Bankruptcy Judge’s Sudden Exit Leaves Big-Money Cases in Limbo

There are few bankruptcy courts in America busier than the one in Houston. The top judge there, David R. Jones, has handled more than 1,000 corporate insolvencies in his time on the bench and routinely oversees the nastiest debt fights that come out of Wall Street.

So when Jones resigned on Monday following revelations that he has dated and lived with a top Houston bankruptcy lawyer since 2017, it rocked the insolvency world. Beyond the shock felt by those who have come to know him as a towering figure in restructuring, the move has cast a pall over cases he was overseeing — like that of Platinum Equity-backed Incora — and ones he ruled on in the past.