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Furniture supplier World Imports filed for chapter 11 protection on Wednesday, Furniture Today reported on Friday. The company said a number of factors led to the filing, including a large antidumping tariff, an unsuccessful new software system and writedowns of bad debt. World Imports said in court documents that it has an outstanding balance on a line of credit with PNC Bank for about $11.1 million and about $3.6 million in unsecured trade payables. Deliveries will continue and World Imports plans to unveil a 2014 catalog later this month. The company also said it has partnered with a large trucking company to allow for the implementation of a new next-day delivery program to New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia area customers.

The Detroit Masonic Temple, the largest Masonic temple in the world with more than 1,000 rooms, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported today. This filing appears to have been spurred by a dispute with a live-event company. The Detroit Masonic Temple Theatre Co. is asking a bankruptcy court to move a lawsuit brought against it by Planet Stage to the bankruptcy court. Planet Stage sued the Temple operator in January to get $81,227.25 that Planet Stage says it’s owed for a show that it put on at the venue.

Cengage Learning Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection more than five years after a buyout led by Apax Partners LLP left the textbook publisher with about $5.8 billion in debt, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Under a deal with some of its senior lenders, the company will try to use the bankruptcy case to eliminate $4 billion in debt, Cengage said yesterday. The company, which bills itself as the second-biggest publisher of college-course material in the U.S., listed more than $1 billion in assets in a court filing. In 2007, private-equity group Apax led a $7.75 billion acquisition of Cengage from Thomson Reuters Corp. Apax is an investment adviser for funds worth more than $40 billion, the company said.

Belle Foods, the operator of former Bruno’s and Food World stores, filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday citing difficulties paying creditors with the revenues from its 57 stores in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi, the Birmingham (Ala.) News reported today. In June 2012, Birmingham-based Belle Foods purchased the stores from Southern Family Markets, a company that took control of a number of Bruno’s and Food World stores after the bankruptcy of what had been a Birmingham grocery titan for much of the last century. According to court documents, Belle Foods owes Southern Family Markets $28 million—$4 million for a loan and $24 million in a revolving line of credit. Belle Foods also owes C&S Wholesale Grocers $6 million—$5.1 in accounts payable and $900,000 on a pension withdrawal liability note. Belle Foods also has around $8 million in other accounts payable due.

Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd., the Athens-based operator of 38 dry-bulk vessels, filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. after extending a voting deadline on a reorganization plan with senior lenders, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Excel listed assets of $2.7 billion and debt of $1 billion in a chapter 11 petition filed yesterday. A group of senior lenders owed $771 million—backed by almost all the shipping company’s assets—signed off on a restructuring plan that calls for $50 million in new cash and the release of $30 million more that was restricted, the company said in a statement on June 11.

Mercantile Bancorp Inc., an Illinois bank holding company, sought bankruptcy protection with an agreement to sell virtually all its assets to United Community Bancorp Inc. for about $22.3 million, Bloomberg News reported today. The Quincy, Ill.-based company listed debt of more than $50 million and assets of less than $50 million in chapter 11 documents filed yesterday. Mercantile was forced to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors after “the precipitous decline in the financial markets during 2007 and 2008, foreclosure rates, delinquency rates and default rates” at the six subsidiary banks caused them to suffer “tremendous losses,” Chief Executive Officer Lee Roy Keith said in an affidavit. The company sold three of those bank subsidiaries in 2009 for $53.6 million, in an attempt to “right the ship.” The efforts were unsuccessful and its Heartland Bank and Royal Palm Bank were closed by state regulators in July 2012 and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over as receiver.

Renewable Energy SD, an Excelsior seller of wind energy equipment that was sued for fraud by the Minnesota attorney general’s office, has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today. In its court filing on Friday seeking for liquidation, Renewable Energy listed $15.9 million in debts and $6.2 million in assets. The Minnesota attorney general’s lawsuit filed in January alleges that the company and its sole owner, Shawn Dooling sold farmers in Minnesota and elsewhere faulty wind turbines using federal stimulus money aimed at helping the country during the recession. The company either failed to deliver many of the turbines or, in some cases, erected turbines that failed to perform properly or at all, the suit says. About 15 civil lawsuits have been filed against Renewable Energy SD by its customers or suppliers.

The distributor of such cable-television shows as “Inside the Actors Studio” and “Live from Lincoln Center” has sought chapter 11 protection, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Cable Ready Corp., of Norwalk, Conn., filed its chapter 11 petition on Friday. Founded in 1992, Cable Ready sells TV programs to cable and satellite networks around the world as well as to airlines and cruise ships. It also develops shows and provides TV-consulting services. Cable Ready reported $3.17 million in assets and $4.46 million in debts in its bankruptcy petition. Its debt load includes $1.47 million owed to lender Norwalk Bank and Trust.

Kelly Rutherford is broke and she's filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy listing her legal fights in divorce and child custody as the major source of her debts, TMZ.com reported yesterday. Rutherford claimed in court documents that she had assets totaling $23,937 with debts totaling $2,021,832. According to the report, Rutherford spent nearly $1.5 million on legal fees for her bitter divorce/custody war with former husband Daniel Giersch.

TMT Group, a large global shipping company, has filed for chapter 11 protection, saying that it was unable to restructure its debt after industry conditions deteriorated, Reuters reported on Friday. Twenty-three entities collectively known as TMT, whose 17 vessels transport cargo from oil to vehicles, filed for chapter 11 protection from creditors on Thursday. TMT said that it had $1.52 billion of assets and $1.46 billion of liabilities, and wants court approval to hire the restructuring specialist AlixPartners as its financial adviser. The filing came on the same day that another large shipper, South Korea's STX Pan Ocean Co Ltd, sought protection from creditors in the United States, less than two weeks after filing for court receivership in its home country.