Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. shareholders have lost a bid to launch a formal investigation into the company’s short-term retention of a lawyer who had a romantic relationship with the judge overseeing its bankruptcy case. Judge Christopher Lopez of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas made the ruling on the lack of grounds for such an investigation on Monday.
The shareholders’ initial request aimed to probe into the discovery of the former relationship between the ex-judge David R. Jones and attorney Liz Freeman. The shareholders questioned whether Sorrento’s advisers were aware of this relationship and if they potentially hoped to exploit it.
Lopez’s decision factored in the entirety of the 10-month-old Chapter 11 case. His ruling has effectively dismissed demands for an examination into Sorrento’s advisers, which include legal firm Latham & Watkins LLP.
The original development and details on Lopez’s ruling can be found in the full article on Bloomberg Law.