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Kodak earlier this month filed a final tally of costs for its chapter 11 bankruptcy, as well as a motion asking the final closing of the case, the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle. That $245.2 million total is $2.1 million more than the $243.1 million worth of bills presented to the court in November 2013. Kodak semi-officially ended its bankruptcy in September 2013 when its reorganization plan took effect. That moment saw the company selling off its Personalized Imaging and Digital Imaging businesses to a British pension fund, cancel out all its existing stock, and issue new shares to an array of parties holding IOUs, from the financiers who helped pay for Kodak's bankruptcy to the legions of creditors left with unpaid bills when the company filed for protection. Since then, the Kodak General Unsecured Creditors Trust has been suing numerous firms that did business with Kodak before the bankruptcy, seeking to claw back some of the money Kodak spent in those pre-bankruptcy weeks to then divide it up among various unsecured creditors. The court also has continued to rule on cases where Kodak objected to some of the 7,000 claims and requests for payment that had been filed against it. And during all this time, Kodak has been paying out what it had been ordered to pay as part of its reorganization plan. According to the motion, Kodak has paid out some stock and stock warrants to holders of unsecured claims, and expects to do one final payout of yet more.

A Los Angeles hedge fund that had been trying to oust the management of Variant Holding Co. has pulled its request for a chapter 11 trustee to run the real estate firm, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Hedge fund Beach Point Capital withdrew its request for a chapter 11 trustee to take control of the real estate firm, according to bankruptcy court papers filed on Tuesday. The withdrawal comes after Beach Point settled with the real estate firm and agreed to provide a $10 million bankruptcy loan to finance Variant's restructuring. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan L. Shannon of signed off on the settlement two weeks ago.

Tribune Media saw earnings decline by 24 percent in the third quarter, due in part to losses associated with its former publishing business, which it spun off in August, the Chicago Tribune reported today. The Chicago-based company reported net income of $38 million, or 38 cents per share in the quarter ended Sept. 28, down from $50 million during the same quarter last year, according to financial results released yesterday. Net income from continuing operations was about $53 million, or 53 cents per share. Operating revenue for the quarter was $475 million, up 69 percent year-over-year, primarily as a result of December's acquisition of the Local TV station group.

U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest on Monday approved Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s $5.15 billion settlement over its ill-fated acquisition of Tronox Inc., the final major hurdle in the federal government's largest environmental settlement ever, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Judge Forrest said that Tronox 's bankruptcy judge was correct earlier this year when he signed off on the deal. Approval from the two judges was necessary for the settlement to be completed. In agreeing with Bankruptcy Judge Allan L. Gropper, Judge Forrest overruled two objections from claimants who thought the settlement was too low or that they deserved a greater share of the proceeds.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. have reached an agreement with key senior creditors on the outline of a debt restructuring plan that includes a pre-packaged bankruptcy for its largest unit as soon as January, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Under the plan being negotiated by first-lien bondholders including Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. and Pacific Investment Management Co., the casino company would put its Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. unit into chapter 11 proceedings as soon as Jan. 14. The proposal, which is the product of eight weeks of talks between the casino operator and its creditors, would help tame a $22.9 billion debt burden taken on six years ago in one of the biggest leveraged buyouts ever. Caesars, taken private by Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital for $30.7 billion in 2008, has lost money every year since 2009.

Dendreon Corp., the maker of prostate-cancer drug Provenge, filed for bankruptcy protection, potentially wiping out shareholders in a company that pioneered the use of patients’ immune systems to fight tumors, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The agreement calls for a recapitalization of Dendreon, or a sale of the company or its assets, the Seattle-based drugmaker said yesterday. The company and its U.S. subsidiaries filed chapter 11 petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Provenge, approved in 2010 as the first so-called immunotherapy, was designed to treat patients with advanced-stage prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths among men in the U.S. The drug never lived up to expectations because it’s cumbersome to administer and costs $93,000. Dendreon said that it plans to continue operations during the restructuring and will provide Provenge to patients. The company has about 700 employees in Seattle and Bridgewater, N.J., after cutting about 750 full-time and contractor positions in 2012 and 2013 and selling a New Jersey plant.

Section 602 of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) authorizes the U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) to issue rules requiring uniform periodic reports by debtors in possession or trustees in non-small business cases under chapter 11. The USTP recently published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on the proposed rule and periodic report forms. The proposed rule is published as 79 Fed. Reg. 217, 66659 (Nov. 10, 2014) (to be codified at 28 C.F.R. pt. 58). The proposed rule, along with the proposed periodic report forms and instructions, may be viewed on the USTP’s site at www.justice.gov/ust/eo/rules_regulations/index.htm#proposed. The proposed rule may also be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov. All public comments must be submitted on or before Jan. 9, 2015, via www.regulations.gov. The proposed rule and forms only apply in chapter 11 cases filed by non-small businesses. Small business debtors are already required to use Official Form 25C, "Small Business Monthly Operating Report."

Dahl's Foods Inc., an 83-year-old Des Moines-based grocery store chain, will disappear from the local landscape as a locally owned company, The Des Moines Register reported today. The 10-store chain filed a $41 million bankruptcy petition in federal court on Sunday asking that it be allowed to reorganize and sell its stores. The likely buyer will be its supplier or another grocery company. The company is also asking that the process be moved along quickly. Dahl's said yesterday that Kansas City, Kan.-based Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) plans to buy Dahl's assets and rebrand the stores. AWG is a retailer-owned grocery cooperative and grocery distributor. Court filings show that AWG has offered to buy the chain's assets for a base price of $4.8 million, which could be adjusted depending on the value of inventory and other items. Under one scenario, one of AWG's co-op members could own the stores, with AWG funding the acquisition. AWG said that it plans to rebrand the remaining Dahl's stores and remodel and update the properties. The new brand was not identified.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s agreement to pay $5.15 billion to clean up nuclear fuel and other pollution received approval from a federal judge on Monday, the final hurdle for the settlement touted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as the largest-ever environmental cleanup recovery, Reuters reported yesterday. The agreement, reached in April, resolved a lawsuit against Anadarko and its Kerr-McGee unit from creditors of Tronox Inc., the paint materials maker that was once a unit of Kerr-McGee. Opponents of the settlement could still appeal, but would face tough odds given its broad support among the parties in the case. The lawsuit, which was joined by the DOJ, alleged that Tronox's 2009 bankruptcy was caused by the environmental liabilities that it took on when Kerr-McGee spun it off in 2005. The bankruptcy judge who oversaw Tronox's chapter 11 case and presided over the trial green-lighted the deal in May. Tronox emerged from bankruptcy in 2011.

Biofuel maker KiOR Inc. has filed for bankruptcy, although its Mississippi subsidiary has not, preserving the chance that its Columbus, Miss., plant could be sold quickly, The Associated Press reported yesterday. The company, based in Pasadena, Texas, filed for chapter 11 protection late Sunday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, where it is incorporated. KiOR defaulted on a loan from Mississippi last week after failing to make a $1.8 million debt payment. The state says that KiOR Columbus LLC, owned by KiOR, owes $78.6 million. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said that he was working with Attorney General Jim Hood and state Auditor Stacey Pickering to recover the money. The company borrowed $75 million from Mississippi to build a refinery in Columbus meant to make fuel from wood chips, but the $230 million plant never worked as designed, and KiOR subsequently laid off almost all of its workers. The state is now trying to find a buyer for the complex on the Tombigbee River just west of downtown Columbus. It's possible that the only money Mississippi will recover will come from the sale of the plant.