United Furniture can shift into chapter 11 bankruptcy as it had requested, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled on Wednesday, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported. Judge Selene Maddox with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Mississippi heard testimony last week regarding United/Lane Furniture's motion to move from chapter 7 to a chapter 11 bankruptcy. In late December, Wells Fargo and two other creditors told the bankruptcy court United owed them nearly $100 million. They were pushing for United to file chapter 7, a total liquidation of the company's assets so that they could recoup what's owed. Judge Maddox ruled that United cannot oversee its own liquidation and has requested the appointment of a special independent chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee to oversee the process. United shut down its operations on Nov. 22. The move left some 2,700 workers in three states, including approximately 1,100 in Northeast Mississippi, without work or benefits. United's Mississippi facilities are in Amory, Belden, Hatley, Nettleton, Okolona, Vardaman, Verona and Wren. The company also had six plants in North Carolina and one in California.
