In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision this June in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently addressed a question left open by the Supreme Court—whether a bankruptcy court may still issue a preliminary (i.e., temporary) injunction of a creditor’s claims against a nondebtor. A bankruptcy court indeed may, held Judge Craig Goldblatt writing for the Delaware bankruptcy court.

In Purdue Pharma, the Supreme Court put to rest a long-simmering and controversial circuit spilt by holding “that the bankruptcy code does not authorize a release and injunction that, as part of a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11, effectively seeks to discharge claims against a nondebtor without the consent of affected claimants.” The court was careful to confine its ruling to precisely the foregoing, and expressed no opinion on other scenarios, such as plans with consensual releases, which debtors have frequently used as a less controversial alternative.