Fishman Haygood Secures Significant Win for Chapter 7 Trustee, Hundreds of Louisiana Creditors in Cox Operating Bankruptcy Case

On Aug. 24, 2026, the Hon. Brandon S. Long (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana) denied four motions by defendants to transfer venue, ruling in favor of Fishman Haygood client Michael Warner, the Chapter 7 Trustee of oil and gas company Cox Operating LLC. The order sets significant precedent on venue: Debtors and/or Trustees are not restricted from filing a lawsuit outside the district in which a bankruptcy case is pending if the suit is related to the bankruptcy case or would augment the estate.

In a major win for hundreds of Louisiana vendors and creditors, Judge Long ordered that the Trustee’s lawsuit, which seeks more than $100 million in damages against the former directors and officers of Cox Operating, will remain in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The decision rejects efforts by 25 defendants to transfer the case to the Southern District of Texas, where Cox Operating’s bankruptcy case is pending. While Judge Long recognized that the Trustee could have filed the suit in Texas, he stated the defendants did not show that “either the interest, convenience or justice weighed in favor of making that transfer.”

Two practical considerations helped keep the case in Louisiana. One was the ability to compel witness attendance: Certain nonparty witnesses, including former Cox employees in New Orleans, could be compelled to attend trial only if their home or place of business fell within 100 miles of the courthouse. A New Orleans court could compel them; a Houston court could not.

The other was Louisiana’s public interest. As Judge Long noted, “at least 241 Louisiana creditors are owed approximately $150 million.” The Louisiana connection also runs through the court’s description of the company: “Cox Operating was a Louisiana company that employed Louisiana workers, operated wells in Louisiana waters and on the shelf adjacent to Louisiana, and maintained offices at six Louisiana locations.”

As detailed in the suit, the Trustee alleges that directors Brad Cox, Craig Sanders, and Vincent DeVito, along with other corporate insiders, committed “multiple breaches of fiduciary duties, corporate looting, and multiple fraudulent transfers” and engaged in “truly gross mismanagement and pillaging.” According to the Trustee, the directors diverted millions of dollars to trusts and entities they set up, including to purchase luxury real estate. Those transfers flowing out of the company, the Trustee alleges, left Cox Operating insolvent since 2017.

The fallout was severe. In May 2023, trade creditors forced Cox Operating into involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Soon after, the company launched a voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization in the Southern District of Texas; by February 2024, that case had converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

The Trustee’s lawsuit, filed in May 2025, centers on three related groups of claims:

• The first includes preferences and fraudulent-transfer actions exceeding $100 million;
• The second includes director and officer claims against former officers and directors relating to the collapse of the company into bankruptcy; and
• The third includes claims against Brad Cox and other corporate insiders for alleged corporate waste and looting.

Fishman Haygood serves as the Trustee’s primary litigation counsel. The team is led by Brent Barriere, Kaja Elmer, Alicia Bendana, Julie Meaders, and Maggie Daly. Stewart Robbins Brown & Altazan, LLC is providing bankruptcy counsel to the Trustee.

The firm’s work in this case builds on its earlier role in the matter. Led by Tristan Manthey, Cherie Nobles, and Steven Serio, Fishman Haygood was retained as special counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the underlying Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2023, before the case was converted to Chapter 7.

Read the latest case coverage from Bloomberg Law and Law360.

Learn more about the firm’s Fraudulent Transfer and Specialized Bankruptcy Litigation Practice here.