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Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. is looking for additional financing, a buyer or a business partner to help the company stay on its feet and make a turnaround under bankruptcy court protection, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported today. The clinical laboratory company filed for chapter 11 protection on Sunday after a tumultuous year that included a now-settled federal investigation, the resignation of its top executive, and ongoing legal battles with its former sales contractor and two health insurers. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens yesterday granted 13 first-day motions to help the company continue to operate during the bankruptcy proceedings, including a motion allowing the company to maintain wages, salaries and benefits for employees.

Oil and gas companies with names like Nowitzki, Teixeira, Modano and Woodson filed for bankruptcy on May 15, the Dallas Business Journal reported today. In all, a dozen Fort Worth, Texas-based oil and gas companies filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The names are references to Dallas Maverick Dirk Nowitzki, New York Yankee Mark Teixeira (a former Texas Ranger), former Dallas Stars player Mike Modano and former Dallas Cowboy Darren Woodson. Several other companies named after professional athletes also are listed. “They’re totally unrelated to the athletes,” said John Bonds, an attorney who is representing the companies in bankruptcy. Read more.

For further analysis of oil and gas company bankruptcy proceedings, be sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy.

Eastpoint 10 Cinemas in Dundalk, Md., has filed for chapter 11 protection after defaulting on its lease at Eastpoint Center, the Baltimore Business Journal reported on Saturday. National Real Estate Management Corp., the landlord for the 51,505-square-foot theater complex, sued Baltimore Eastpoint 10 Movies in April for allegedly failing to pay rent. On May 4, the Baltimore County District Court ordered the theater operator to pay the $50,926.42 in owed rent plus attorneys’ fees of $6,000. Those funds were due May 8, when the theater operator filed for bankruptcy to avoid eviction.

American Eagle Energy Corp. filed for chapter 11 protection, the latest energy company forced to restructure because of depressed oil and gas prices, Reuters reported yesterday. Listing about $215 million in debts, American Eagle Energy filed its petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver on Friday, about two months after missing an interest payment on $175 million of notes. The Littleton, Colo.-based company, which drills mainly in the so-called "Spyglass Area" in North Dakota, had raised the debt just last August, shortly before a sharp drop in oil prices would threaten profit margins. It joins a list of recently bankrupt energy companies including Quicksilver Resources and Dune Energy. Read more.

For more insight on oil and gas bankruptcies, be sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s When Gushers Go Dry: The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy. 

International Bridge Corp., a company that does construction and maintenance on the island of Guam, filed for chapter 11 protection on Thursday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In filings with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Kansas, International Bridge said it needs access to cash secured by liens against its business to continue day-to-day operations and pay its vendors and employees. The company, which got out of the construction business in Guam and now performs service and maintenance at a high school there, owes $4.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service and $4.8 million to the Guam government.

A Super Bowl ticket seller has filed for bankruptcy to deal with upset customers who showed up to Super Bowl XVIX in Arizona only to find out that their ticket purchases had fallen through, in some cases, just hours before kick-off, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Queens, N.Y.-based SBTickets.com issued refunds, but customers who had journeyed from as far as Brazil, Australia and Papua New Guinea are pushing for travel and lodging money for missing out on the New England Patriots’ win over the Seattle Seahawks via that jaw-dropping interception in the final seconds. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose office has taken 35 complaints against the company, sued SBTickets.com in March, seeking $2,000 per violation of the state’s Consumer Protection Act.

Stung by a global pricing slump and liquidity problems, Grand Rapids, Minn.-based Magnetation LLC has filed for chapter 11 protection in an effort to restructure its debt and continue operating its iron ore concentration business, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today. As part of the bankruptcy restructuring filed on Monday, company officials said that they successfully reached an agreement with creditors for a note due in 2018. That deal will allow the company to restructure its balance sheet and provide the cash needed to continue operations in the long term. The agreement is with holders of senior secured notes that carry an interest rate of 11 percent. The bankruptcy filing was one solution to a problem that had boxed Magnetation into a corner. Plagued by plummeting global iron ore prices that are 60 percent lower than a year ago, Magnetation last month idled one of its plants in Keewatin, Minn.

AVT, Inc., a manufacturer of automated retailing systems and custom vending machines, announced yesterday that it has filed for chapter 11 protection, according to a press release. AVT management states that the company's core vending and automated retailing business remains strong, and that the filing is related to past attempts at diversification into unrelated businesses. "We are convinced that the rehabilitative process of chapter 11 is the best way to protect our company and provide a path to future success," said Wayne Salvino, the newly installed president of AVT.

The insolvent distributor of Hollywood classics like "True Romance" and the "Ace Ventura" films will ask a New York judge today to approve a deal to end its bankruptcy, against the wishes of the U.S. Department of Justice, Reuters reported on Friday. Inverness Distribution Ltd. wants bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman to dismiss its case under settlements that would repay lenders and unions while providing broad legal releases and wiping out unsecured claims.

The parent of First Bank and Trust Co. of Illinois filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday with a plan to restructure more than $50 million in debt, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Northwest Bancorporation of Illinois Inc. said in court filings that it has a pre-packaged reorganization plan in place with support of both management and the Hershenhorn family, who owns more than 90 percent of Northwest through hybrid securities that have elements of both equity and debt. First Bank and Trust, a community bank with one branch in Palatine, Ill., isn't part of the bankruptcy and will continue operating normally, Northwest President Alan Reasoner said in an affidavit accompanying the company's filing.