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Hawaii Air Ambulance Inc., predecessor of Hawaii Life Flight, filed for bankruptcy following a lengthy battle with a former whistleblower employee, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported yesterday. The air medical transport company, which flew critically ill and injured patients between the islands until it merged in 2010 with AirMed Hawaii, listed former employee James P. Stone as one of two creditors. Stone was awarded $760,680 last year by the Hawaii Labor Relations Board for being wrongfully terminated in 2010 after complaining that his employer did not follow state and federal requirements when refueling planes, among other safety issues. The decision was affirmed by the First Circuit Court. An appeal by Hawaii Life Flight was dismissed in May by the Intermediate Court of Appeals, and the company has filed a second appeal. The bankruptcy was filed in the middle of the appeals process, essentially preventing the court from moving ahead with the case. The company listed assets of up to $50,000 and liabilities of $1 million to $10 million and estimates there will be no funds available to unsecured creditors after the bankruptcy.

Coal producer Alpha Natural Resources and its affiliates announced that the company has successfully emerged from chapter 11 protection, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported yesterday. The reorganized company is a smaller, privately held company operating 18 mines and eight plants in West Virginia and Kentucky. Alpha Natural Resources filed for chapter 11 last August. It bought Massey Energy Co. for $7.1 billion in 2011, making it the biggest U.S. producer of metallurgical coal, used in steelmaking — and steeped it in debt — before prices began to plunge.

Kleen Laundry has filed for bankruptcy production, citing a “challenging time” with its primary commercial customer base — hospitals to which it provides linen and uniform cleaning services, Valley News (N.H.) reported today. Kleen said the chapter 11 reorganization would allow it to continue operating while it renegotiated its debt. No details were available as to the size of its debt or the amount of its debt payments. But the company has gone through two major transactions in the past 10 years — the first in a 2006 sale to a private investor and the second in a merger with a Manchester laundry service company in 2012. The cleaner was quickly granted permission by the bankruptcy court judge to use $52,000 in cash collateral to pay wages and state and federal taxes, in addition to $20,000 to pay for liquefied natural gas to power its equipment. Kleen provides linen and laundry service to 26 northern New England hospitals and operates laundromats and retail dry-cleaning services at outlets. Kleen submitted to the bankruptcy court a budget of about $1.9 million in operating expenses through Oct. 21. The company’s payroll is estimated to run about $58,000 per week. The bankruptcy filing also listed a total of approximately $2.3 million in unsecured claims held by the 20 largest creditors.

A federal bankruptcy judge found that the Environmental Law & Policy Center and the Western Office of Resource Councils can proceed in petitioning the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement regarding Peabody Energy’s use of “self-bonding” for eventual clean-up of its coal mines, Midwest Energy News reported today. Peabody had strongly objected, but the judge ruled in the groups’ favor, deciding they can continue sending information to the federal enforcement office and demanding  regulators take action to limit Peabody’s self-bonding. The groups have been arguing that Peabody should have to put up real capital ahead of time or invest in an insurance policy or surety bonds to clean up mines, rather than be allowed to “self-bond,” or essentially promise that it will have enough money when the time comes.

Atlas Resource Partners LP said that it has reached a restructuring deal with nearly all of its lenders and bondholders that agreed to reduce its debt by $900 million in exchange for all the common equity in the new company when it emerges from chapter 11 proceedings, Natural Gas Intelligence reported yesterday. The company said it has entered a restructuring support agreement with all of its revolving credit facility lenders and second lien lenders and 80 percent of its senior noteholders. If completed, Atlas said the agreement would reduce the company's debt by $900 million and lower its interest expense by $80 million per year. The debt reduction would be achieved through the conversion of Atlas's $668 million in outstanding senior notes into 90 percent of the restructured company's common equity. The second-lien lenders would also receive 10 percent of the common equity in the new company, while Atlas's general partner, Atlas Energy Group LLC, would receive a 2 percent economic interest for providing administrative and operating services. The restructuring would establish a new senior secured credit facility of $440 million with a redetermination that would be suspended until May 2017 as long as the new company meets certain conditions. Atlas said the remaining debt on its books would be cleared with the proceeds from selling its natural gas and oil hedge positions. Atlas said that it plans to file the pre-packaged bankruptcy this week. If it emerges from those proceedings, it would be rebranded as Titan Energy LLC. Its management team would largely stay the same.

The Monday deadline for bids on the Mile High stadium naming rights set by Sports Authority’s national liquidator Hilco Streambank came and went without a lead bidder — although one likely will be identified by the end of the week, The Denver Post reported today. Hilco Streambank executive vice president Jack Hazan said several interested parties have approached his firm, though he declined provide details or discuss how the company has been marketing the naming rights. The liquidator last week extended the bid deadline to July 25, saying that, until recently, it had been too busy selling the retailer’s intellectual property and liquidating stores to focus on selling the naming rights. Englewood, Colo.-based Sports Authority declared bankruptcy in March, which put a large question mark over how much longer the retailer’s name would remain on Mile High, the Denver Broncos home field. Sports Authority is due to make a $3.6 million payment Aug. 1. Missing the deadline starts a 30-day grace period after which the naming rights return to the Metropolitan Football Stadium District and Denver Broncos. Hazan said that potential buyers would receive better financial terms from the liquidator, than if they deal directly with the district. Hilco Streambank has priced the deal at $3 million a year for the remaining five seasons left on Sports Authority’s contract.

Jumio Inc.’s former shareholders and the estate the online-identification-verification company left behind in bankruptcy have reached a broad settlement that winds down its bankruptcy, pays legal fees and protects Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin and other investors from future lawsuits stemming from the contentious chapter 11 case, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Jumio’s lawyer disclosed the outline of the complex deal, which took nearly 10 weeks to hammer out, during a bankruptcy court hearing in Wilmington, Del. The settlement is still subject to final approval from Judge Brendan Shannon. Jumio’s bankruptcy and subsequent sale inspired heated rhetoric and courtroom battles with shareholders, who faced being wiped out. Monday’s settlement leaves those shareholders with a trust intended to fund lawsuits against Jumio’s former officers and directors that, if successful, could one day help improve their recovery. The sale of Jumio’s core operating assets left behind a corporate shell with the rights to pursue certain lawsuits against Jumio’s former management and board members, which shareholders say may be the bankruptcy estate’s largest assets. Jumio filed for bankruptcy on March 21 and is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over stock trades by former executives. The investigation and scrutiny of its financials scared off new investments and left the company with little choice but to seek chapter 11 protection.

U.S. companies are failing to make debt payments at twice the pace they were a year ago and what’s worse, nearly eight months into 2016, there are already more defaults this year then there were in all of 2015, Fortune reported today. The data comes from a new report from Standard & Poors. In the past week, the number of U.S. companies that have failed to make debt payments rose by four to 71 — more than double the 34 U.S. companies that had defaulted at this time in 2015. None of the new defaults were big companies. Around the world, the number of corporate defaults reached 104 in 2016. That’s the fastest pace of defaults since the financial crisis. At least for now, the good news is that, in the immortal words of Ben Bernanke, the default crisis appears to be contained. Nonetheless, there have been some notable defaults this year outside of energy, among them New York supermarket chain Fairway, which filed for bankruptcy, and mall staple Claire’s Stores, which restructured its debt.