No Examiner for Ex-Adelphia Law Firm

Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Gerber denied a request to appoint an examiner to determine whether Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP violated ethics rules, AP reported.

The firm was hired by the board of Adelphia Communications Corp. prior to the MSO’s declaration of bankruptcy, and it represented Adelphia in a fraud suit against the Rigas family, which controlled the company, and former auditors Deloitte & Touche LLP, according to AP.

Adelphia fired the law firm in August for not disclosing that lawyers at the firm, including David Boies' children, had financial interests in a document-management company and a copying firm hired by the MSO for work related to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, AP reported.

In a hearing in Manhattan Monday, Gerber denied the request for an examiner but allowed the two sides a period of discovery to investigate the facts related the issue and present them at a later date. He did not set a date for the next hearing, AP reported.

“We believe the court will come to understand that Boies Schiller did not violate the bankruptcy code, any disclosure obligations, or any ethical rules," Boies Schiller partner Philip Korologos told AP.