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Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. (CEOC) and a group of its lenders are seeking to block a creditor group from bringing more lawsuits in the casino company’s litigation-heavy bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. CEOC and the senior lenders that have already committed their support for the company’s restructuring filed papers on Friday opposing the official committee of unsecured creditors’ request to bring lawsuits — which the committee says CEOC can’t or won’t bring before the court. In their objections, CEOC and the lenders pointed to the progress they say the company has made in formulating its restructuring plan, as well as a settlement of various legal claims at the heart of the plan.

The collapse in oil prices has sent three-dozen companies into bankruptcy court this year — and that might not be nearly enough to balance the glutted market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Thirty-seven North American oil and gas producers have​ filed chapter 11 cases in 2015, according to law firm Haynes and Boone LLP. The cases involve $13.1 billion in debt, and “industry and economic indicators suggest more producer bankruptcy filings will occur before the year is out,” the law firm said a report. ​More may well be needed to bring production back into balance with demand, some investors say. “There’s been more efficiency in the space than we all expected, and that’s helped current owners hold on a little longer,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees $126 billion. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Learn more about oil and gas company bankruptcies with ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy. 

Gold mining company Atna Resources is seeking to restructure its debts and streamline its operations with the filing of chapter 11 protection, CFO.com reported yesterday. The Golden, Colo.-based company said yesterday that it had filed for protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado, and its indirect parent, Atna Canada, would also seek ancillary relief in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver. After defaulting on a loan and having just $200,000 in cash on hand, Atna said that it intended to restructure its business by attempting to sell assets, resolving various challenges relating to Atna’s main assets, and seeking to modify its capital structure.

A battle among Arch Coal Inc. creditors is intensifying as the miner prepares for a potential bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. A group of middle-tier bondholders hired law firm Brown Rudnick LLP to help protect their investments as the miner moves toward restructuring its $5.1 billion of debt in court proceedings. The creditors hold the miner’s $350 million of 8 percent second-lien bonds, which stand behind investors that hold $1.9 billion of first-lien loans. The hiring comes after Arch, the largest coal miner in the U.S. by volume after Peabody Energy Corp., said in a filing earlier this month that it was in talks with creditors on a “significant restructuring” of its balance sheet and it may file for chapter 11 protection regardless of whether it strikes a deal with creditors. 

To save its dwindling paper production business, Verso Corporation said it might sell off its Duluth mill to raise funds after a $111 million loss in its third quarter, the Twin Cities Business Magazine reported today. Following a $1.4 billion acquisition last year for its rival NewPage, Tenn.-based Verso has struggled to make a profit. The company has been burdened by declining demand, energy costs and high property taxes, which resulted in a $511 million loss for Verso in the last 12 months ending September 30. Verso said that it believes “that there is a substantial doubt about our ability to continue.” It will consider “restructuring alternatives” through either the sale or idling of certain mills. Another alternative, the company said, is a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi ruled yesterday that the resigning chief executive of Samson Resources Corp. won’t be paid outright a $760,000 bonus promised as part of his third-quarter compensation package, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Judge Sontchi said that he would allow CEO Randy Limbacher, who is stepping down next month, to have an unsecured claim for the amount of the bonus, but that he wouldn’t allow the company to pay the amount outright in full. Judge Sontchi said that Limbacher had earned the bonus, but it didn’t qualify for this priority payment.

Quaker Steak & Lube, the Sharon-based restaurant chain, has filed for bankruptcy protection and said it expects to be acquired by TravelCenters of America for $25 million, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today. The deal calls for Quaker Steak, with 50-plus locations in the U.S., to retain its brand and possibly expand under the new owner. TravelCenters of America has more than 500 quick- and full-service restaurants in 43 states. TravelCenters has already made a deposit on the acquisition, the companies said, and agreed to offer jobs to “substantially all” of Quaker Steak’s current employees.

A&P was granted another 120 days to file its bankruptcy plan, shifting the deadline to mid-March, and it was also given the green light to sell the Ramsey Pathmark to an Italian-themed supermarket chain, in court hearings on Friday, NJ.com reported on Saturday. Attorneys for A&P told Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain that the company still plans to close all of its remaining supermarkets by the end of November, but that it needs the additional time to sell its assets and present its plan for a chapter 11 reorganization. Ray Schrock, lead attorney for A&P, said that as of Friday the company had sold 119 stores to new owners, and 79 more supermarkets will be sold by Dec. 9. A&P is still seeking buyers for 57 supermarkets, Schrock said.

Dex Media is completing a deal with creditors that would put the company into chapter 11 proceedings in December, the company’s third trip to bankruptcy court in less than seven years, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported today. The telephone listings company, which has $2.3 billion of debt, is finalizing the pre-packaged bankruptcy plan with a group of its senior lenders. It plans to solicit support from a wider group of lenders before filing, with a target of the second week of December. Dex has been negotiating a debt reorganization with holders of more than $2 billion of loans since at least Sept. 30. The company, based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, said earlier this month that it received a proposal from the lender group. Separately, it’s been wrangling with a group of junior bondholders that have considered putting the media company into involuntary bankruptcy after it skipped a Sept. 30 interest payment.