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Some of the debts owed by teen-clothing retailer Wet Seal Inc. that have gone unpaid since the chain filed for bankruptcy earlier this year will be partially paid off under a plan that was approved by a federal judge on Friday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. With the signature of Judge Christopher Sontchi on the repayment plan, lawyers who sold the chain out of bankruptcy can begin writing final checks to pay off some of the company's older debts. Under the payout plan, general unsecured creditors can expect to be paid between 5.5 and 6.6 percent of what they are owed, according to earlier court documents. That group is owed about $82 million altogether, court papers said.

Oaktree Capital Management LP is close to hiring AlixPartners LLP to advise on its efforts to take over Quiksilver Inc., Bloomberg News reported yesterday. As Quiksilver’s primary lender, Oaktree has the inside track on buying the company. However, the surf-wear retailer, which filed for bankruptcy in September, also contacted potential private-equity buyers. Authentic Brands Group is actively looking at the assets. Sycamore Partners, which controls Jones Group Inc., is among firms that spoke to the company, but it passed on a bid.

Retailer American Apparel Inc. received a bankruptcy court’s final approval to tap its $90 million bankruptcy financing package provided by Standard General and other investors after the company was able to resolve a number of objections from unsecured creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon approved the financing during a hearing yesterday “given the substantial negotiations” that resulted in a number of modifications to the terms of the financing. The financing provides $30 million in fresh capital for American Apparel while refinancing $60 million in debt owed to Standard General and other investors before the bankruptcy filing.

Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. secured a bankruptcy judge’s permission to sell its Harrah’s Tunica Hotel & Casino in Mississippi as part of its chapter 11 restructuring, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar yesterday signed off on the shuttered casino’s sale, for $3 million, to TJM Properties. Caesars canceled last week’s auction for the property after no rival bidders stepped forward to challenge TJM Properties’ offer. The buyer, which owns hotels and senior-living properties, acquired another closed casino, the Atlantic Club Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., for $13.5 million last year.

Junior creditors of Caesars Entertainment launched a fresh attack against a top U.S. restructuring attorney, alleging that he misled a judge and asking that the law firm be disqualified from parts of the casino group's bankruptcy case, Reuters reported yesterday. Jones Day, the junior bondholders' law firm, asked the court to reconsider a May order that allowed the bankrupt unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp to hire Kirkland, led by James Sprayregen. The dispute between two of the best-known law firms in corporate restructuring adds another layer of feuding to Caesars' $18 billion bankruptcy, which involves the biggest U.S. private equity and hedge fund firms. In a new court filing on Friday, Jones Day revealed evidence from a board meeting of the operating unit that it says shows testimony by Sprayregen at a trial over Kirkland's hiring by Caesars was incomplete and misleading. Kirkland & Ellis denied the allegation and said that it was without merit. Jones Day initially filed a redacted version of the motion last week, but Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar in Chicago rejected that for procedural reasons.

Fresh & Easy LLC filed for bankruptcy Friday, the second grocery chain backed by supermarket mogul Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. buyout firm to seek chapter 11 protection in recent months, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday. Fresh & Easy tumbled into bankruptcy in Wilmington, Del., the company's second chapter 11 filing in two years. Last week, the company shut down its 97 stores and said that it was hopeful that it could find a purchaser that would restart the business. Fresh & Easy's bankruptcy filing comes as the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., owned by Yucaipa and Mount Kellett Capital Management, navigates its second chapter 11 filing, selling and shutting down stores. Since filing for bankruptcy in July, A&P has sold 159 of 296 stores.

Patriot Coal Corporation announced that its reorganization plan became effective yesterday, marking the successful completion of the chapter 11 restructuring process, ABL Advisor reported. In conjunction with the plan becoming effective, Patriot has completed the transactions to sell most of Patriot's operating assets to Blackhawk Mining, LLC and to sell substantially all of its remaining assets and liabilities to an affiliate of Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund, Inc. Centerview Partners LLC is serving as financial advisor and investment banker for Patriot, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal advisor to Patriot. Alvarez & Marsal is serving as Chief Restructuring Officer for Patriot.

Licensees of Life Partners Holdings Inc. were sued for $91 million over their roles in an alleged fraud that earned them “exorbitant” commissions on the sale of life settlement investments while concealing when people were expected to die, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas comes as part of the bankruptcy of Life Partners, an owner of $2.4 billion in life insurance policies. The company dealt in life settlements, or “death bonds” — buying life insurance policies from ill or elderly people in need of fast cash and reselling them to retail investors promised high returns when the holder died, and the policy’s benefit was paid out. The suit was brought by a trustee overseeing the wind-down. He seeks to recover $91 million in commissions for investors it says were harmed. The licensees, named in the suit, were employed by Life Partners, he said.

A judge has rejected an unusual attempt by junior bondholders of Caesars Entertainment's bankrupt operating unit to disqualify law firm Kirkland & Ellis from leading the casino group's $18 billion chapter 11 restructuring, Reuters reported yesterday. Jones Day, the junior bondholders' law firm, had asked the court to reconsider a May order that allowed the bankrupt unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp. to hire Kirkland’s James Sprayregen. The fresh motion in the contentious bankruptcy case accused Sprayregen of giving misleading court testimony earlier this year regarding pre-bankruptcy work Kirkland handled for Caesars. Jones said that it unearthed new evidence including minutes from a 2014 board meeting. Jones Day's heavily redacted filing did not disclose the meeting minutes. In his denial to consider the motion at a Nov. 18 hearing, Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar said Jones Day should have requested court permission before filing such a restricted document. He said they could ask to refile the motion.