Stone Point Capital Escapes Bankruptcy Fee Antitrust Claims

Stone Point Capital LLC dodged claims in Connecticut federal court that it led a subsidiary’s scheme to gouge bankruptcy estates on support services by altering the industry’s traditional fee model after the 2008 financial crisis.

The lawsuit’s core claims were doomed by the rule barring antitrust damages for “indirect purchasers,” like debtors that stand economically “downstream” from their bankruptcy estates, Judge Janet Bond Arterton said.

“Any injury caused by the price-fixing conspiracy would have first harmed the estate and thereby reduced the funds available to creditors,” Arterton wrote. “Only after creditors were paid could the debtor have received any residue, ...