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The judge overseeing the Boy Scouts of America’s bankruptcy on Wednesday offered her grim view of the status of the youth organization’s reorganization efforts, which have yet to lead to any support from former scouts who say they were sexually abused by Scouting leaders, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein in Wilmington, Del., indicated during a virtual hearing that she is prepared to move quickly on the remainder of the Boy Scouts’ chapter 11 proceeding, which began in February 2020 in an attempt to resolve nearly 300 sex abuse lawsuits. But she also acknowledged the difficulty of proceeding with the organization's request to begin soliciting votes on its proposed reorganization plan, which includes a settlement of more than 80,000 sex abuse claims, when it has yet to bring in any support from abuse survivors. “I will say to solicit a plan that has no abuse survivor support is not an attractive option,” Silverstein said. “But neither is engaging in protracted litigation that has the potential to end the Boy Scouts as it currently exists.” The judge will likely announce her ruling on the motion to begin vote solicitation next week.

A Brooks Brothers part-owner that lost $100 million when the menswear retailer went bankrupt last year sued its former controlling Del Vecchio family for allegedly ignoring potential deals that could have warded off chapter 11, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Hong Kong-based TAL Apparel Ltd. said in court papers that the troubled company had interested suitors in 2019 but the Del Vecchio family turned its back on those opportunities, choosing to gamble on bankruptcy instead. Brooks Brothers filed for chapter 11 in 2020, joining a herd of pandemic-battered apparel retailers. The company was sold out of bankruptcy for $325 million to Authentic Brands Group LLC and mall operator Simon Property Group Inc. TAL, a former minority shareholder, said the 2019 offers were rejected because, although they were rich enough to keep Brooks Brothers out of bankruptcy, they weren’t enough to protect the Del Vecchio family from having to pay out on a make-whole agreement with TAL. In 2016, when TAL agreed to invest $100 million for a minority stake in Brooks Brothers, the deal came with a guarantee backed by the Del Vecchios, according to the complaint. Under the agreement, if Brooks Brothers was sold for less than $652 million — the valuation assigned to the company when TAL bought its stake — the family would make good on TAL’s losses, the lawsuit said. The potential offers that arrived in 2019 were at prices that would have forced the Del Vecchios to come up with money of their own to cover TAL’s losses, according to the complaint, which said the family “threatened that instead of pursuing the bids on the table, they would ‘roll the dice’ and sell Brooks Brothers as part of bankruptcy proceedings.” Bankruptcy or no bankruptcy, TAL is seeking a court order compelling Claudio Del Vecchio, his son Matteo and affiliated entities to make good on TAL’s losses.

Facing a key bankruptcy court hearing and broad objections from attorneys representing child-sex-abuse victims and insurance companies, attorneys for the Boy Scouts of America have submitted a revised reorganization plan with details about the finances of its local councils, the Associated Press reported. The BSA submitted the latest revisions to its plan and an accompanying disclosure statement late Sunday as attorneys prepare for a Wednesday hearing that could determine whether the organization can meet its goal of emerging from bankruptcy this fall. The Boy Scouts are seeking approval of the disclosure statement formally explaining its bankruptcy plan to creditors. The judge must approve the disclosure statement before the BSA can begin soliciting votes on its plan, but it has been roundly criticized by other parties for lacking necessary details. Seeking to address some of the objections, the BSA updated its plan with balance sheet summaries for local councils and appraisals on properties they own.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has earmarked up to $454 million in his revised budget to clean up lead and arsenic spread throughout southeast Los Angeles county by the former Exide battery recycling plant, the L.A. Daily News reported. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control estimates the toxic chemicals produced during Exide’s decades of operation spread up to 1.7 miles away, contaminating schools, parks and thousands of homes in the largely working-class, Latino neighborhoods of Bell, Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Maywood, Huntington Park and Commerce. The Exide battery recycling plant, which produced a host of hazardous wastes as part of the process, operated for 33 years in Vernon without a permanent permit. It closed in 2015 as part of a nonprosecution agreement that allowed the company to avoid criminal charges. Last year, a federal bankruptcy court and the Department of Justice allowed Exide to abandon the property without fulfilling the terms of the agreement, which required the company to demolish and clean up the shuttered facility. A court-appointed trustee with about $30 million in funds from the bankruptcy settlement is now in charge of remediating the property. If that money runs out, Newsom’s proposal would provide $132 million in one-time funding to finish the work. California already has spent $251 million on residential cleanup and other costs, according to the Governor’s Office. Under the proposal, the state would earmark another $322 million over three years to remove contamination from additional properties. DTSC estimates that money will allow the clean up of “roughly 2,740 properties with the highest levels of contamination and the highest risk of exposure being cleaned up to 200 parts per million,” according to a spokesperson.

A celebrity vegan chef has filed a $150 million lawsuit against Pryor Cashman, claiming the law firm aided an attempt by her former business partner to steal her ownership stake in the restaurant chain that bears her name, Reuters reported. The 21-page complaint, filed Friday in New York County Supreme Court, stems from the 2017 acquisition of vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli's 50% ownership in By Chloe, a fast-casual vegan restaurant, by ESquared Hospitality, Pryor Cashman's client, for zero dollars. Coscarelli, through Chef Chloe LLC, challenged the acquisition as being legally improper. Last year, an arbitrator reinstated Coscarelli's 50% ownership stake in By Chloe and awarded her $2.3 million in attorney fees and costs. Pryor Cashman has argued that the 2020 arbitration award is not effective until it has been confirmed by a court, putting it at odds with its position in 2017, when it cited an unconfirmed arbitration award as a basis for ESquared Hospitality's no-cost buyout. Chef Chloe said that it is seeking $37.5 million in compensatory damages and $112.5 million in punitive and exemplary damages. The lawsuit asserts a single claim — that Pryor Cashman aided and abetted ESquared Hospitality's breach of fiduciary duty to Chef Chloe.