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Distressed-debt investors owed $1.5 billion along with unsecured creditors are pleading with a bankruptcy judge to open the doors to competing restructuring plans for ATP Oil & Gas Corp., Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Investors in ATP's $1.5 billion second-lien debt say that they may want to propose their own reorganization plan but do not want to be "hostage" to a company that has already signed away control to top-ranking lenders.

Blackstone Group, which advised on the $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, won an order blocking subpoenas for information related to a divorce settlement dispute between former team owner Frank McCourt and his ex-wife Jamie McCourt, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Jamie McCourt, who claims her $131 million settlement is unfair, issued subpoenas that seek information related to valuation of assets, according to papers filed Nov. 5 in New York State Supreme Court. Justice Jeffrey K. Oing issued the order today at a hearing in Manhattan. The subpoenas over the team’s valuation are premature, Oing said. The subpoenas issued to Blackstone and senior managing director Peter Cohen, who worked on the Dodgers sale, are “vastly overbroad and seek materials that are completely irrelevant” to asset valuations, Blackstone said.

The Treasury Department's inspector general has threatened to punish JPMorgan Chase & Co. for failing to turn over documents to regulators investigating the bank’s ties to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg News reported today. Inspector General Eric Thorson gave the largest U.S. bank a Jan. 11 deadline to cooperate with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency probe or risk sanctions for impeding the agency’s oversight. JPMorgan, according to the Dec. 21 letter, contends the information is protected by attorney-client privilege. Thorson’s letter did not spell out what documents the OCC is seeking or the focus of its investigation. Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence after confessing to the fraud that once claimed to have $65 billion in customer assets.

U.S. Trustee Roberta DeAngelis is objecting to the short timeline videogame company THQ Inc. is proposing for the sale of its assets, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. In rules filed with the bankruptcy court, THQ proposed selling its assets during a Jan. 9 auction with bids due by Jan. 8. THQ filed for chapter 11 protection with an offer from Clearlake Capital Group LP worth roughly $60 million in cash, loan forgiveness and assumed liabilities. It named the offer from Clearlake as the lead bid. DeAngelis in an objection filed yesterday said that "the time table set forth in the Motion denies parties in interest an opportunity to effectively participate in the proposed sale process."

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. said yesterday that it reached agreements, including additional financing, that will allow it to emerge from bankruptcy protection as a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., the Associated Press reported yesterday. Pinnacle said that it must file a reorganization plan acceptable to Delta and other creditors by Feb. 15. The company is trying to cut costs and streamline its fleet to 81 fuel-efficient planes that it would operate for Delta, which has been pressing Pinnacle to reduce costs.

Nortel Networks a motion for approval of a settlement agreement with its official committee of retired employees, BankruptcyData.com reported today. Under the terms of the settlement, the Nortel would terminate the retiree welfare plans as of May 31, and pay the retiree committee $67 million in settlement of all claims related to the retiree welfare plans. The agreement further provides that holders of retiree claims would release Nortel from further liability. A bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled for January 23 on the matter.

AMR Corp. sought bankruptcy court approval for restructured contracts with its aircraft and jet engines suppliers that the carrier said will help it switch to more fuel-efficient planes as part of its reorganization, Bloomberg News reported today. AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, filed redacted settlement agreements with Boeing Co., Airbus SAS, General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce Plc. The restructured agreements will in "no way adversely impact" AMR’s pursuit of strategic alternatives, the company said in the request.

News Publishing Co., the owner of nine community newspapers mainly located in Georgia, filed for chapter 11 protection on Tuesday, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. News Publishing has between $1 million and $10 million worth of assets and between $1 million and $10 million in debts, according to court documents. The largest debt listed in News Publishing's petition is a $4.04 million loan, originally issued by Wachovia Bank and now owned by Northwest Georgia Capital LLC.

Creditors of A123 Systems Inc. are seeking to hire a lobbying firm in an attempt to stop political forces from derailing a $256.6 million sale deal, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported yesterday. The company's unsecured creditors' committee wants court permission to bring on Capitol Counsel LLC, whose professionals are "among the most seasoned lobbyists in Washington," according to the committee, as it seeks to ensure a sale that recently won a bankruptcy judge's blessing remains intact. A123, a government-backed battery maker that has yet to turn a profit, received court approval on Dec. 11 to sell most of its assets to China's Wanxiang America Corp. The proposed buyer beat out rival bidder and stalking horse Johnson Controls Inc. at auction, but the fight for the assets did not end there. The sale to Wanxiang remains subject to the approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government body led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that reviews deals that could result in the control of a U.S. business by a foreign person or company.

American Realty Trust wants more time behind the shield of bankruptcy to figure out how to pay off a judgment from a failed apartment building sale, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Lawyers for American Realty are seeking a six-month extension of its exclusive right to file a chapter 11 plan explaining how it intends to pay off creditors, including a disputed $73 million judgment to a Michigan real estate developer.