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The judge in Sabine Oil & Gas Corporation's chapter 11 case has been asked to review what Wells Fargo, the first lien agent, is characterizing as excessive requested professionals fees totaling approximately $8.3 million incurred as part of what it describes as the "scorched earth litigation tactics" of the five professional firms involved in the lawsuit, Texas Lawyer reported today. Wells Fargo recently filed in its role as the first lien agent in Sabine Oil's case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York its limited objection with bankruptcy judge Shelley Chapman, related to fees incurred by committee projections in connection with the committee's investigation in the bankruptcy case. Wells Fargo stated that the committee's authority to investigate and challenge the liens and claims of the pre-petition secured parties at the expense of the debtors' estates is not unlimited. According to Wells Fargo, in accordance with standard practice in complex chapter 11 cases, the debtors and the committee agreed in a heavily negotiated final cash collateral order to a cap on the fees and expenses that can be incurred by the committee in connection with its investigation.

Bankrupt U.S. coal miner Arch Coal has broad support from senior lenders for a plan to cut $4.5 billion of debt, lawyers said in court yesterday, and urged any unhappy creditors to join negotiations, Reuters reported. Arch Coal, the second-largest U.S. coal miner, filed for bankruptcy on Monday, following peers Walter Energy, Alpha Natural Resources and Patriot Coal into chapter 11 protection in the midst of a prolonged slump in the coal sector. The Missouri-based miner, suffering from falling coal demand and stricter regulation, said in court that it now has the support of 66.3 percent of lenders for a proposal to cut debt and continue mining operations that span from Maryland to Wyoming.

The New York City Opera is betting that thrift-shop sales will soar by more than 40 percent, to $1.2 million a year, as shoppers and donors scared away by the institution’s 2013 bankruptcy filing come back, Crain’s New York Business. It may work out that way, but at least one skeptic has emerged: the New York Attorney General’s Office. In a recent court filing raising questions about the company’s comeback plans, the office said the thrift-shop revenue may have been “too generously estimated.” Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane will decide how realistic he thinks the opera company’s financial plans are at a hearing Tuesday. If Judge Lane approves the plan, then City Opera would emerge from the financial wilderness just a week before the curtain is to rise January 20 on its first production in nearly three years — Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Investors who backed a biotechnology company led by executive Martin Shkreli are suing to get back the $5.4 million they had invested just hours before his arrest, Reuters reported yesterday. Shkreli took control of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc in November, saving the company from closing down. He became its chief executive on Nov. 20. As part of Shkreli's rescue, the company reached a deal with three individuals and two funds to invest $5.4 million in it under an agreement that KaloBios said was completed on Dec. 16. On Dec. 17, Shkreli was arrested for allegedly engaging in a Ponzi-like scheme at his former hedge fund and Retrophin Inc, a pharmaceutical company he previously headed. KaloBios' outside counsel, Evan Greebel, was also arrested, and on Dec. 29 KaloBios filed for bankruptcy.

American Apparel Inc. signed a new deal with senior lenders and lower-ranking creditors to put $40 million more into the retailer once it exits bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The lenders and the company announced the settlement with the last group of creditors that had been opposing their plans the same day two funds backing company founder Dov Charney — Hagan Capital Group and Silver Creek Capital Partners — said that they were boosting their offer to buy American Apparel out of bankruptcy to $300 million.

Women's retailer Joyce Leslie Inc. has filed for bankruptcy with plans to liquidate if it can't find a buyer after grappling with declining sales in recent years, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The New Jersey-based retailer, which filed for chapter 11 protection on Saturday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., said that changing consumer spending patterns, in addition to its "inability to compete in today's technology-driven environment due to the lack of a sophisticated e-commerce platform" led to its downfall. Joyce Leslie hired SB Capital Group LLC, Tiger Capital Group LLC and 360 Merchant Solutions LLC to assist in liquidating its stores, with store-closing sales slated to begin in February if it can't find a buyer through a bankruptcy auction.

Gun maker Colt Defense LLC is poised to exit bankruptcy after tweaking its chapter 11 exit plan to account for a reduced equity commitment from private-equity owner Sciens Capital Management, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Sciens missed a December deadline to fund $15 million of the cost of bailing its longtime portfolio company out of bankruptcy. Friday, Sciens came up with $5 million, and other creditors agreed to give the private-equity firm until early February to find the rest of the money. Meanwhile, however, Colt wanted $50 million to implement its restructuring plan, money that would be used to pay lawyers and advisers and to get the troubled firearms manufacturer on its feet financially. Bondholders came through with an additional $10 million to make sure the company emerges on time. At a hearing Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein approved changes to the chapter 11 plan she confirmed last month. Approval came after the judge hesitated over endorsing provisions of the plan that shield Sciens from litigation over how it has handled Colt.

Arch Coal Inc., the second-largest U.S. coal producer, asked a bankruptcy judge to put aside $75 million to backstop future cleanup costs — far less than the roughly $450 million that regulators foresee needing, Reuters reported yesterday. Arch made the proposal to a Missouri court after filing for bankruptcy protection yesterday, seeking to shed $4.5 billion in debt in the face of weak demand for coal and increasing pressure from creditors. Arch has used cash, bonds and other financing to assure mine cleanup. But Arch's use of a federal program called self-bonding to cover a large share of cleanup costs raises the possibility that taxpayers be saddled with much of the bill. Securities filings show that Arch Coal has not qualified for self-bonding since 2012. In those years Arch Coal accessed self-bonding through a subsidiary, Arch Western Resources, according to regulatory paperwork.

Sherwin Alumina Co., a U.S. unit of commodities company Glencore PLC, said that it has filed for chapter 11 protection in light of challenging market conditions, MarketWatch.com reported today. A spokesman for Glencore, which owns the entire business, said the commodities producer and trader is "supportive of the restructuring process undertaken by Sherwin and is hopeful of an outcome that will allow for the continued operation of the Sherwin facility." Sherwin said that it will continue to operate while in bankruptcy and that Corpus Christi Alumina, another unit of Glencore, has offered to purchase almost all of Sherwin's assets for an undisclosed sum.