Fresh & Easy LLC cleared a number of major hurdles yesterday when a bankruptcy judge agreed to shield the former supermarket operator from several potentially onerous and expensive lawsuits, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Following a hearing yesterday, Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon denied two class-action requests from former employees who sued the company, saying the litigation "would disrupt the progress of the case." Fresh & Easy filed for chapter 11 in October and has since been working to sell off its stores and other remaining assets, a process that is "well underway," the judge said. The former employees sued Fresh & Easy for paid-time-off benefits they say they are owed and for allegedly failing to properly notify them of the abrupt loss of their jobs when the grocer shuttered its stores.
