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Creditors of Michigan solar-power manufacturer Energy Conversion Devices Inc. are accusing the company of bowing to a handful of investors holding the majority of its $262 million in bonds when deciding how the company will sell off its assets to pay creditors, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. The company's unsecured creditors' committee asked Bankruptcy Judge Thomas J. Tucker to cut off the time period that Energy Conversion Devices has to finalize its liquidation plan, which would enable creditors to file their own liquidation plan.

Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP's estate is considering claims to recover profits from unfinished legal work that partners who were poached took to their new firms, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Once a 1,300-lawyer global enterprise that was among the largest law firms in New York, Dewey & LeBoeuf filed for chapter 11 protection last week and owes more than $315 million to banks, bondholders, landlords and vendors. The main source for repaying Dewey's creditors will be collecting an estimated $255 million in legal work for which the firm has not yet been paid.

Hedge funds owed nearly $53 million have moved to push Allied Systems Holdings Inc. into an involuntary bankruptcy case, a remedy for what they said are improper moves by owner Yucaipa Cos., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Affiliates of Black Diamond Capital Management LLC and Spectrum Investment Partners LP asked a bankruptcy court to move promptly to appoint a trustee to run the company on the alleged grounds that it is being "grossly mismanaged." Atlanta's Allied Systems Holdings specializes in the delivery of new vehicles from car manufacturers to dealerships. John Blount, chief administrative officer and general counsel of the company, on Friday said that "rogue lenders" were behind the involuntary bankruptcy petition, which had its roots in a running legal battle between the hedge funds and Yucaipa. Most lenders are supportive of the company, and it has adequate liquidity to continue business as usual, Blount said.

The judge in Washington Mutual's bankruptcy case ruled yesterday that a group of investors who are plaintiffs in a federal mortgage-backed securities lawsuit against WaMu cannot file a claim in the company's bankruptcy case until distributions are made to a group of low-ranking creditors, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The plaintiffs, whose lawsuit is scheduled for a September trial in Seattle, have asserted a claim of $435 million in the bankruptcy case and argue that they should be treated as general unsecured creditors. Washington Mutual maintains that the plaintiffs' claims must be subordinate to those of other creditor classes. WaMu also said that the plaintiffs had agreed in a previous stipulation not to file a claim unless a group of low-ranking creditors with securities fraud claims had received recoveries.