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Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers yesterday approved a $21 million plan to compensate about 380 people who allege they were sexually abused by the clergy of Montana’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Judge Myers had been widely expected to sign off on the plan, which drew no objections and was approved by more than 98 percent of the alleged victims when put to a vote earlier this year. The plan will settle about 380 sexual-abuse claims brought against the Helena diocese, 235 of which were filed jointly against both the diocese and the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province, a religious order of nuns. The settlement also resolves the claims against the Ursuline Sisters. The judge’s signature also clears the way for the diocese to exit chapter 11 protection later this year.

The West Virginia Senate on Friday passed Senate Bill 411, which creates the Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust Claims Transparency Act and the Asbestos and Silica Claims Priorities Act, the Huntington (W. Va.) News reported on Saturday. The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Tom Takubo (R) establishes legal standards and procedures for the handling of certain asbestos and silica claims. Additionally, the bill establishes medical criteria procedures, statute of limitations standards, and requires disclosure of existing and potential asbestos bankruptcy trust claims. “As a pulmonary doctor, I’m pleased that the Senate voted today with full bipartisan support to protect funds for West Virginians who are affected by asbestos-related injuries,” Senator Takubo said. “We must ensure funds are healthy five to 10 years from now to help pay for medical bills and family expenses, and this legislation will allow us to do that.”

Creditors have come to terms with RadioShack Corp. over bonuses top-ranking insiders stand to earn in the weeks ahead, as the retailer attempts to save a slice of its battered collection of stores, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Jay Indyke, lawyer for the official committee representing suppliers, landlords and others owed upwards of $500 million, said yesterday that the panel has negotiated a resolution with the company over the pay-enhancement request. A bankruptcy judge must sign off on the bonus program, which faces opposition from federal bankruptcy watchdogs. On Saturday, U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara filed papers saying that RadioShack is paying too much for too little in the way of performance from its leaders.

A U.S. appeals court ruled yesterday that an elderly Manhattan woman's rent-stabilized lease could not be seized and sold to satisfy her creditors after she filed for bankruptcy, a decision that could affect more than 2 million New Yorkers, Reuters reported yesterday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that Mary Santiago-Monteverde's lease, which she has had for more than four decades, qualified as a "local public assistance benefit" that state law places off-limits to bankruptcy creditors. The court said that the public assistance exemption was designed to protect debtors' essential needs, including housing. Nearly 2.2 million residents of New York City live in rent-stabilized apartments, according to its Rent Guidelines Board.

A Manhattan federal judge ordered Samuel Wyly to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $198.1 million for violating securities laws, while saying that the estate of his deceased brother is liable for $101.2 million more, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The judgment is the culmination of a lawsuit begun in 2010 against the brothers, who helped build companies including arts-and-crafts retailer Michaels Stores Inc. The SEC accused them of improperly using offshore trusts to trade in securities of four companies on whose boards they sat. A jury found against the Wylys in May. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan fixed damages in September and December. She entered the final judgment on Thursday, opening the way for any appeals. The Wylys can try to have the verdict thrown out or the damages reduced, while the SEC can seek more money.

Lawyers who sold the Girls Gone Wild porn empire out of bankruptcy are accusing founder Joe Francis of illegally spending the company’s cash on the palatial estate he built near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In a recent lawsuit, lawyers who are trying to pay Girls Gone Wild’s older debts are trying to get back more than $2.2 million that was spent on the upkeep of the Casa Aramara estate, where the Kardashians have been photographed bobbing in the ocean waves off Mexico’s Pacific coast. The 40,000-square-foot property rents for up to $17,000 a night — plus a required $15,000 security deposit — during tourist season, according to its website.

Solus Alternative Asset Management LP said its proposal to pump $2 billion into LightSquared is better than the plan the company has presented, which involves little new money and puts the company in the hands of investors including Centerbridge Partners LP and Fortress Investment Group LLC, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The LightSquared proposal "unfairly discriminates" against other creditors in favor of Fortress, Centerbridge and an entity controlled by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Solus said in one of its two Wednesday filings. Solus wants its proposal to be heard on the same timetable as the LightSquared plan. Judge Shelley C. Chapman yesterday denied Solus's request to shorten the timetable for its plan, but did say that it can be discussed at a hearing next Wednesday.

The bankrupt main operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp. has asked that an outsider be summoned to probe alleged insider-led looting of the gambling operation, a request slated for court review next week, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The call for a probe of its own affairs was an unusual, perhaps unprecedented move by the Las Vegas casino operating unit, which was being pursued through the courts of two states by angry investors ever since it filed for chapter 11 protection Jan. 15. It provoked an even more unusual, perhaps unprecedented response by the trustee for bondholders owed $479 million. Forget about an examiner for now, and just let creditors with money riding on Caesars’ bankruptcy conduct their own investigations, said Wilmington Trust, trustee for investors in senior unsecured notes. Caesars “requested an examination of the challenged transactions, not to find out what they did or what they should do now to remedy their wrongs, but rather to forestall creditor investigations and access to documents,” lawyers for the bond trustee wrote.

The electricity provider for Atlantic City's Revel Casino Hotel has asked a U.S. bankruptcy court to liquidate the casino, saying the latest deal to sell the shuttered property is unfair, Reuters reported yesterday. ACR Energy Partners — which built and operates an power plant for Revel because the casino could not raise the money itself — said a deal to sell the property to Florida developer Glenn Straub for just $82 million would leave the utility with nothing. ACR said that it was owed more than $12 million before Revel filed for bankruptcy in June, and the casino has racked up $20 million more in unpaid bills since then. Revel's handling of the case has saddled the casino with "tens of millions of dollars" of unnecessary costs and a bankruptcy loan that will leave unpaid claims from ACR and others, the utility said late on Wednesday in a motion to convert Revel's case to a chapter 7 liquidation.