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Southern Season Inc., the North Carolina-based specialty food store that closed its Libbie Mill-Midtown store in Henrico County in April, has filed for chapter 11 protection, the <em>Richmond Times Dispatch</em> reported on Sunday. The Chapel Hill, N.C., specialty food retailer sought bankruptcy protection on Friday as it reorganizes its business to focus on smaller stores and growing online sales. Southern Season is in the midst of closing its store in Mount Pleasant, S.C., near Charleston, and is scrapping expansion plans in Atlanta as it focuses on smaller versions of its stores. Reproducing the big-format store concept that saw success at its flagship original location in Chapel Hill isn’t translating in other markets, the company said.

Hulk Hogan, whose invasion-of-privacy lawsuit drove Gawker Media LLC into bankruptcy, was named to the official committee of unsecured creditors in the web company’s chapter 11 case, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The former pro-wrestler is listed under his real name, Terry Gene Bollea, on the roster of committee members filed on Friday in Manhattan bankruptcy court by the U.S. Trustee, who chooses members of the panel. Gawker has said it’s seeking to sell its assets free and clear of legal liabilities at and auction next month. The digital media company filed for bankruptcy this month after losing a $140 million verdict for posting snippets of a sex tape featuring Hogan. Gawker appealed the verdict. Read more. 

Get the expert advice you need when facing the challenge of representing creditors’ committees as they try to give holders of general unsecured claims a voice in whether a debtor will be reorganized, sold as a going concern or liquidated. Pick up a copy of ABI’s Representing the Creditors' Committee: A Guide for Practitioners. 

The deadline for bids on Sports Authority has passed without an offer from rival Modell’s Sporting Goods and British retailer Sports Direct International, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. There will be an auction for the leases and other remaining assets of the failed retailer, but there’s little to no hope of a deal that could save a significant piece of the Sports Authority chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection in March. At one point, Modell’s and Sports Direct were in talks about a bid that could have saved 100 to 200 Sports Authority stores and the jobs of thousands of employees, these people said. That proposal shrunk over the past week, and when bids were due on Thursday, there was no bid from Modell’s and Sports Direct. Going-out-of-business sales are under way at some 450 stores, conducted by liquidators Hilco Merchant Resources LLC, Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLC. Sports Authority’s trying to pay off more than $1 billion in debt in chapter 11.

Teen clothing retailer Aeropostale Inc. asked a federal judge for permission to pay up to $3.41 million in bonuses to 10 top executives as a reward for steering the company through bankruptcy protection, MarketWatch.com reported on Friday. Aeropostale lawyers told Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane in court papers that the 10 executives wouldn’t get the money unless the retailer successfully gets out of bankruptcy and meets a sales revenue goal. They also proposed to pay up to $1.45 million in bonuses to 41 hard-to-replace workers, which would encourage them to remain on board until Oct. 25. Aeropostale’s roughly 800 stores filed for chapter 11 protection in May, following a path laid out by other mall-based cheap retailers who have been plunged into trouble by changing consumer tastes and competition from newer fast-fashion chains. Soon after, company officials began closing more than 150 money-losing stores.

A group representing holders of Oi SA's bonds not guaranteed by unit Telemar Norte Leste SA is growing, underscoring the challenges facing Brazil's largest fixed-line phone carrier as it enters bankruptcy protection proceedings, Reuters reported yesterday. New York-based investment bank Houlihan Lokey Inc and Metrica Investments LLC have stepped up talks with owners of $6.4 billion worth of euro- and U.S. dollar-denominated Oi bonds in the wake of the largest bankruptcy protection filing in Brazilian history. The Houlihan-Metrica group is one of the few gearing up for tough bankruptcy talks with Oi, which succumbed to a heavy debt burden and mounting competition after years of shareholder disputes. At 65.4 billion reais ($19.4 billion), Oi's petition is fraught with challenges due to a complex capital structure and wide creditor base, analysts said.

Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross yesterday confirmed Verso Corp.’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, clearing the way for the beleaguered papermaker to emerge from bankruptcy, the Portland (Maine) Press Herald reported today. The confirmation order was signed less than five months after Verso and its subsidiaries filed for chapter 11 protection in late January. If Verso follows the reorganization plan as written, all of its pre-bankruptcy debts will be erased. New common stock will be issued to creditors that were owed money by Verso and its NewPage subsidiary before the bankruptcy. When that happens, Verso also must take the necessary steps to have its shares once again listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Verso’s stock was delisted in September because its share price fell below the required $1 minimum.

Lawyers seeking to recover $175 million for clients of a bankrupt Caribbean offshore bank are asking a U.S. judge to grant those customers the same confidentiality protections a court extended to people claiming clergy sex abuse, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn today will weigh the matter when he considers whether the private-client unit of the National Bank of Anguilla can keep its customers’ names secret while it tries to get their money back. The National Bank of Anguilla’s private banking and trust division of filed for chapter 11 protection on Wednesday. It’s asking for permission to investigate its parent, as well as the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla, which took over its banking business, and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. A hearing is set for today in Manhattan on the requests for the probes and client confidentiality.

A bankruptcy judge yesterday granted Sports Authority until Sept. 28 to file a chapter 11 plan that outlines financial distributions to its creditors, the Denver Post reported today. The bankrupt sporting goods retailer previously had until June 30 — one day after the scheduled auction of its remaining leases. In addition to the auction process, Sports Authority has enlisted Hilco Streambank to market assets such as its intellectual property, trademarks and the Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium naming rights. Sports Authority also is in discussions with Modell’s and Sports Direct for the sale of as many as 200 stores.

Premier Exhibitions Inc., the cash-starved company behind the traveling “Titanic” and “Bodies” exhibitions, is asking a bankruptcy judge for approval to sell some of its artifacts, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company says a sale of some of the “Titanic” artifacts could fetch enough money to pay back all of its creditors, return all equity to shareholders, and even provide for funds for Premier through and after the bankruptcy process. Namely, Premier owes $12 million to unsecured creditors. Premier filed for bankruptcy protection last week after facing legal challenges and the early closure of its “Saturday Night Live” exhibition. Premier has developed other popular exhibits — among them “Bodies” and “The Discovery of King Tut” — but its first big hit was “Titanic.” Premier owns more than 5,500 artifacts it salvaged from the wreckage of the Titanic in a series of expeditions spanning more than 30 years.

Corinthian Colleges, once one of the nation’s largest for-profit education companies, engaged in apparently unlawful practices by paying its recruiters based on how many sales leads they converted into actual students, according to documents unsealed late last week, the New York Times reported today. The disclosure may make it easier for former students of the defunct institution to have their federal loans forgiven by helping them establish that they were defrauded or that Corinthian violated federal law while it was operating. The materials, released by a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, are internal Corinthian documents known as “Ad Rep Performance Flash Reports.” They were originally provided by two former employees who sued Corinthian and its auditor in 2007. Most of the documents the employees produced in the case — almost 800 pages — remain under seal. The filing also contains a sworn affidavit filed by Nyoka June Lee, one of the former Corinthian employees, who stated that her compensation was based upon meeting enrollment quotas. “Making my numbers was the only requirement to get a raise,” Lee said. Read more. 

Listen to a podcast looking at the Corinthian Colleges Case and the appointment of a student creditor committee.