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Albertsons Cos. has settled legal quarrels with West Coast grocer Haggen Holdings LLC, which filed for bankruptcy less than a year after buying 146 stores from Albertsons, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Described in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the settlement is worth up to $14 million for Haggen’s unsecured creditors, including $5.8 million in cash contributed by Albertsons. The settlement allows Albertsons and Haggen to walk away from civil disputes stemming from a deal blessed by the Federal Trade Commission. The settlement is subject to court approval. Albertsons sold the big string of stores to Haggen in January 2015 to get antitrust clearance to buy Safeway Inc.

The leading U.S. regulator for the coal industry on Friday said that it suspects Wyoming officials have wrongly allowed mining companies to forego cleanup insurance, Reuters reported. The notice begins a formal federal review by the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement. If federal officials find wrongdoing or an abuse under the law, they could assume oversight of the industry in Wyoming. Specifically, federal regulators want to know whether two now-bankrupt mining companies, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources, have the wherewithal to cover several hundred million of dollars in future cleanup costs. At issue is a practice known as self-bonding, allowed under a decades-old mining program, in which some of the country's biggest coal companies forego insurance on a portion of future mine cleanup costs. Officials estimate that roughly $3.6 billion in self-bond liabilities could fall to taxpayers and "it is a big issue," Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell told Congress in December.

A U.S. judge will decide on Monday whether teen retailer American Apparel can exit bankruptcy under the control of hedge funds or if he will allow a takeover bid by investors working with its controversial former chief executive, Dov Charney, Reuters reported yesterday. Los Angeles-based American Apparel Inc., known for its "Made in the U.S.A." fashion and sexually charged advertising, wants approval for a bankruptcy-ending deal that would cede control to hedge fund bondholders, including Monarch Alternative Capital. Charney has challenged that deal, and wants Bankruptcy Judge <b>Brendan Shannon</b> to reject the company plan and allow his partners to pursue their $300 million takeover. That bid is backed by two investment funds, Hagan Capital Group and Silver Creek Capital Partners, but was recently rejected by the company's board.

American Apparel's chief executive told a bankruptcy judge yesterday the retailer could become embroiled in drawn-out litigation if it accepted a takeover bid being championed by its founder and former CEO Dov Charney, Reuters reported yesterday. Los Angeles-based American Apparel Inc., known for its "Made in the U.S.A.” fashion and sexually charged advertising, joined other teen-focused retailers by filing for bankruptcy in October due to changing shopping habits. The company is seeking court approval of a bankruptcy exit plan backed by a group of hedge funds. Charney has objected and is trying to convince the judge to allow a takeover backed by competing investment funds, Hagan Capital Group and Silver Creek Capital Partners, is a better deal. Last week, the company's board rejected the $300 million takeover bid involving Charney. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon must decide if the hedge fund-backed plan, which has the support of a committee of the company's creditors, is fair and feasible.

A U.S. judge yesterday opened the door to dismissing the $18 billion Caesars bankruptcy case unless parties find a way to make public results of a probe into whether the casino operator transferred its most profitable properties to new owners before filing to reorganize under chapter 11, Reuters reported yesterday. If Caesars insists that the report remain sealed, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar said that he might dismiss the bankruptcy case, or convert it from chapter 11 reorganization to a chapter 7 liquidation "which would be a hoot." In March, Judge Goldgar ordered an independent investigation into creditor accusations that Caesars Entertainment Corp. had stripped its casino operating unit of its best assets. As the investigation nears its close, a lawyer for examiner Richard Davis said in court yesterday that Caesars and its unit had asked for the report, which contains some 7 million pages, to be filed under seal. "You can't have a bankruptcy process dependent on an examiner's report (...) on the theory that the report will then allow everyone to walk away smiling and holding hands and then object to it ever being released," Judge Goldgar said. He agreed to allow a redacted version of the report, which could be ready by the end of February, to be filed temporarily alongside a public summary, but told the examiner to go back to the drawing board for a procedure to release the full report.

American Apparel's former chief executive officer Dov Charney will take the stand in Bankruptcy Court today in a last-ditch effort to wrest control of the ailing teen retailer from a group of hedge funds, Reuters reported yesterday. Los Angeles-based American Apparel Inc, known for its "Made in the U.S.A." fashion, filed for bankruptcy in October, saddled by debt, excess inventory and millions of dollars in legal claims tied to Charney. American Apparel wants approval for a plan that will bring the company out of bankruptcy under the control of hedge fund investors, including Standard General and Monarch Alternative Capital. Last week the company's board rejected a $300 million takeover bid involving Charney. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon must decide if the hedge fund-backed plan, which has the backing of a committee of the company's creditors, is fair and feasible.

The former operator of Asics stores, including its now-closed flagship U.S. location in Times Square, has filed for chapter 11 protection amid a dispute with the running shoe maker, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Windsor Financial Group LLC on Friday sought protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, court papers show, following what it says was the improper termination of a licensing agreement that allowed Windsor to operate 13 Asics stores in the U.S., which are now closed. According to Windsor Chief Executive Armando Ruiz, the stores that Windsor operated helped Asics’s U.S. unit surpass its native Japan as the company’s top region, with sales topping $1 billion in 2014. But Windsor and Asics’s partnership later soured. In July, Asics America Corp. sued Windsor in a California federal court, seeking nearly $6 million owed under the licensing agreement and trying to stop Windsor from continuing to sell Asics products at its stores. Then in October, Windsor’s investors sued Asics for allegedly withholding inventory and support for marketing activities.