A Delaware federal judge has certified an appeal of a bankruptcy court’s unusual method for distributing $7.3 billion raised in Nortel Network’s protracted bankruptcy proceeding, saying a review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit would materially advance a case that has already dragged on for seven years.
U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware said the case was on track for an inevitable appeal to the Third Circuit. Going directly to the appeals court, he said, would save months that otherwise would be spent waiting on Stark to weigh in on U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross of the District of Delaware’s May 2015 decision to distribute the escrow funds on a modified pro rata basis.
