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Allys ResCap Unit Files Bankruptcy Plan

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Residential Capital LLC, the mortgage lending unit of U.S. government-owned Ally Financial Inc., has filed a bankruptcy reorganization plan that calls for unsecured creditors to recover 36.3 cents on the dollar, Reuters reported on Friday. ResCap described the payout in a disclosure statement filed in bankruptcy court. Unsecured creditors would recover roughly $779 million of the $2.15 billion they are owed, and junior secured noteholders would recover the $2.22 billion they are owed, the filing said. Paulson & Co., the hedge fund firm run by billionaire John Paulson, is among the larger unsecured creditors. It is unclear what the firm paid for its claims. The proposed payouts are based on a May 13 global settlement among ResCap, Ally and various creditors, some of which blamed both entities for ResCap's bankruptcy.

World Imports Files for Chapter 11

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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.

Detroit Masonic Temple Operator Files for Chapter 11

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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.

Documents Reveal Milwaukee Bishop Dolans Bankruptcy Plot

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Documents released today in Milwaukee show that Catholic church leaders, including then archbishop Timothy Dolan, deliberately transferred $59 million to a trust in order to protect it from the claims of people who had been sexually abused by local priests, the Huffington Post reported yesterday. In a letter to a Vatican official, Dolan, now cardinal archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, explains that the move will provide "improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability." The Dolan letter, sent in 2007, is among 5,000 pages made public as part of a bankruptcy proceeding in which the $59 million trust is a point of contention for hundreds of people who have filed claims of clergy abuse. The files also include correspondence in which Dolan informs the Vatican that proposals to change statutes of limitations on sex abuse claims could adversely affect the Milwaukee archdiocese.

State Attorneys General Probing American U.S. Airways Merger

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A group of 19 attorneys general, led by Texas, has joined a U.S. Justice Department probe of a planned merger of American Airlines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc., Reuters reported yesterday. Some of the states involved worry that they will lose a hub because of the planned transaction, which would create the world's largest airline, while others are concerned about service cutbacks to smaller cities. US Airways announced on February 14 that it planned to merge with American, which is emerging from bankruptcy, in an $11 billion stock deal. The companies hope to wrap up the merger by the end of September. The state attorneys general are working with the Justice and Transportation Departments, both of which must approve the deal. Texas is leading the state effort, with Arkansas, Arizona, California, Washington, D.C., Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia also being involved in the investigation.

Tullys Coffee Sale to Dempseys Group Completed

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An investment group led by actor Patrick Dempsey has completed its $9.2 million acquisition of Tully's Coffee chain, which filed for chapter 11 protection last fall, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Dempsey's group, Global Baristas, won an auction of Tully's assets in federal bankruptcy court in January, beating out a combined rival bid of about $10.6 million from AgriNurture Inc. and Starbucks Corp. Starbucks had wanted to buy about half of Tully's 47 shops in Washington and California and turn them into Starbucks stores, while the rest of the company would keep the Tully's name under the ownership of AgriNurture, which is based in the Philippines. Global Baristas has said that it intends to continue operating Tully's and retain its more than 500 employees.

Excel Maritime Files for Bankruptcy

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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.

ICP Hedge Funds File for Creditor Protection in U.S.

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A pair of Cayman Islands-based hedge funds managed by ICP Asset Management LLC is seeking bankruptcy protection in the U.S., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Thomas C. Priore, a former Harvard quarterback who ran ICP Asset Management, is now accused of defrauding clients who had invested in collateralized debt obligations. The liquidators winding down the offshore funds—ICP Strategic Credit Income Fund Ltd. and ICP Strategic Credit Income Master Fund Ltd.—put the companies into chapter 15 protection yesterday.

Orchard Supply Gets Approval to Hold Store Closing Sales

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Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp., the operator of 91 hardware stores with a $205 million offer from Lowe’s Cos. for at least 60 of them, won court approval to hold going-out-of-business sales at eight underperforming stores and potentially another 22, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi at a hearing on Friday approved the company’s agreement with liquidator Great American Group, which yesterday won an auction for the right to run the store closing sales. A joint venture of liquidators Hilco Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC made an initial offer for a 74 percent recovery on assets to be sold, according to court papers.

Readers Digest Publisher Expects to Emerge from Bankruptcy by End of July

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The publisher of the Reader's Digest magazine said that it expects to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of July after a bankruptcy court approved its reorganization plan, Reuters reported on Friday. The Reader's Digest Association Inc. and its affiliates filed for chapter 11 protection for the second time in less than four years in February, citing a greater-than-expected decline in the media industry. The publisher, which had earlier filed for bankruptcy in 2009, will see its debt reduced by more than 80 percent to about $100 million under the restructuring plan, the company said. It will also convert about $465 million of secured notes to equity.