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An appellate court denied Caesars Entertainment Corp.'s request for a speedy appeal of an unfavorable decision in ongoing creditor litigation, which could heat up next year, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Court papers show the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday denied, for now, Caesars's request to appeal a preliminary ruling in litigation that seeks to hold Caesars to prior guarantees of billions of dollars of its bankrupt operating unit's debt. In August, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan declined to quickly rule on whether a series of asset-shuffling deals last year constituted an out-of-court debt reorganization that harmed the holders of about $7 billion in bond debt issued by the Caesars unit. However, the judge's decision drew some conclusions that were unfavorable to Caesars, leading her to authorize the casino and hotel company to try to challenge those rulings at the appellate court while the bondholder lawsuits moved forward. But the Second Circuit declined to let Caesars's challenge to the decision move ahead now, finding it didn't persuade the court that there were "exceptional circumstances" present to justify a speedy appeal in ongoing litigation.

Rising financial stress in the U.S. energy sector has prompted some suppliers and vendors to take unusual legal action to collect unpaid debts: forcing struggling companies with billions of dollars in debt into bankruptcy, Reuters reported today. Since August, creditors have filed petitions for involuntary bankruptcy against three energy producers with nearly $2 billion in combined debt: Miller Energy Resources Inc., Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations and Energy & Exploration Partners Inc. During that period, there have been a total of seven bankruptcies involving energy companies with at least $200 million in debt. "Some producers are getting very, very far out there with what they owe their suppliers," said John Sparacino, a bankruptcy attorney with Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Houston, who represented driller National Oilwell Varco in the Miller involuntary filing. Lawyers expect more bankruptcies unless crude prices recovers. "If oil continues below $40 a barrel, we should expect to see even more energy filings, both voluntary and involuntary," said John Penn, a bankruptcy lawyer with Perkins Coie in Dallas.

The former operator of an ethanol plant in Hopewell, Va., is now planning to pay its debts under chapter 11 protection after several of its creditors tried to force the company to liquidate, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported today. Vireol Bio Energy LLC received approval on Dec. 14 from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond to convert its case to a voluntary chapter 11. Several of the company’s creditors, including Dominion Virginia Power, had filed a petition with the court in November to force the company into an involuntary chapter 7 liquidation of its assets. Dominion and three other creditors said together they were owed just more than $2 million.

Bankruptcy Judge Judge Tamara O. Mitchell authorized a settlement that allows Walter Energy Inc. to avoid a showdown with unsecured creditors over the coal-mining company's looming sale, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Judge Mitchell said yesterday that she would approve the deal among Walter, the official committee representing its unsecured creditors and the senior lenders angling to buy Walter's core Alabama mining operations. The deal pledges the unsecured creditors' support for the sale, in which lenders are offering to forgive $1.25 billion of the debt they hold in exchange for Walter's assets, subject to higher bids. The deal also ensures the unsecured creditors wouldn't challenge the claims that form the basis for the lenders' bid.

The RoomStore furniture chain has filed for bankruptcy protection as company officials project the longtime Phoenix retailer will lose about $2 million this year, the Arizona Republic reported today. Officials with The RoomStores of Phoenix LLC blamed losses on spillover from the 2008 housing crash and increased competition among furniture retailers. The company sent notices to employees last week warning of layoffs and store closures. Co-owner Alan Levitz did not specify what stores were slated for shuttering but advised in the letter that layoffs could begin in February. Levitz said if planned promotional sales were successful and if executives were able to negotiate with creditors, the company could "retain its existing footprint." He also said the majority of customers waiting on orders will get them.

Millennium Health LLC is back on track to exit chapter 11 and pay off a $256 million settlement with the Justice Department, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein on Friday lifted a stay of her order confirming the drug-testing company's chapter 11 plan, paving the way for Millennium's emergence from bankruptcy protection. The judge said that she found the threat to Millennium's survival and the preservation of 1,200 jobs outweighed the rights of Voya Investment Management to appeal her confirmation of the drug tester's plan at a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The Justice Department has accused Millennium of billing taxpayer-funded programs for unnecessary tests and giving physicians kickbacks to steer lucrative lab work its way. Millennium has admitted no wrongdoing, but agreed to the settlement. The company filed for chapter 11 protection to cement the settlement in place.

New Gulf Resources has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Tulsa-based oil and natural gas company said on Thursday, the Oklahoman reported on Saturday. New Gulf filed a pre-arranged reorganization plan, including a restructuring support agreement with creditors representing more than 72 percent of the company’s second-lien notes and 22 percent of its subordinated notes. The creditors agreed to provide at least $125 million in new funding to help the company reorganize.

A little more than a year after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced a new child-protection plan, developed as part of a settlement in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit, the archdiocese has unveiled another landmark plan, the St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press reported on Saturday. The plan is the result of a settlement agreement between the archdiocese and the county attorney's office, which filed civil charges last year in conjunction with criminal charges against the archdiocese. Some elements of the plan include:

- Broader background checks for clergy and church volunteers.

- Mandatory and ongoing child-protection training.

- Mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse to law enforcement.

- Creation of a fund for victim counseling.

As part of the agreement, the civil case will be put on hold for three years as the archdiocese implements its plan, returning to court with progress reports every six months. At the end of the three-year period, if the archdiocese has held up its end of the deal, the county attorney's office would dismiss its case.

A television executive who said he helped Emmy Award-winning producer Mark Burnett re-pitch the concept for “Survivor” after major networks snubbed it is fighting to collect millions of dollars of the reality show’s profits, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In court papers, Layne Leslie Britton says that he is owed at least $14 million in TV show revenue — an amount that was supposed to flow from entertainment consultant Conrad Riggs and his company, Cloudbreak Entertainment Inc. Riggs, who was getting a cut of Burnett’s “Survivor” profits, broke his promise to share some of that money, Britton’s lawyers said. The legal battle, waged in state court since 2012, is now in the hands of a bankruptcy judge after Mr. Riggs put Cloudbreak into chapter 11 protection on Dec. 1, just a few hours before a trial on the dispute was scheduled to start.

Homejoy Inc., a house cleaning and repairs start-up that hired David Hasselhoff to star in a commercial, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The chapter 11 case, filed on Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose, comes about five months after the company announced that it would be shutting down via a blog post on its website. The San Francisco venture-backed startup was founded by siblings Adora and Aaron Cheung in 2013 and allowed users to book home cleaning and repair services. Homejoy raised $38 million in venture funding from investors including Google Ventures, as well as First Round Capital, Redpoint Ventures and others. Until July, the company was offering $25-an-hour house cleaners in five countries, as well as expanding into home repairs and carpet cleaning.