A New York federal judge has reversed the confirmation of Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes' Chapter 11 plan, ruling that the bankruptcy court improperly found creditor silence on the proposal's third-party claims releases could be assumed as consent.

In an opinion issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote granted an appeal by the U.S. Trustee's Office, struck the releases in the plan and remanded it to bankruptcy court. The judge determined that under the general principles of contract law, the provisions at issue were not consensual.

Gol Linhas filed for Chapter 11 protection in January 2024 and unveiled its plan in December last year, saying it had reached an agreement with creditors, major investor Abra Group and other stakeholders to wipe out $2.5 billion in debt and emerge with $1.9 billion of exit financing.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn confirmed the plan in May 2025 over the objections of the U.S. Trustee's Office. It argued the proposal improperly called for releasing creditor claims against third-party nondebtors unless creditors acted to opt out of the releases, and that this rendered the plan's releases nonconsensual under New York contract law and a violation of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 decision on Purdue Pharma's Chapter 11 plan.

In its appeal, the airline argued federal contract law applied. However, in his opinion, Judge Cote said the choice of law is irrelevant because the same basic principles of contract law apply either way.

"And, as already explained, the general principles of contract law, as embodied in the restatement of contracts, establish that, outside of rare exceptions, consent cannot be implied from silence," she wrote.

The district court rejected the company's contentions that opt-out releases are allowed in class action settlements, saying the creditors in the case are not a class and the procedures for a class action weren't used.

Judge Cote also rejected the argument that creditors had accepted the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court — and, by extension, any releases ordered by the court — concluding that the airline had cited no cases to back its "logical leap."

Representatives of the U.S. Trustee's Office declined comment Tuesday. Counsel for Gol did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.

The U.S. Trustee's Office is represented by Linda A. Riffkin, Annie Wells, Rachael E. Siegel and Andrew D. Velez-Rivera.

Gol Linhas is represented by Evan R. Fleck, Lauren C. Doyle, Bryan V. Uelk, Andrew M. Leblanc and Erin E. Dexter of Milbank LLP.

The appeal is In re: Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA et al., case number 1:25-cv-04610, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The bankruptcy is In re: Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA et al., case number 1:24-bk-10118, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.