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A $338 million settlement fund for victims of a fiery train derailment that claimed 47 lives in Canada is poised for final approval, but payments could be held up by a legal challenge from one of that country’s largest railways, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Canadian Pacific, which opposes the settlement fund, declined to contribute because it contends others were responsible for the tragedy. If the settlement is approved, Canadian Pacific would be left open to lawsuits while those the railroad considers to be responsible would be shielded from further legal battles by the agreement. But Robert Keach, the bankruptcy trustee in the case, said that the railroad is engaging in a “cynical” ploy to delay payments to victims to further its own negotiating position in settlement talks. “If they really thought that they were completely innocent and that they had no liability, then they would let the distribution proceed and they would defend themselves in court,” he said.

The operator of the A&P supermarket chain won bankruptcy court approval to sell 95 of its stores for $370 million, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Acme Markets Inc. is buying 71 stores from Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. for $246 million, while Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. is taking on 24 locations for $124 million. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain approved the sales at a hearing yesterday. The deals will keep more than 10,750 people employed. Acme and Stop & Shop expect to reach labor agreements with the union representing workers at those stores, Ray Schrock, a lawyer for A&P, said at the hearing. An auction will be held on Oct. 1 and 2 for other company assets. About 128 bids have been received and an additional auction may be necessary, Schrock said.

A judge yesterday cleared the way for Energy Future Holding Corp. to begin seeking creditor approval for a plan to end its massive bankruptcy, but also warned Texas's biggest power company that last-minute changes may endanger its chapter 11 exit, Reuters reported. The company has spent 18 months hammering out deals with its complicated web of creditors to reduce its $42 billion of debt. On Friday, Energy Future made last-minute changes to its plan to appease more creditors. However, the changes included dropping a proposal to pay cash to holders of some $1.9 billion in bonds, and instead reinstate some of the bonds. The plan also transferred the obligation for the bonds from the corporate parent to the company's power generation business. "The debtors are putting all their eggs in the basket that these creditors are unimpaired," Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi said yesterday. Hearings to confirm Energy Future's bankruptcy exit plan begin on Nov. 3.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Tampa, Fla., tossed out a defamation lawsuit against Casey Anthony on Friday, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Saturday. Zenaida Gonzalez claimed she was defamed when Anthony accused a baby sitter with a similar name of kidnapping her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008. Bankruptcy Judge Rodney May said that Anthony's statements about the baby sitter were not intended to hurt Gonzalez and weren't malicious. Anthony's description of the baby sitter actually did not match Gonzalez, Judge May wrote. Gonzalez's defamation case originally was filed in state court. It was moved to the federal bankruptcy court in Tampa after Anthony filed for bankruptcy.

Jurors deliberating the guilt of three former Dewey & LeBoeuf executives now have hundreds of pages of documents at their disposal, including dozens of emails that were entered into evidence during the course of a nearly four-month-long trial, the American Lawyer reported today. Friday was the second full day of deliberations in the criminal trial of former Dewey & LeBoeuf chair Steven Davis, former executive director Stephen DiCarmine and former chief financial officer Joel Sanders. The three have been accused of orchestrating a scheme to doctor their firm’s records in order to paint a more positive financial picture for lenders and investors. Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Robert Stolz, who is presiding over the case, read off the numbers of each of the exhibits the jurors requested. Assistant District Attorney Peirce Moser handed over the evidence in the form of three black binders, two of which were about five inches thick. The jurors also wanted guidance on how to weigh the charges, which include counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, scheming to defraud, falsifying business records and violating New York's Martin Act.

Troubled retailer USA Discounters, which has been accused of scamming its military customers, will keep its chapter 11 case in one of the nation's busiest bankruptcy courts, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi recently ordered USA Discounters to defend its choice of the Delaware court over "some other appropriate venue," such as a Virginia court closer to its corporate headquarters. After hearing from the company and its creditors that the case should remain in Delaware, Judge Sontchi found that the company's choice of venue was legal and that other concerns — such as the convenience of creditors and the interest of justice — either support keeping the case in Delaware or were "neutral."

Grocery chain Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., commonly known as A&P, paid out $9.4 million in bonuses and other extra payments to insiders in the 12 months before its July bankruptcy but hasn't publicly named the recipients in court filings, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. According to court documents, eight A&P officers and directors received the money, which included $1.3 million in the form of bonuses. Another $6 million, doled out in April, is labeled as trust contributions, while $2.1 million in payments was reported as board/consulting fees. The extra pay was part of $13 million collected by a dozen unnamed officers and directors, a total that also included salary, benefits and expense reimbursements.

Harvard University’s endowment manager is taking a hit from the collapse of Global Maritime Investments Cyprus Ltd., a hedge-fund-turned-dry-bulk shipper that filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Harvard Management Co., which oversees Harvard’s $36 billion endowment, owns 48 percent of Global Maritime, which filed for chapter 11 protection on Tuesday. An affiliate of the endowment manager has agreed to lend $2 million to the company to safeguard Global Maritime’s ships around the globe from being seized by creditors. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman gave interim approval yesterday to Global Maritime to tap a portion of the bankruptcy loan to keep its oceangoing fleet on the high seas as it winds down its business.

Oaktree Capital Group LLC and Blackstone Group LP are gearing up to fight bankrupt Samson Resources Corp.’s plan to hand itself over to lenders led by Cerberus Capital Management LP, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The holders of Samson’s $2.25 billion of 9.75 percent senior unsecured notes maturing February 2020 argue that oil and gas prices have dropped so low that the $1 billion second-lien term loan held by the Cerberus group is now worthless. Under the plan now in place, Cerberus and other lenders including Silver Point Capital LP and Anschutz Investment Co. would cancel the debt Samson owes them in exchange for ownership. They would then use as much as $485 million to pay down first-lien debt that ranks ahead of them and fund operations. Under that scenario, the bondholders claim that they would be wiped out.

Energy Future Holdings Corp. got the nod from a bankruptcy judge Thursday to sign a pact with creditors that pledged to support a path out of chapter 11, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Approval from Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi gets Energy Future over the first hurdle in a process that is designed to split the company in two, pay off creditors with equity or cash, and bring the company’s chapter 11 proceeding to a close. Energy Future’s chapter 11 exit proposal still faces a couple of rounds of court tests and a review by tax and energy regulators.