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The trustee for MF Global Holdings Inc.'s brokerage unit said he has received $168 million in cash from JPMorgan Chase & Co, which had been the commodities and futures brokerage firm's main bank prior to its October bankruptcy, Reuters reported on Friday. James Giddens, the trustee for the MF Global Inc. unit, said that the money represents proceeds of excess collateral that the largest U.S. bank held when the unit began to liquidate. He said that the payment will help his efforts to return money to former MF Global customers, and that he remains in talks with JPMorgan on other claims. An estimated $1.6 billion of customer funds has disappeared from MF Global, which had been run by Jon Corzine, a former New Jersey governor and senator.

The Silver Legacy Resort Casino filed for bankruptcy on Thursday after it could not find money to repay nearly $143 million in loans that came due earlier this year, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. The 1,800-worker facility based in Reno, Nevada, plans to continue operating while company executives figure out how to replace that loan, which forms the bulk of its $174 million in debt.

Dallas-based Reddy Ice expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection this month with a lighter debt load and a cash infusion from Centerbridge Capital Partners, the Dallas Morning News reported on Saturday. Reddy Ice Holdings Inc. and its subsidiary Reddy Ice Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection in April. The parent company on Saturday that a bankruptcy judge has confirmed its reorganization plan under which debt will be reduced by about $145 million, interest expense will be cut by about $20 million annually and it will get an equity infusion of about $25 million. That includes a $7.5 million preferred stock investment from Centerbridge. In connection with the plan, the court approved settlement agreements in legal cases stemming from a U.S Justice Department probe of the packaged ice industry.

Freeport Financial LLC received approval yesterday to take drug investigator Cetero Research out of chapter 11 with a revamped balance sheet, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey signed off on the sale of the company under a deal that swaps out about $60 million in first-lien debt for equity.

Marine tanker operator General Maritime Corp has emerged from chapter 11 protection six months after falling victim to rising debt and vessel oversupply, Reuters reported yesterday. The company cut its debt by about $600 million and received $175 million from private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management LP, General Maritime said yesterday. General Maritime had listed liabilities of $1.41 billion as of September.

British bus and rail operator Stagecoach has agreed to buy some of struggling Coach America's U.S. businesses, helping it grow its rapidly expanding North America operation, Reuters reported yesterday. Scotland-based Stagecoach said that it had agreed to buy nine of Coach America's businesses, including operations in Texas and California, for $134.4 million. Coach America is a major operator of bus and coach services in the United States and has been operating under chapter 11 protection since January 2012.

Billionaire Warren Buffett sought to buy Residential Capital from Ally Financial Inc. before the government-owned company put the home lender in bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported today. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. would have paid almost nothing upfront for the assets, while taking on potential liabilities such as mounting litigation costs and other claims. Buffett sought to avoid a ResCap bankruptcy filing because Berkshire had unsecured debt in the mortgage unit. Detroit-based Ally turned down the proposal after deciding that a bankruptcy filing and sale better protected the company from future liabilities. ResCap's board voted to declare bankruptcy and arrange a sale to Fortress Investment Group LLC and Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. for about $2.3 billion, ResCap Chairman and CEO Thomas Marano said this week. Fortress and Nationstar will not take on the liabilities that Berkshire had proposed assuming.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said that a bankruptcy judge did not "clearly err" when he ruled in favor of Tousa's unsecured creditors, reversing a district court ruling, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The creditors had successfully challenged a series of financial transactions in connection with Tousa's ill-fated purchase of rival Florida builder Transeastern Properties Inc. The decision is a win for Tousa bondholders, including hedge fund Aurelius Capital Management. Mark Brodsky's $2.5 billion hedge fund owns several hundred millions of Tousa's bond debt and stands to reap big profits if the appellate ruling stands.

To read a detailed summary the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision and obtain a copy of the ruling, make sure to visit ABI's Volo site:
http://volo.abi.org/senior-transeastern-lenders-v-official-committee-of…

A General Motors Co. lawyer demanded the widow of a car-crash victim drop a plan to seek punitive damages from the auto maker, even though the company's government-brokered overhaul does not bar plaintiffs from going after such legal penalties, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The GM lawyer in a March 3 email told a lawyer representing the widow of a man killed in a GM-made U-Haul truck that GM could not be sued for punitive damages in the case. Other lawyers say that assertion stretches beyond what they believe is GM's legal exposure in product-liability cases. Even so, after receiving the email, the widow's lawyer abandoned plans to make a claim for punitive damages against GM. The dispute highlights questions now arising over how much legal protection GM and Chrysler Group LLC have in certain product liability cases following 2009 government rescues that exceeded $70 billion. A bankruptcy judge allowed Chrysler to immunize itself from new punitive-damage claims arising from alleged manufacturing defects in vehicles sold before its restructuring. GM received a $50 billion government rescue at the height of the financial crisis and then sold its best assets to the U.S. Treasury in a 2009 bankruptcy sale—making it a new auto maker legally divorced from the company that manufactured the U-Haul and millions of other vehicles. The newly formed GM posted a record $7.6 billion profit last year.

The defection of Washington, D.C., lobbyist L. Charles Landgraf for Arnold & Porter means that there are no partners remaining in Dewey's office of the chairman, a five-lawyer group assembled in March to govern the firm in the face of mounting problems, Reuters reported yesterday. Stephen Horvath III, Dewey's executive partner in charge of day-to-day operations, appears to now be the top manager of what remains of the law firm. Of the roughly 300 partners with the firm in January, only around 50 remain. Dewey, which has about $225 million in debt, is facing a growing number of lawsuits dealing with everything from unpaid rent to pension funding. Instead of filing for bankruptcy, Dewey appears to be attempting to liquidate outside of court.