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In a major victory for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a federal judge has ruled that a sex abuse victim, who was paid $80,000 in an earlier settlement, cannot seek additional compensation in the church's bankruptcy, the (Milwaukee) Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa on Tuesday dismissed the claim of the victim, who alleged that the archdiocese lied to him in mediation to get him to sign the settlement. If it stands, Randa's ruling could force the dismissal of nearly 100 of the 570-plus claims filed in the bankruptcy. Randa's decision upheld an earlier ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley and is the latest in a series of rulings that have favored the archdiocese over creditors in its bankruptcy. The archdiocese filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011, saying it was the only way to adequately compensate all victims and continue its ministries.

Empire Die Casting Co. of Macedonia, Ohio, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and hopes to be sold soon, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported yesterday. New Growth Capital Group LLC has submitted a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Empire Die Casting for $11.7 million in cash. New Growth Capital Group would be designated as a stalking-horse bidder for the auction, and Empire Die Casting would pay a break-up fee of $180,000 if New Growth Capital Group is out-bid. The company filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 16 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Akron, Ohio, listing assets of between $10,000,001 and $50 million and liabilities of between $1,000,001 and $10 million. The bid deadline is Dec. 16. Marc Merklin, a managing partner in the Akron office of law firm Brouse McDowell LPA, said that the court will hear the request for the bid procedures on Nov. 5. The main hurdle Empire Die Casting faces is a potential liability in its multiemployer pension plan; Merklin says that the pension plan has a multimillion-dollar liability and is “unworkable” as is.

A California bankruptcy judge has given preliminary approval to a $1 million settlement made with fired workers of Rhythm & Hues, the Academy Award-winning VFX firm that did the special effects for Life of Pi, among many other films, according to The Hollywood Reporter yesterday. Earlier this year, the company filed for chapter 11 protection and terminated 238 employees. Before the company was sold to an affiliate of Prana Studios for $1.2 million in cash and the assumption of liabilities, a class-action lawsuit was filed by one of the employees terminated, alleging violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, including not being given the requisite 60 days of written notice before termination. Last month, a joint motion was filed in bankruptcy court that sought approval for a $1 million settlement for wages and benefits left outstanding. After a hearing last week, a judge gave preliminary approval and set a hearing for final approval on Dec. 13.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge yesterday cleared the way for hedge fund Elliott Management and King Street Capital Management L.P. to buy a multibillion-dollar bankruptcy claim owed to a Lehman Brothers U.K. subsidiary at a discount, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York rejected a bid by a rival group of hedge funds to take a closer look at the deal, the details of which they argued were unfairly kept secret. Those funds, including such major distressed-debt investors as Paulson & Co. and Baupost Group, had argued that rival bidders had been shut out of the sale process. Lehman officially exited bankruptcy last year under a chapter 11 approved by its creditors, including the hedge funds involved in the dispute. Harvey Miller, a lawyer for Lehman’s post-bankruptcy overseers, said at yesterday’s hearing that the sale to Elliott and King Street is not simply a purchase of a claim, but reflects a complex web of claims and litigation involving two Lehman U.K. subsidiaries, which are being wound down under English law. The company’s liquidation is expected to continue for several more years as the team sells off Lehman’s still-considerable real-estate and private-equity holdings and unwinds its derivative positions.

Chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. said that it does not expect to emerge from its 12-year bankruptcy before the end of January as it deals with court appeals against its restructuring plan, Reuters reported yesterday. Grace filed for chapter 11 protection in 2001, making it one of the longest bankruptcies in U.S. history, after an asbestos leak at one of its mines led to a slew of lawsuits. Through bankruptcy, Grace has been able to halt debt payments, survive two recessions and take advantage of a U.S. shale energy boom that is fueling demand for catalysts, which help refiners process crude oil. Grace could emerge from bankruptcy by the end of January if there are no further appeals to its restructuring plan, Chief Executive Fred Festa said on a post-earnings call. "If there are appeals filed, our emergence would be delayed, probably by two to three months," Festa said, adding the company would be able to give an update on December 5.

Brooklyn, New York’s Cammareri Bros. Bakery — the 92-year-old eatery made famous by the 1987 Cher film “Moonstruck” — filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, FoxNews.com reported yesterday. While Cammareri’s website lists more than 25 wholesale clients who stock the bakery’s breads, a number of those listed as customers, such as Brooklyn’s Ferdinando’s Focacceria and Monteleone Bakery, told FOXBusiness.com that they haven’t sold Cammareri’s goods in a long time.

RadioShack Corp. has secured a financial boost from GE Capital on the cusp of the crucial holiday selling season, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The General Electric Co. unit will extend a loan of around $835 million secured by existing assets, including inventory, to refinance outstanding bank debt. The funds will free up cash for the electronics chain's overhaul as its losses mount. RadioShack had about $500 million of long-term debt outstanding at the end of June.

KKR & Co., Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and TPG Capital, the firms that led the $48 billion buyout of Energy Future Holdings Corp. in 2007, are fighting to receive barely 3 percent of their initial investment when the power generator files for bankruptcy as soon as this month, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Negotiations with senior creditors including Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management LLC and Centerbridge Capital Partners LLC, which are poised to seize control of the former TXU Corp., were at a crucial juncture yesterday when agreements that allow them to view nonpublic information to foster talks expire. A proposal disclosed last week that wasn’t accepted would have given the company’s owners as little as $270 million. KKR, Goldman and TPG took Dallas-based Energy Future private in the largest leveraged buyout in history, an investment that was predicated on rising gas prices. Instead, they fell as the development of hydraulic fracturing created a surge in U.S. gas supplies, triggering 10 straight quarterly losses at the company since 2011 and leading Warren Buffett to say his $2 billion investment in Energy Future bonds was “a big mistake.” Energy Future is due to make about $270 million in interest payments Nov. 1 — cash that senior creditors want the company to retain to boost their recoveries in a bankruptcy. A filing would be the 12th-largest in the U.S. and the fifth biggest non-financial corporate ever, according to the UCLA-LoPucki Bankruptcy Research Database, which ranks companies by assets.

Hedge funds that invested in an obscure bond of General Motors Corp.’s old businesses won approval of a settlement that will give some of them 1.8 times the return of other creditors and resolve disputes over how they acted on the eve of the automaker’s collapse, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber yesterday approved a settlement that gives the holders of notes in GM’s Nova Scotia unit a $1.55 billion claim in the bankruptcy. Some, including Fortress Investment Group LLC and Elliott Management Corp., have already received a share of a $367 million cash payment made to holders of the notes, which have a face amount of $1 billion.

Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s creditors may be carving up less of the Texas energy giant in a bankruptcy reorganization after it cut the earnings forecast last week for its deregulated unit, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The former TXU Corp. reduced its 2015 profit forecast for its Texas Competitive Electric Holdings unit by almost 20 percent on lower expectations for natural gas prices, compared with earnings projections six months ago, the Dallas-based company said in an Oct. 15 regulatory filing. The revised outlook may cut how much debtholders receive after a chapter 11 restructuring, which may come as soon as next month, said Peter Thornton, an analyst for KDP Investment Advisors Inc.