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Seventh Circuit Lays Down an Easy Standard for Enjoining Suits Against Third Parties
Suit in Violation of the Stay Must Be Dismissed
Sinbad’s Restaurant Owners File for Bankruptcy Ahead of Eviction
The owners of Sinbad’s Restaurant at Pier 2 in San Francisco have filed for bankruptcy ahead of Wednesday’s planned eviction, according to Port of San Francisco officials, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today. The longtime waterfront restaurant had previously agreed to vacate its site on The Embarcadero in March to make way for a new $65 million ferry terminal, but the owners instead sued to remain at the pier until next year. A jury ruled in July that Sinbad’s could no longer occupy the premises, and a judge gave the restaurant until the end of September to remove its property.
Coal Miner Walter Energy Files for Bankruptcy
Walter Energy Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, becoming the latest coal miner to do so as they struggle with a steep fall in prices since 2011, Reuters reported yesterday. The company said that only its U.S. units have filed for a pre-packaged chapter 11 protection, and that operations in Canada and the UK are not included in the filings. Walter Energy, which has coal mines in Alabama and West Virginia, said terms of the restructuring assume senior lenders will convert all of their debt into equity. The Birmingham, Ala.-based company also said it had enough cash to assure that vendors and suppliers would be paid during the reorganization process.

Milagro Oil & Gas Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Milagro Oil & Gas filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, joining the ranks of energy companies seeking refuge from diving commodity prices, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Houston company has an agreement with major creditors that calls for it to swap its oil and gas assets to White Oak Resources VI LLC in exchange for $120 million in cash plus about $97 million in equity in White Oak. Described in court papers, Milagro’s restructuring strategy is designed to pay off about $88 million in top-ranking debt, and swap or sell equity in the reorganized Milagro to second lien noteholders, in exchange for $250 million worth of existing debt and new value from a rights offering. Milagro said that it has been trying for “several years” to find a way out of financial trouble caused by declining crude oil and natural gas prices. Despite those efforts, the company found itself “hamstrung by the same commodities pricing issues that had plagued their ability to generate profits since 2008,” according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Read more. (Subscription required.)
For an in-depth look at issues surrounding oil and gas bankruptcies, be sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy.

F-Squared Investments Files for Bankruptcy; Good Harbor Financial Affiliate Will Buy F-Squared’s Strategies
An affiliate of Good Harbor Financial announced its plans to acquire beleaguered F-Squared Investments’ intellectual property yesterday, Barron’s reported. The announcement comes as F-Squared, recently the largest manager of exchange-traded fund portfolios, filed for chapter 11 protection. Wellesley, Mass.-based F-Squared agreed to pay $35 million last year to settle fraud charges related to false performance advertising in its flagship investment product. It’s been bleeding assets ever since, and was reportedly up for sale.

Boomerang Tube files for Chapter 11
Boomerang Tube LLC, a maker of pipes and tubes for oil and natural gas companies, filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, becoming the latest victim of the slide in oil prices, Reuters reported yesterday. The proposed restructuring will convert about $214 million of the company's debt under its term loan into equity, Boomerang Tube said in its filing. The reorganized company will also issue $55 million in new debt, the filing said. St. Louis, Missouri-based Boomerang Tube, which was bought by Access Tubulars LLC in 2008, said that it had total assets of about $299 million and total liabilities of about $461 million, as of March 31.

Caesars' Creditors Appeal Bankruptcy Start Date, Cite $468 Million Lawsuit
Timing is everything for creditors appealing the start date of the bankruptcy filing for Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s operating company in hopes of unlocking $468 million in value, Reuters reported yesterday. Caesars' unsecured creditors' committee yesterday asked a federal judge to review an April 29 ruling that Caesars is not obligated to consent to a forced bankruptcy case filed by creditors on Jan. 12. Caesars voluntarily filed for chapter 11 protection three days later, on Jan. 15. The unsecured creditors separately asked Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar to force Caesars to consent to the Jan. 12 case because they say Caesars might have cost them money by waiting. Caesars in October granted certain stakeholders a lien on as much as $468 million in cash to earn their support for its proposed restructuring. It waited until Jan. 15 to file for bankruptcy so the lien would be outside a statutory 90-day window to challenge certain pre-bankruptcy payments, the unsecured creditors argue. The unsecured creditors want to bring the case back within that window by enforcing the Jan. 12 filing, as invalidating the lien would free up the money for other creditors.

Archdiocese Asks Bankruptcy Court for More Time to Reorganize
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has asked a federal bankruptcy court to extend its deadline for filing a reorganization plan to Nov. 30, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on Saturday. The Bankruptcy Code gives the archdiocese exclusive rights to propose a reorganization plan within 120 days of petitioning for chapter 11 bankruptcy, which it did on Jan. 16. The court can extend that “exclusivity period” for good cause. The archdiocese argued that it needed more time to work with insurance carriers to determine liability. It entered into mediation with the carriers, abuse victim creditors and other creditors shortly after filing for Chapter 11. The bankruptcy came in response to an unprecedented wave of clergy abuse lawsuits filed since 2013.