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Cengage Learning Inc. is requesting bankruptcy court permission to pay fees that are associated with lining up as much as $2 billion in loans that will finance the company's operations after it exits chapter 11, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Tuesday. The textbook publisher said in court documents that were filed on Dec. 27 that it must have the financing — a $250 million revolving facility and a term loan of between $1.5 billion and $1.75 billion — lined up by Jan. 15 so that it can exit bankruptcy in March. Cengage's reorganization plan, which is slated for a confirmation hearing on Feb. 24, is contingent on it lining up this financing.

A judge has ruled that former billionaire and Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth is in contempt of court for selling an ocean resort in Mexico despite a court order not to sell the property that was part of bankruptcy proceedings, The Associated Press reported yesterday. A bankruptcy judge previously ordered that the Tamarindo resort was not to be sold or transferred while those proceedings were pending. Blixseth sold the hotel and condominiums in 2011 in violation of the court order, attorney Shane Coleman, who represents Yellowstone Club Liquidating Trust trustee Brian Glasser, said in a court filing. After a Dec. 23 hearing, U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon found that Blixseth was in contempt, according to court records.

Evergreen International Airlines Inc., a provider of air freight and transport services, sought bankruptcy protection yesterday two weeks after creditors asked a court to force the company to pay off its debt, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The bankruptcy petition cited as much as $100 million in assets and as much as $500 million in debt. Some creditors filed papers on Dec. 17 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., seeking to force McMinnville, Ore.-based Evergreen to pay its bills, according to the Delaware petition. Also seeking chapter 7 protection were affiliates Supertanker Services Inc. and Evergreen Defense and Security Services Inc.

A bankruptcy court judge has approved up to $1 million in insurance payments to help cover defense costs for two former executives of Furniture Brands International, Furniture Today reported on Tuesday. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher S. Sontchi authorized the American International Group and National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh to advance the funds for future legal expenses for former FBI Chairman and CEO Ralph Scozzafava and Vance Johnston, former senior vice president and chief financial officer. The funds are part of up to $15 million in coverage that the executives purchased prior to Furniture Brands International's chapter 11 bankruptcy that was filed Sept. 9. The policy is aimed at helping defray legal and other related costs that are associated with the shareholder lawsuits filed in August that allege that the company failed to disclose information about its true financial condition. These suits could be consolidated into a single class-action complaint.

Philip Falcone’s LightSquared Inc. will send a bankruptcy plan supported by Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG), JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Melody Capital Advisors LLC to creditors to vote, according to LightSquared lawyer Matthew Barr, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The standalone plan will compete with two others, one of which calls for selling most of the satellite-broadband provder’s assets to an entity owned by Charlie Ergen, chairman of LightSquared rival Dish Network Corp. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman yesterday allowed LightSquared to go forward with the new plan after a conference with parties in chambers.

Historic sporting venue and casino Miami Jai-Alai received bankruptcy court approval to take its assets to auction on March 25 with a $115 million cash offer plus some liabilities from Silvermark LLC to lead bidding, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Robert A. Mark on Sunday approved Miami Jai-Alai's plan to sell, Silvermark's offer and a $4 million breakup fee for Silvermark if it is bested at auction. Judge Mark will review the results of the auction on March 26. Silvermark LLC, which has ties to New York investment firm the Andalex Group, made a similar offer prior to the August 2013 chapter 11 filing of Miami Jai-Alai operator Florida Gaming Centers Inc., but the deal fell apart when disputes arose with lenders, led by ABC Funding LLC.

ABI joined four other organizations in a letter to Congress to express its strong support for the Federal Judiciary's FY 2014 funding appeal of $7 billion for mandatory and discretionary appropriations, as requested by the Judicial Conference. ABI joined the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Federal Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Constitution Project to support the funding appeal, which was put forward on Dec. 5 by Judge Julia S. Gibbons, chair of the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the U.S., and Judge John D. Bates, secretary. Addressed to Reps. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, and Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), a ranking member of the subcommittee, the letter states that the requested level of funding will "restore adequate funding to the federal courts and assure adequate access to justice by all citizens of our nation." To read the letter, click here: http://goo.gl/QV0JCd

The former head of Personal Communications Devices LLC who is accused of abandoning the Long Island, N.Y., mobile phone distributor as it lost ground in the smartphone era is fighting those accusations in court and has asked the company to pay for the battle, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Lawyers for Philip Christopher, who left Personal Communications Devices last year to start a competitor called AirTyme, said that he has spent "significant defense costs" while fighting off claims that he broke his duty to be loyal to the company. In recently filed court papers, Christopher's lawyers asked Bankruptcy Judge Alan S. Trust to begin spending money from the company's insurance policies, which had promised to cover legal costs of Personal Communications Devices' top executives.

Longview Power LLC, a 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant in West Virginia, is seeking an extension of its sole right to file a bankruptcy exit plan as it continues to spar with contractors over who's to blame for the operational problems that have dogged the $2 billion facility, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Longview's exclusivity period is set to expire on Feb. 26 and the company is asking Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon to extend that period to March 14.

Five years after lawyer Marc Dreier's arrest for running a multimillion-dollar investment fraud, investors and creditors of his defunct law firm are poised to recover 13 cents or less for each dollar of the more than $375 million owed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Sheila M. Gowan, the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy liquidation of Dreier LLP, has proposed a plan to repay creditors using recoveries and proceeds from the sale of the firm's assets, including office furniture and art. The expected payout in the Dreier LLP bankruptcy is dwarfed by what victims of Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme are likely to collect. As of Dec. 6, the trustee unwinding Madoff's firm had recovered about 54 percent, or $9.5 billion, of the estimated $17.5 billion that investors lost in the fraud, which came to light just days after Dreier was arrested in December 2008. Documents filed in federal bankruptcy court in New York last week show high-ranking creditor claims, including $3.85 million in tax claims and about $9 million that is owed to secured creditors, would be paid in full. Holders of about $375.4 million in unsecured claims, however, will recover between 4.9 and 12.6 percent, according to court papers.