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The Allegheny County Health Department case against a Brentwood, Pa., restaurant that flouted COVID-19 restrictions and was ordered to close will proceed after a federal bankruptcy judge denied the business’ request to stop the closure, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The Crack’d Egg restaurant, owned by Kimberly Waigand, filed for chapter 11 protection in October after the health department ordered it to close. The restaurant owners tried to move the closure case into the bankruptcy proceedings. Because the shutdown is related to the federal case, the owners argued, the outcome could affect the bankruptcy and should be heard by the federal court. But the law cited by the restaurant has an exception for actions by government regulatory powers, such as the health department, that prevents them from moving the case, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffery A. Deller wrote. The judge sent the case back to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, where it is set to be heard by Judge John T. McVay.

Total bankruptcy filings during calendar year 2020 (Jan. 1-Dec. 31) decreased 30 percent from 2019 as the government and lenders offered stabilization measures in response to the economic challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data provided by Epiq, total filings fell from 757,634 in 2019 to 529,071 filings during calendar year 2020. Annual bankruptcy filings last registered a similar total in 1986, with 530,438 total filings, and the 30 percent drop from 2019-20 is the second-largest percentage decrease since the 70 percent drop in filings recorded in 2005-06. That decrease was the result of the implementation of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which prompted total bankruptcies to rise to 2,078,415 ahead of its enactment then fall to 617,660 total filings in 2006. Total consumer filings were 496,565 nationwide for calendar year 2020 (Jan. 1-Dec. 31), 31 percent fewer than the 718,584 total filings during 2019. The 2020 consumer filing total is the lowest since the 495,553 filings registered in 1987. Chapter 13 filings decreased 46 percent, as the 152,828 chapter 13s in 2020 were down from the 282,712 filings in 2019. Commercial filings also declined, as the 32,506 business filings in calendar year 2020 represented a 17 percent drop from the 39,050 recorded in calendar year 2019. Commercial chapter 11 filings, however, increased 29 percent during calendar year 2020 as the total of 7,128 climbed past the 5,519 recorded during calendar year 2019. The 2020 commercial chapter 11 filing total was the highest total since the 7,789 filings registered in 2012.

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday that passing legislation to provide $2,000 stimulus checks will be one of the first orders of business once Democrats take control of the chamber on Jan. 20, The Hill reported. "One of the first things I want to do ... is deliver the $2,000 checks to the American families," Schumer told reporters during his first press conference after Tuesday's runoffs elections in Georgia that put Democrats on track to regain control of the Senate for the first time since 2014. The Senate appears headed to a 50-50 split, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris poised to cast any tie-breaking votes. Schumer declined to provide any details on how he would try to pass legislation for the $2,000 checks, such as whether it would be a stand-alone bill, part of a broader coronavirus relief package or the first measure called up for a vote.

AMC Entertainment Inc. is in talks with Apollo Global Management Inc. and other top creditors over a potential financing deal backed by the cinema chain’s European assets, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. AMC, the world’s largest movie theater company, is negotiating with lenders including Apollo, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, and Ares Management Corp. to expand the line of credit available to the company’s U.K.-based Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary. The company, which since October has warned of a possible bankruptcy filing as pandemic restrictions shut down theaters world-wide, has also held talks with other creditor groups and potential outside investors, the people said. AMC acquired Odeon, the largest cinema operator in Europe, in 2016. The subsidiary has a 100 million-pound revolving credit facility, worth approximately $135 million, which was fully drawn as of September. Discussions have centered on upsizing the credit facility by roughly £300 million, though the amount and structure of a potential deal are still under negotiation. AMC has been hard hit by the pandemic, which temporarily shut the doors of most of its theaters. Major Hollywood studios have either delayed releasing films or released them straight to streaming services, leaving cinemas with little content to show those viewers willing to brave a trip to the big screen.

U.S. private companies shed workers in December for the first time in eight months as out-of-control COVID-19 infections unleashed a fresh wave of business restrictions, setting the tone for what is likely to be a challenging winter for the economy, Reuters reported. The ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday showed job losses across all industries last month as the coronavirus outbreak kept many consumers and workers at home. While the report underscored the magnitude of the crisis, the economy was unlikely to slide back into recession, thanks to additional fiscal stimulus approved in late December. The ADP report added to slumping consumer spending and persistently high layoffs in suggesting that the economy lost significant momentum at the end of 2020. Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 15-16 meeting published on Wednesday showed policymakers expected skyrocketing cases “would be particularly challenging for the labor market in coming months.”

Federal Reserve officials last month broadly supported new plans to guide the steady growth of their $7.4 trillion asset portfolio, but they didn’t see a strong case to boost the economic stimulus the asset purchases provide, the Wall Street Journal reported. Since June, the central bank has been buying $120 billion in Treasury and mortgage securities a month — initially to stabilize markets and later to support the economy by holding down long-term interest rates. Minutes of the Fed’s Dec. 15-16 policy meeting indicated officials saw a high bar for dialing up that support by increasing the amount or changing the composition of those purchases. “Participants generally judged that the asset purchase program as structured was providing very significant policy accommodation,” according to the minutes, which were released yesterday. The minutes also indicated that many officials were nervous about the potential for growth to stall in the winter amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. But they also thought newly approved vaccines had reduced the chance of worse-than-anticipated economic outcomes later in 2021.

Reuters identified 106 U.S. workplaces where employees complained of slipshod pandemic safety practices around the time of outbreaks — and regulators either never inspected the facilities or, in some cases, waited months to do so, according to the OSHA records. The agency never inspected 70 of those workplaces, where at least 4,500 workers were infected by the coronavirus and 26 died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Reuters analysis. The workers’ regulatory complaints came from a cross-section of companies that included some of America’s best-known firms, including Tesla Inc and Tyson Foods Inc. As of mid-December, just 12 of the 106 facilities have been penalized in response to workers’ complaints. The complaints came from a wide range of workplaces, from meatpacking plants and factories to e-commerce warehouses and nursing homes. Their employees alleged failures to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing; managers pressuring sick employees to work; and a lack of notification to employees about co-workers’ infections.