporate transaction, colloquially referred to as the “Texas Two-Step,” dividing the company’s consumer products division into two companies, and transferring all of the company’s talc-related tort liabilities to the newly created entity, LTL Management LLC (“LTL” stands for “Legacy Tort Liabilities”). It then filed LTL for bankruptcy, demanding that the Court extend all bankruptcy protections to the entire J&J conglomerate (notwithstanding the fact that only LTL filed for bankruptcy). This is the largest and most important Chapter 11 case of 2022, with heavy media coverage. Future congressional hearings and Court rulings will assuredly become public records and precedent respectively that will long be studied and discussed in both legal and academic circles. In February 2022, Brown Rudnick led the trial team’s effort to have the LTL bankruptcy case dismissed for bad faith. While its motion was denied in the Bankruptcy Court, on January 30, 2023, in a seminal and nationally publicized decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed the Bankruptcy Court’s decision and entered an order directing the dismissal of LTL’s bankruptcy case and vacatur of the preliminary injunction protecting J&J and other non-debtors. On April 4, 2023, a mere two hours and eleven minutes after its first case was dismissed, LTL filed a second bankruptcy to avoid tort liability and deny the fundamental rights of personal injury victims to jury trials in the court system. In July 2023, following months of litigation, the Bankruptcy Court dismissed LTL’s second attempt to improperly use the Bankruptcy Code to obtain a litigation advantage against cancer victims. Brown Rudnick acted as co-lead counsel to the Official Committee of Talc Claimants in both of LTL’s bankruptcy cases.

Represented the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice in the bankruptcy cases of the Boy Scouts of America, In re Boy Scouts of America and Delaware BSA, LLC, Case No. 20-10343, proceeding before Judge Laurie Silverstein in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The Coalition was comprised of many thousands of survivors of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts. The Coalition led negotiations with various third parties in the bankruptcy proceedings, including the settling insurance companies and local councils, and formulated a chapter 11 plan structure that delivers over $2.5 billion to survivors of Scouting related sexual abuse. Eric is widely credited with playing a pivotal role in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy representing the interests of survivors of sexual abuse.

Education