Nah, Matt Levine is an absolute Texas Two Step apologist, something that made me lose a lot of respect for him.
He repeatedly contorts himself into pretzels trying to defend it (why?) and into equal pretzels avoiding exploring the two elephants in the rule:
1. He (and those involved) claim that the process is "actually, truly, intended to be solely for the benefit of the plaintiffs suing us", and that defendants are doing them a favor, going out of their way to spin off these entities that are flimsy houses of cards.
2. Is it just a coincidence that of the firms who've gone through the Texas Two Step process, that they've managed to get away with not having to pay ninety per cent of court-ordered liabilities, and in at least one case, ninety-eight per cent?
Why on earth would these companies bend over backwards to do something that they claim has zero benefit for them, and is only truly intended to help streamline and optimize plaintiff's efforts in suing them?
Why is it even called the Texas Two Step? Is it because:
1. it assists claimants and plaintiffs (their adversaries) to bond together and present one solid unified case against you, or...
2. because it assists them to elegantly dance around their liabilities?
Levine and the firms and companies he's carrying water for insist the name has nothing to do with the second point.
In the JJ case, Levine's apologism of "they weren't bankrupt enough, yet" is horseshit.
JJCI was funded to the tune of $2B. Slightly less than the $61.5B of liability, you'll agree.
After the bankruptcy was rejected, the Judge had said that the bankruptcy might be necessary at some point in the future, but "now wasn't the time".
JJCI re-filed bankruptcy proceedings three hours later.
All these apologists are taking the piss.