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The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has reached a settlement in its bankruptcy case with more than 400 people who said they were sexually abused by clergy, an attorney said yesterday, the Associated Press reported. Victims' attorney Jeff Anderson said in a statement that a "consensual bankruptcy reorganization plan" had been reached, but he didn't release a dollar amount ahead of a public announcement. A spokesman for the archdiocese confirmed a settlement was reached. The Minnesota Legislature in 2013 opened a three-year window in the statute of limitations that allowed people who had been sexually abused in the past to sue for damages. That resulted in hundreds of claims being filed against the archdiocese and led it to file for bankruptcy in 2015. The bankruptcy case proceeded slowly as attorneys argued over how much money the archdiocese should have to pay. The archdiocese reported its net worth was $45 million. But attorneys for the victims maintained that the archdiocese's true worth was over $1 billion, counting assets of its 187 Roman Catholic parishes, as well as schools, cemeteries and other church-related entities. Victims' attorneys said those assets should be used to make more money available for victims. Last month, a federal appeals court affirmed a 2016 decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel that the parishes and other nonprofit entities were independent, meaning their assets could not be tapped in the bankruptcy case. Last December, Judge Kressel rejected competing reorganization plans filed by the archdiocese and a creditors' committee led by Anderson and ordered both sides back into mediation.

As Relativity Media LLC presses forward with its second bankruptcy in as many years, a government watchdog has asked a judge to bring the Hollywood studio’s first chaotic chapter 11 case to a close, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. During a hearing yesterday at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, Relativity won continued access to financing critical to advancing its latest bankruptcy, but future hearings are likely to present the company with a long list of challenges. In an objection filed on Friday, a lawyer for U.S. Trustee William Harrington, the government watchdog, asked Judge Michael Wiles either to convert Relativity’s first bankruptcy to a chapter 7 liquidation or to dismiss the case entirely. Relativity has “materially defaulted” on the terms of its first chapter 11 plan and “unequivocally repudiated their commitment to pay claims,” the lawyer, Greg Zipes, said in court papers. A hearing on the matter is set for June 28.

Lawyers who sued Facebook Inc. and Cambridge Analytica over alleged improper harvesting of users’ personal data say they fear evidence will disappear as the British data-mining company folds up part of its corporate web, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Cambridge Analytica and its SCL affiliates, which worked for the campaign that saw the election of President Donald Trump, have filed for court protection to liquidate in the U.S. and U.K. British employees were sent home recently, told no buyer had emerged to keep the company going. Lawyers who sued in the name of millions of Facebook users say that they haven’t been able to contact one of the shell companies that make up Cambridge Analytica’s corporate family, and have a “legitimate concern regarding the preservation of documents and other evidence.”

The chapter 11 bankruptcy of Aspen Constructors, a builder of luxury homes, has come to an end, the Aspen (Colo.) Times reported. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Brown signed an order dismissing the case on Friday in response to the company's motion to toss it out because of the settlement of litigation in Pitkin County District Court. Aspen Constructors declared chapter 11 on Dec. 29 and continued to operate through the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was ignited by a $1.3 million arbiter's award to the owner of a home on which Aspen Constructors was the general contractor. The owner, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based West Hallam LLC, sued Aspen Constructors and subcontractor Argento Marble in 2014 for construction defects on the home. The case went to arbitration, leading to the award that prompted Aspen Constructors in August to sue its insurance provider, Cincinnati Insurance Co., which initially had defended Aspen Constructors in the arbitration proceedings but denied coverage for the award.

Marketing firm Didit is close to acquiring Gawker.com and if successful intends to relaunch the blog, known for publishing irreverent articles that were sometimes controversial, with a new editorial policy to only post content it considers to be positive, the Wall Street Journal reported. Advisers liquidating the blog’s former publisher have a deal to sell the website to Didit for $1.13 million, an offer that is subject to higher offers at a potential auction, according to papers filed Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The agreement and terms of an auction must be approved by a judge. Based in Mineola, N.Y., Didit was founded in 1996. Liquidators have tentatively set a July 12 date for the auction assuming they receive other qualified bids for the blog. Gawker ceased publishing new articles in August 2016, months after losing in court to professional wrestler Hulk Hogan whose $140 million judgment against publisher Gawker Media LLC forced the company into bankruptcy. The case was settled in chapter 11 for $31 million. The Hogan case concerned publishing excerpts from a video of a sexual encounter with the wife of a former friend.

Credit Suisse AG is closing in on an agreement to settle a $1.2 billion derivatives demand against bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., reducing the claim to $385 million, Bloomberg News reported. The settlement would end a 10-year fight over costs the Swiss lender said that it incurred to replace tens of thousands of derivatives trades it had entered with Lehman before its collapse in 2008. Lehman had accused Credit Suisse of inflating its claim by over $1 billion. The percentage Credit Suisse actually recovers on the claim would be complicated by the transactions, known as claim participation agreements. Each agreement was unique, and at least some were said to trade at 37 cents on the dollar. Credit Suisse is the last holdout among Lehman’s big derivatives counterparties that claimed the failed bank owed them money. Most of them settled long ago, and the only bank that took its case to trial, Citigroup Inc., ended up settling for a fraction of what it sought. A trial over Credit Suisse’s claim has been expected in the fall.

A Tampa-based air conditioning and heating services company which recently filed for bankruptcy appears to have allegedly left several customers in the lurch for services, the Tampa Bay Times reported. CM HVAC Holdings, parent company of CGM Services, filed for chapter 11 protection in mid-April. However, Google currently lists the business as "permanently closed." The only contact number listed on its site kicks directly to a full voicemail box. And several of its customers have taken to social media to say that they haven’t heard from the company for weeks. According to bankruptcy documents, the company owes about $6.8 million in unsecured claims to a variety of creditors. CM HVAC is disputing five of the debts.

West Point Market on Friday got the court approvals it needs to continue operating as it reorganizes under chapter 11 bankruptcy, Ohio.com reported. The approvals came just one day after the long-established and popular specialty supermarket, founded in Akron, Ohio, in 1936, filed for bankruptcy protection, citing in large part financial problems exacerbated by delays in opening a critically needed in-store bakery. The supermarket intends to remain open as it goes through the bankruptcy process.

The second-biggest franchisee of Applebee’s restaurants plans to close about 10 to 20 of its 159 locations in the next month or so as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, the Wall Street Journal reported. RMH Franchise Holdings Inc. on Thursday asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., for permission to pay up to $700,000 in severance, saying that it planned to close poor-performing restaurants in coming weeks. The filing didn’t specify how many restaurants that could include. A person familiar with the matter, however, said that about 10 to 20 could close in this cost-cutting round, with the severance being enough to cover up to 21 restaurants in this early stage of reorganization. In the Thursday court filing, Atlanta-based RMH said that it plans to close “certain underperforming restaurant locations in the next approximately 30 days.”

Tops Markets has settled a major pension dispute that could have cost the company more than $180 million, making its path out of bankruptcy clearer, the Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported. The settlement, reached earlier this month following two days of meetings with a mediator, could end a fight that has dragged on for more than four years. The dispute has cast a cloud over Tops' finances, as well as the retirement funds of more than 600 workers at a grocery warehouse in Lancaster that the supermarket company acquired in December 2013. While the details are still being finalized and the deal must be approved by a bankruptcy judge, the settlement would resolve one of the biggest financial hurdles that Tops faces as it tries to restructure its business and emerge from bankruptcy. For Tops, the deal frees it from an expense that could have cost it more than $100 million. The agreement means Tops no longer would be liable to pay as much as $183 million over 20 years to meet funding obligations to the Teamsters pension fund.