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Peabody Energy Corp. failed to explain how it will cover future mine cleanup costs in a reorganization plan filed on Thursday, triggering concerns over the company's use of "self-bonds,” Reuters reported on Friday. Under a federal program called "self-bonding," large miners like Peabody have been allowed to extract coal without setting aside cash or collateral to ensure mined land is returned to its natural setting, as required by law. The practice came under scrutiny following bankruptcy filings by some of the largest U.S. coal miners because, without collateral set aside for mine reclamation, taxpayers are potentially exposed to billions of dollars in cleanup costs. Environmental groups have been following the bankruptcy to see whether Peabody, the world's largest private-sector coal producer, replaces roughly $1 billion of self-bonds with other guarantees, as rival Arch Coal Inc. did in its October bankruptcy reorganization. In its plan to eliminate over $5 billion of debt to emerge from chapter 11, Peabody said it will address its "self-bonding reclamation obligations in accordance with applicable laws and regulations," without providing details.

Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. and two other energy firms announced on Friday plans to file for bankruptcy in coming weeks, joining a long list of U.S. energy companies that have succumbed to a drop in oil prices, Reuters reported. Oil and gas producers Bonanza Creek and Memorial Production Partners LP and oilfield services provider Forbes Energy Services Ltd. each said that they had a plan to reduce debt and transfer ownership to creditors. Denver-based Bonanza Creek, with oil and natural gas assets in Colorado and Arkansas, said that it would file for bankruptcy on or before Jan. 5 with a plan to eliminate $850 million in debt and provide $200 million in new equity. Memorial Production, with oil and gas assets in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado and California, said that it would file for chapter 11 in coming weeks with a plan to eliminate $1.3 billion of debt. Meanwhile, Forbes Energy said it had reached a prepackaged plan with lenders and would file for bankruptcy in Houston on or before Jan. 23, 2017. As of Dec. 14, 114 oil and gas producers had filed for bankruptcy in 2016 with $57 billion in total debt, more than double the number of filings in 2015, according to Haynes & Boone. Read more. 

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Barwood Inc., the parent firm of the largest cab company in Montgomery County, Md., filed for chapter 11 protection this week, pointing to ride-sharing companies like Uber as a primary reason for declining revenues, the Washington Business Journal reported today. The company stated it has 57 employees, but that number doesn’t account for the taxi drivers who rent vehicles from Barwood. According to bankruptcy filings, Barwood posted revenues of approximately $7.1 million in 2015 and $3.3 million through the first seven-plus months of 2016. The company, which operates a fleet of more than 450 vehicles, says it has roughly $4.5 million in assets and $5.4 million in liabilities. Barwood filed for bankruptcy in 2007 and funded its reorganization by selling personal vehicle licenses.

Dependable Auto Shippers Inc., a Texas-based auto hauler, filed for bankruptcy, blaming its financial woes on debt it took on to buy 25 trucks in 2015, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The privately held company, which moves vehicles across the country with a fleet of auto carriers and a network of more than 97 storage facilities, filed on Wednesday for chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas. In early 2016, Independent Bankers Capital Fund II LP and Paragon LLC pumped $3 million into Dependable Auto by purchasing equity in hopes that Dependable Auto could pay off past due creditors and improve operations. But the cash infusion came too late to turn the company around. As company revenue declined, Dependable Auto Shippers began selling its trucks to improve its finances. When it filed for bankruptcy, the company only owned one truck, which it plans to sell.

Troubled Dakota Plains Holdings has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to sell substantially all of its assets to a Houston-based company for $8.55 million, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today. Dakota Plains, which loads oil into rail cars in North Dakota, has been bleeding red ink while its stock has been trading at less than 1 cent. Six of Dakota Plains' subsidiaries filed chapter 11 on Tuesday along with their parent company in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota. While Dakota Plains has been floundering for some time, it has been in the news over the past year mostly because its two co-founders — Ryan Gilbertson and Michael Reger — have been targets of a federal securities investigation surrounding the company's initial public offering. BioUrja Trading of Houston has made a stalking-horse bid of $8.55 million for Dakota Plains. In its bankruptcy filing, Dakota Plains listed assets of $3.1 million and debts of $75.4 million.

Leading global coal producer Peabody Energy said that its main creditors support a plan to wipe more than $5 billion of debt from its balance sheet and exit the largest energy-related U.S. bankruptcy this year, Reuters reported yesterday. Under a reorganization plan filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis, Peabody said that it expects to cut its debt to $1.95 billion from more than $8 billion when it emerges from chapter 11 in the second quarter of 2017. The company's plan contemplates a $750 million rights offering, a $750 million private placement and the issuance of new common stock. The company said that it has the support of the vast majority of its creditors. Peabody filed for bankruptcy in April.

The parent company of Arlington, Va., steakhouse Ray’s The Steaks has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in the past two years, the Washington Business Journal reported today. MLRG Inc. filed the petition for chapter 11 protection in late October. The filing lists assets and liabilities of between $500,000 and $1 million. Two companies affiliated with Ray’s, including MLRG Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2015, though both of those cases were withdrawn after owner Michael Landrum settled a separate case with the landlord of his D.C. location of Ray’s Hell Burger.

The failed taxi-booking app Karhoo, a London-based startup that once planned to be in 400 cities by the end of 2020, has filed for bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Karhoo app, which let customers to compare cab fares on smartphones before booking a ride, faces a collection lawsuit in New York and risks losing some of its more than 700 contracts with taxi fleet owners and dispatchers. Karhoo officials who found a buyer for the company’s blueprints are asking a U.S. bankruptcy judge to halt lawsuit and protect the contracts until the deal is completed. Founded in November 2014 by entrepreneur Daniel Ishag, Karhoo ran out of money after expanding from London to nine other English cities, Paris and Singapore. Karhoo’s board decided on Nov. 7 to pull the plug on operations, laying off its roughly 200 workers who are still waiting to collect nearly $1.9 million in wages, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Marshalltown, Iowa’s, struggling hospital has filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors as it reorganizes for a sale, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Central Iowa Healthcare asked the court in its Tuesday bankruptcy filing to approve a plan to sell substantially all of its assets to UnityPoint Health–Waterloo, an affiliate of UnityPoint Health. Under the bankruptcy plan, all of Central Iowa’s operations would operate without interruption. The operations include the 49-bed hospital, emergency department, primary care clinics in Conrad, Marshalltown, State Center and Tama-Toledo, and its outpatient center.

Modular Space Corp. has filed for protection from creditors in the U.S. and Canada, to implement a plan to rework its $1 billion load of long-term debt, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Business will continue as usual during what is expected to be a brief bankruptcy stay for ModSpace, which makes, leases and sells office trailers, mobile offices, temporary classrooms, modular office complexes and portable storage units. A restructuring that will cut into the debt load by swapping out about $400 million worth of debt for equity was negotiated in advance of the bankruptcy filing in the U.S. and the initiation of Canadian restructuring proceedings in Toronto. ModSpace launched workout talks after a $1.75 billion merger with Williams Scotsman International Inc. fell through in August, after some backers dropped out to cope with the effects of Britain’s exit from the European union, court papers say.