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A federal judge said that bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions should not have to pay $58 million a year to a pact overseeing coal-fired electric generation plants — a pact that includes Dayton Power & Light (DP&L), the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reported. DP&L, with other Ohio power companies, make up the Ohio Valley Electric Corp. (OVEC), which operates the older, coal-fired power plants on the Ohio River. OVEC members are arguing that the bankrupt company cannot withdraw from contributing to the operation of the aging plants, leaving DP&L, American Electric Power of Ohio and Duke Energy — and their customers — to take on the plants’ costs themselves. OVEC filed a complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in March — a few days before FirstEnergy Solutions declared bankruptcy — to prevent FirstEnergy Solutions from withdrawing from financial obligations for the joint operation of the plants.

Next month, Toys ‘R’ Us is putting its famous mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe, on the auction block along with website domains such as 'sex-toys-r-us.com,' Reuters reported.The adult-oriented domain name is one of hundreds of website addresses that the bankrupt toy-store chain is looking to find a buyer for as it winds down its business and shutters 735 U.S. stores, according to court records. Also up for sale: ihatetoysrus.com, toysrussucks.com, kinkytoysrus.com and adult-toys-r-us.com. Companies like Toys ‘R’ Us often register related domain names to guard against someone hijacking their brand for their own business, said Bob Phibbs, a brand specialist and chief executive of the Retail Doctor consulting firm. The company is selling its intellectual property, which includes its name, Geoffrey the Giraffe logo, and the Babies ‘R’ Us brand, to raise money to repay its creditors. Brand specialists said it could be one of the most valuable brands ever sold by a company going out of business.

Remington Outdoor, one of the country’s oldest and largest gun makers, is getting ready to emerge from bankruptcy. The question is whether somebody — anybody — will buy the company, especially at such a politically and emotionally polarized time for the gun industry, according to a New York Times commentary. The usual suspects of potential buyers are circling, including rival gun manufacturers like Sturm, Ruger & Company and some small financiers willing to accept whatever criticism would come from buying Remington. What if the big banks that have provided financing to Remington during its bankruptcy were to back — and partner with — one or more of the big private equity firms in an effort to transform the company into the most advanced and responsible gun manufacturer in the country, the commentary asks.

Remington Outdoor Co. saw its bankruptcy process move swiftly toward an end Wednesday when a judge said he would approve the firearms maker’s reorganization plan, which will place the company under the ownership of its creditors, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Brendan Shannon of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., indicated he would sign off on the plan, subject to changes, despite attorneys for the U.S. trustee and Securities and Exchange Commission arguing against the broad protections offered to third parties that could shield them from future litigation. Remington’s plan was fully supported by its lenders and creditors, court papers show. In addition, the plan includes a $5 million litigation trust that could be used in the future to bring certain claims against stakeholders.

Struggling upstart film studio Relativity Media is getting another reboot, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Los Angeles company, which emerged from bankruptcy two years ago after being plagued by a string of box-office flops, has agreed to be acquired by a joint venture that intends to revitalize the business, which has a distribution deal with Netflix Inc. The venture, UltraV Holdings LLC, will acquire Relativity through a § 363 sale as part of a chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, the film studio said today. Relativity and related certain parties plan to file chapter 11 petitions with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the company said. UltraV Holdings comprises funds backed by Sound Point Capital Management, a New York asset management firm with $17 billion of assets under management, and RMRM Holdings. The joint venture intends to provide sufficient funds to the company so it can resume operations, including the development and distribution of content through Netflix and other platforms, Relativity said.

Hospital and Florence (Ariz.) Hospital at Anthem are seeking to force the hospitals into bankruptcy in an attempt to collect $1.96 million they claim the affiliated hospitals owe, according to court documents, Becker's Hospital Review reported. The involuntary chapter 11 petition for Florence Hospital — filed jointly by three employees — seeks $46,650 in wages. An unsecured creditors trust, the hospital's founder and CMO Timothy Johns, MD, and a Phoenix-based law firm filed Gilbert Hospital's involuntary bankruptcy petition, which seeks more than $1.9 million. This is the second time the hospitals have landed in bankruptcy court. The hospitals filed for voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014, according to court documents. In court documents filed May 1, creditors claim the hospitals have failed to make lease payments for months and that the facilities are "on the brink of complete shutdown." Read more. 

For more on hospital and health care insolvencies, be sure to pick up a copy of the ABI Health Care Insolvency Manual, Third Edition from the ABI Bookstore. 

The company that first made dried cranberries now has a footprint in the heart of cranberry country. Graceland Fruit of Frankfurt, Mich., announced on Monday that it will assume production of dried cranberries and cranberry juice at the CranGrow facility in Warrens, the Tomah Journal reported. CranGrow opened the $20 million facility in August 2016 but filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2017. A bankruptcy judge in Eau Claire, Mich., approved a plan in which CranGrow would lease the processing plant to Graceland and remain in business as a grower-owned cooperative. CranGrow will continue to own the building and operate a cranberry receiving station on the site.

The Weinstein Company yesterday named a Dallas private equity firm as the winning bidder in its bankruptcy sale, spurning an offer by the Broadway producer Howard Kagan, the New York Times reported. The victor — for now, at least, as a bankruptcy judge still has to sign off and the decision could be challenged by creditors — is Lantern Capital Partners. It entered the sale as the studio’s prearranged bidder, or “stalking horse,” which set a price floor. Lantern offered $310 million plus the assumption of about $115 million in debt. Lantern has no Hollywood experience as its portfolio includes underperforming auto dealerships and a company that recycles zinc. Lantern became involved with the Weinstein Company this year, when it agreed to help finance an attempt to help the troubled studio avert bankruptcy. That effort, led in part by the billionaire Ron Burkle, fell apart in March. The Weinstein Company imploded in October after dozens of women publicly accused its former chief executive, Harvey Weinstein, of sexual misconduct stretching back decades. It announced on March 19 that it would file for bankruptcy. The movie and television studio, once known for Oscar-winning films like “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist,” had less than $500,000 in cash. It was facing a mountain of debt and a swelling number of lawsuits, including one by New York’s attorney general.

Toys “R” Us (Canada) Ltd said on Friday that it received U.S. and Canadian court approval to sell itself to Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, Reuters reported. The sale, which also includes Babies “R” Us stores in Canada, is expected to close this quarter, the company said.

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel has agreed to end his pursuit of Gawker.com to avoid a potential lawsuit over his secretly funding litigation that drove the news and gossip blog’s publisher out of business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy. The agreement between Thiel, his firm Thiel Capital LLC and an adviser liquidating Gawker Media LLC was filed yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The agreement concludes more than a year of legal wrangling over a possible lawsuit and clears the way for a sale of Gawker, which ceased publishing in 2016 but remains on the web. Thiel has agreed to withdraw from the sale process and to provide the eventual buyer a legal release for articles in the Gawker archive. The release also covers writers who wrote articles for the site before the blog shut down, according to the filing. Lawyers for Gawker Media have asked a judge to sign off on the agreement. The sparring with Thiel was one of the last open issues in Gawker Media’s nearly two-year-old bankruptcy. Thiel funded retired professional wrestler Hulk Hogan’s successful legal case against Gawker over its publishing excerpts from a surreptitiously recorded video of a sexual encounter with the wife of his former friend, radio show host Bubba the Love Sponge.