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Commercial chapter 11 filings increased 105 percent in May 2023 to 680 versus the 332 filings in May 2022, according to data provided by Epiq Bankruptcy, the leading provider of U.S. bankruptcy filing data. Nearly half of the chapter 11 filings were made by corporate subsidiaries. Overall commercial filings increased 31 percent in May 2023 to 2,324 versus the 1,771 registered in May 2022. Small business filings, captured as subchapter V elections within chapter 11, registered a 31 percent increase to 149 in May 2023 versus 114 in May 2022. Total and individual bankruptcies also continue to increase from the reduced volumes experienced during the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 38,669 total filings in May 2023 represented a 23 percent increase from the May 2022 total of 31,330. Individual bankruptcy filings totaled 36,345 in May 2023, also registering a 23 percent increase from the May 2022 individual total of 29,559. Individual chapter 13 filings increased 25 percent to 14,644 and individual chapter 7 filings increased 22 percent to 21,625 from May 2022.

A bankruptcy judge allowed sexual-abuse survivors to resume lawsuits against parishes and other affiliates of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in suburban Long Island, N.Y., that have been paused since its chapter 11 filing in 2020, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Martin Glenn, who is presiding over the bankruptcy case of the Catholic Church’s seat in Long Island, denied the Diocese’s request to extend a stay on litigation to freeze state-court lawsuits targeting its parishes and other related entities. Negotiations between abuse survivors and the Diocese broke down months ago after it filed a settlement plan that the victims committee said it considers inadequate. The judge’s decision, which takes effect after June 15, would affect 228 out of 490 abuse lawsuits pending against the Diocese, its parishes and other related entities. “As it has throughout the Chapter 11 process, the Diocese will continue to seek and work toward a global settlement of all claims that fairly compensate survivors and allows the Diocese and parishes to continue their missions,” a Diocese spokesman said on Friday. Lawyers representing the victims committee said the court acknowledged the harm to survivors caused by delaying their rights to pursue their claims against the parishes, which are separate corporations that haven’t filed for bankruptcy. Rockville Centre is among a handful of dioceses in New York that filed for chapter 11 protection in 2020 after state lawmakers opened a temporary window to allow victims the opportunity to file time-barred civil cases over childhood sexual abuse. Several bankruptcy cases filed by Catholic dioceses, including Rockville Centre, in recent years have dragged on mired in litigation often with insurers with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line.

Bed Bath & Beyond is expected to be dissolved after the failed retailer declared bankruptcy, but the company’s crown jewel — Buy Buy Baby — may live to see another day, CNBC.com reported. The baby gear retailer is drawing interest from at least two bidders as its parent company, Bed Bath & Beyond, works to auction off its assets and keep some form of its business alive, CNBC has learned. The interested parties include an unknown bidder, who would purchase the banner as a going concern and keep about 75% of stores open, according to correspondence obtained by CNBC. The other interested bidder is Babylist, a direct-to-consumer baby registry website that wants to buy its trademark and domain, that company’s CEO, Natalie Gordon, confirmed to CNBC. So far, it doesn’t appear as if there’s any interest in buying the Bed Bath banner and keeping its stores open, but some bidders are interested in buying its digital assets, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.

Pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt Plc is considering options including filing for bankruptcy again as a $200 million opioid settlement payment is due within weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, according to Reuters. The drugmaker is required to make the payment to an opioid-victims compensation trust by mid-June as part of its chapter 11 exit plan, the newspaper said. The company filed for bankruptcy protection nearly three years ago. It reached a $1.7 billion nationwide settlement as part of its bankruptcy reorganization plan and emerged from chapter 11 last year. Shares of Mallinckrodt closed 5.4% lower at $2.45 apiece on Friday. The stock has plunged 68% so far this year.

FTX Trading Ltd. and its affiliates joined a smattering of other creditors of bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global Holdco in objecting to extending court-mediated settlement talks, according to a court filing, Bloomberg News reported. Claiming to be a major Genesis creditor, FTX said it hadn’t been invited to court-appointed mediation that went on in May and included Genesis, its parent company Digital Currency Group and creditors such as crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co. FTX also said it was caught off guard when Genesis filed on Thursday to have FTX’s unliquidated claims estimated at zero. FTX says it is owed $3.9 billion. Genesis said that throwing out the FTX claims “is critical to avoid undue delay in the timing and amount of creditor distributions, and to expeditiously pursue confirmation of a chapter 11 plan.” The objection adds yet another complication to the attempts for a settlement between DCG, Genesis and its creditors. FTX is joining more than a dozen other individual Genesis creditors who have filed their objections to extending the mediation. Genesis is seeking to continue the talks through June 16, and claims to have the support of DCG and Gemini. A hearing on the extension is scheduled for Monday. Because FTX hasn’t been included, “the mediation is a waste of estate resources without the inclusion of the FTX Debtors and should not continue without the FTX Debtors’ involvement,” FTX said in its filing.

Data-center operator Cyxtera Technologies Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in New Jersey on Sunday, two years after the company went public, as it struggles to pay down debt and faces a severe funding crunch, the Economic Times reported. Miami, Florida-based Cyxtera is a provider of co-location services, which allows companies to keep their privately-owned servers and networking equipment in a third-party data center, such as ones owned by Cyxtera. In March, the company entered into an agreement with its lenders to extend its $120.1 million revolving credit facility and extended its maturity to 2024. Cyxtera shares have dropped more than 90% since it listed on the Nasdaq in 2021, trading at $0.16 as of last close. It had agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm backed by shareholder activist Starboard Value LP, in a deal valuing the combined entity at $3.4 billion. The company, which currently runs more than 60 data centers, listed both assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion. It has more than 5,000 creditors and entered into a process of restructuring its business earlier in May. It received $50 million last month and said in a statement on Sunday it got an additional commitment of $200 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its lenders to keep itself afloat during the chapter 11 process.

Carvana Co. canceled a $1 billion debt swap after a group of creditors refused to exchange their notes, posing a challenge as the used car retailer attempts to rein in its debt load, Bloomberg News reported. The online automobile seller failed to convince holders of at least $500 million of notes to participate in the exchange offer before the deal expired, according to a statement Friday. The swap’s cancellation marks the latest blow for the Tempe, Arizona-based company, which had sweetened the deal terms and repeatedly extended the timeline in a bid to lure investor participation. A group of debt holders, including Apollo Global Management Inc. and Pacific Investment Management Co., came together last year in an effort to negotiate with Carvana in preparation for a restructuring. The cohort opposed the debt exchange when Carvana first launched it in March, with some lenders proposing alternative deals.

More than three dozen Buffalo (N.Y.) Diocese properties could soon be appraised for current values that ultimately may factor heavily into a settlement with sexual abuse claimants in the diocese’s chapter 11 bankruptcy court, the Buffalo News reported. Lawyers for the diocese are asking a federal judge to approve a request to hire KLW Appraisal Group to come up with valuations for 37 properties spread across six counties. The properties vary from 15 acres of vacant land in the Town of Hamburg near the Erie County Fairgrounds to a historically significant four-story office building in the heart of Buffalo’s medical corridor. They also include six school buildings, two retirement homes for priests, St. Joseph Cathedral, and the former Christ the King Seminary in Aurora. They were estimated collectively to be worth $16 million in 2020 when the diocese first sought chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in response to more than 200 Child Victims Act lawsuits alleging clergy and other diocese employees sexually abused children decades ago, according to a disclosure statement at the time. But the court papers also indicated that most of the properties had not undergone a recent appraisal.

In January, Copabanana, the iconic burger and margarita restaurant that has stood at Fourth and South Street in Philadelphia for 45 years, started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay its bills, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The long-standing eatery, with its funky green and blue palm tree facade, was buried in debt — the latest in a series of financial problems.“Copa needs help,” wrote co-owner Nick Ventura in a lengthy plea for donations. He laid blame for the restaurant’s struggles on the pandemic, the unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd, and the 2022 mass shooting nearby. He said the restaurant needed help with everything from past-due rent, mortgage and loan payments to growing medical expenses for Copabanana’s ailing founder, Bill Curry, who is confined to his home. Despite the emotional plea, the restaurant fell far short of its $250,000 goal, raising only $165. Now, in a final effort to avoid eviction, Copabanana, one of the few South Street businesses that can trace its roots to the street’s bohemian renaissance, has filed for chapter 11 protection. It is the third time that the restaurant has filed bankruptcy in the last decade.