SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the Northern District of California has denied bids by several firms embroiled in lingering Howrey clawback cases to bypass U.S. bankruptcy court and instead have their cases heard by a district judge.
The order issued Tuesday comes almost a month after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer repudiated the so-called Jewel doctrine, which law firm bankruptcy trustees have invoked to pursue “unfinished business” claims in California after the dissolutions of Howrey, Heller Ehrman, and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.
