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The Boy Scouts of America asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a plea by some sex-abuse victims to put on hold a $2.4 billion settlement that allowed the youth organization to exit bankruptcy last year, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. In a response filed late Thursday, lawyers for the Boy Scouts said that putting a stop to the distribution of funds to abuse victims that got under way last year would be unfair to the more than 99% of survivors who are not seeking to stay the Boy Scouts’ chapter 11 plan. A fraction of more than 82,000 survivors who filed sex-abuse claims against the organization asked the Supreme Court in recent weeks to suspend settlement payments while the court reviews a challenge to opioid maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan. Lawyers pushing to pause the Boy Scouts settlement payments argued that a central feature of the Boy Scouts deal is similar to Purdue Pharma’s chapter 11 plan that is under an expedited review in the U.S. Supreme Court. Both restructuring plans would grant legal immunity to third parties who themselves didn’t file for bankruptcy but have close ties to the organizations. The Purdue settlement releases the company’s Sackler family owners from future liabilities related to opioid addiction in return for payments of up to $6 billion over time. Similarly, the Boy Scouts settlement shields the youth organization’s local councils and its partner organizations, which sponsor most scouting activities, from future sex-abuse claims.

Robertshaw U.S. Holding has filed for bankruptcy as the appliance parts maker seeks to cut debt by roughly $670 million and resolve lender litigation, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company, owned by One Rock Capital Partners, has a proposed restructuring agreement to be acquired by a group that includes secured lenders Bain Capital, Eaton Vance and Canyon Partners, according to a Thursday filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. Robertshaw also will consider other offers through a court-supervised sale process. The deal would need court approval to take effect. Robertshaw owes $833 million to secured lenders, as well as $37 million to vendors and services suppliers, the court paper shows. Besides “looming maturities and a challenging capital structure,” Robertshaw is still dealing with the enduring impact of pandemic-era product shortages and supply-chain disruptions, Chief Executive John Hewitt said in a sworn declaration. Also, a relocation of a major product line that was intended to reduce costs instead created inefficiencies, which actually increased costs, Hewitt said. Robertshaw hopes to resolve lawsuits filed last year by creditors left behind from financing deals the company made earlier 2023. Robertshaw said it is suing Guardian Life Insurance and Invesco during its bankruptcy proceedings, seeking a ruling that its 2023 transactions were valid.

Landlords that aren’t engaging in lease negotiations with WeWork can tap letters of credit to cover rent the bankrupt co-working space provider is withholding, the company said in a filing, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The brief was submitted on Wednesday to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, N.J., in response to petitions from roughly 20 landlords who requested the court’s intervention to collect January and February rent payments. The New York-based company said in the filing that the “vast majority” of those landlords have access to letters of credit, a financial instrument that serves as an alternative to a traditional cash security deposit. Those landlords should go ahead and draw funds from the banks that issued the letters of credit on behalf of WeWork to cover the overdue rents, the company said in the filing. Lawyers for the landlords have argued in their filings that bankruptcy code requires WeWork to make rent payments without delay because they are considered administrative costs that are first in line to be paid as they come due. A number of previous bankruptcy cases indicated that security deposits shouldn’t be depleted to satisfy administrative costs, the lawyers said. WeWork has been in violation of bankruptcy rules by not making rent payments, they said.

A group of Democratic lawmakers are asking Bregal Partners, the former private equity parent of New Bedford-based Blue Harvest, to provide answers by the end of this month about where funds went from the East Coast whitefish company's bankruptcy, IntraFish.com reported. Bregal Partners netted an estimated $100 million for itself by selling off assets in the two years prior to declaring bankruptcy, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) wrote to Bregal's Managing Partner Charles Yoon on Monday. "Rather than using the money to settle the debts owed to the small businesses of New Bedford," the letter said, "Bregal Partners shielded these assets from Blue Harvest’s bankruptcy filing in Delaware and pocketed the profits for itself, as it has repeatedly done throughout its 'eight-year roll up of the New Bedford fishing industry.'" The request comes nearly four years after two of the senators praised Blue Harvest for being awarded a highly sought after US Department of Agriculture (USDA) groundfish contract for just over $4.4 million. Bregal sold Blue Harvest to C&P Trawlers last November for $12 million. Mark Felger, co-chair of bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring with the Massachusetts firm Cozen O'Connor, confirmed with IntraFish that the sale closed in December. He said that it was unlikely the sale would cover all of the nearly $23 million Blue Harvest owes to senior bank lenders, according to bankruptcy documents.

The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration Inc. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, demanding its founder repay an improperly authorized $100 million loan allegedly taken from the nonprofit’s trust accounts, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported. Between 2009 and 2020, the St. Petersburg-based trust administrator alleges founder Leo J. Govoni sidestepped management to approve the transfer of the funds to Boston Finance Group, one of the various companies he owns and operates, according to bankruptcy documents filed in the Middle District of Florida on Feb. 9. The center filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, in part to facilitate an ongoing investigation into the misuse of the funds, a recovery of the money, and to preserve the value of its assets while it restructures, according to the filing. The Center for Special Needs manages more than $200 million in over 2,000 special needs trusts across the U.S., which function as specialized funds for disabled individuals to receive public assistance benefits like supplemental security income and Medicaid. Govoni disputes the allegations and characterizations made in the filing as to the mishandling of the center’s funds and looks forward to resolving the issue through the bankruptcy process or otherwise, his attorney said.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, asking a judge to determine how much the FDIC must pay to cover an estimated $1.45 billion tax debt owed by the failed Silicon Valley Bank, Reuters reported. The FDIC, which seized SVB and its assets in March 2023, has denied the entire tax claim, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Washington. The IRS said the court should overrule the FDIC's decision to deny the tax claim, and make a new determination on the validity and amount of taxes owed. The FDIC is acting as a receiver for the bank, gathering the bank's assets and using them to repay SVB's creditors. The IRS said that its initial $1.45 billion claim was an estimated total for taxes due between 2020 and 2023, and that it was still reviewing SVB's tax returns when it filed the claim. The IRS later learned that some of the employment taxes included in its claim have already been paid. The IRS and the FDIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the dispute. Santa Clara, California-based SVB became one of the largest bank failures in U.S. history when it collapsed on March 10, sending shockwaves through the regional banking industry in the U.S. and disrupting many tech startups that housed their cash at the bank. The FDIC has also been sued by SVB Financial, SVB's former parent company, over its seizure of $1.93 billion in cash during its takeover of the bank.

A filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the district of Nevada on February 9 shows that Career College of Northern Nevada filed for bankruptcy on the day it unexpectedly closed. Students who were enrolled at the institution or were on an approved leave of absence on the 9th, or who withdrew from a training program within 180 days of the 9th, may qualify for a Closed School Discharge. Students who paid tuition fees without using U.S. Department of Education Student Financial Aid should contact the Nevada Commission of Postsecondary Education to file for reimbursement through the state's Tuition Recovery Fund.

Bankrupt coworking-space provider WeWork said it owes 160 landlords no rents for the month of November, according to a court filing, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company said in a Wednesday bankruptcy court filing that those landlords who disagree with the listed amount of the so-called stub rent “must first engage in a good-faith attempt to resolve such disagreement with [WeWork] before filing their proof of claim.” WeWork filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 6 after struggling with a downturn in the office market. Unless the company rejected the leases as of that date, it owes its landlords the stub rent from the petition date to the end of November, according to bankruptcy code and case law in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. That circuit covers the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New Jersey that handles WeWork’s bankruptcy case. The filing came as a surprise for those landlords listed in the document along with the amount zero.