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Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross told the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 that the hourly billing system that they use to get paid is “primitive” and encourages frivolous legal actions, the Wall Street Journal's Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. A bankruptcy professional’s hourly rates have grown "infinitely faster than inflation for as long as I can remember," Ross said Friday at ABI's Annual Spring Meeting, which more than 1,000 people had registered to attend. Bankruptcy judges who are tasked with approving the fees have a tough time figuring out what’s appropriate, he said. Ross suggested that the problem could be fixed if attorneys either were not paid for pursuing losing actions or if compensation were capped using a benchmark that could be based on hourly rates in recent cases. Bankruptcy professionals who are working on exceptionally difficult cases like that of Lehman Brothers or Washington Mutual could ask a judge for special permission to be paid more, he said.

Struggling shipping company Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd. is nearing a restructuring deal with its lenders but could still have to file for chapter 11 in the U.S., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. A restructuring professional said that he believes the company is "close" to hashing out a deal with lenders under its $1.4 billion syndicated credit facility. But a negotiated bankruptcy filing could also be in Excel's future, since the company still has $150 million in convertible debt it needs to deal with.

Patriot Coal Corp.'s plan to withdraw from a multi-employer pension plan might cost it $959 million and harm retired miners and other companies, two contributors to the plan said, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Energy West Mining Co. and Drummond Co. objected in court papers filed on Thursday to Patriot's proposal to stop contributing to the United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan. The 35 other contributing companies would have to absorb the costs, and the underfunded plan covering 90,000 retirees and spouses might fail, they said.

Rotech Healthcare Inc., a provider of home respiratory products, has filed for bankruptcy, saying that its plan to cut its debt by about half and to reorganize is supported by a majority of its noteholders, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Under the proposed reorganization plan, the company’s lenders, owed $23.5 million, and first-lien noteholders, owed $230 million, will receive an amended term loan. Second-lien noteholders will get all of the shares in the new Rotech, eliminating more than $300 million in debt, according to a company statement. The company, based in Orlando, Fla., said that it has more than $100 million in assets and owes lenders and noteholders about $543.5 million.

Two years into Chapter 11 proceedings, the trustee for Howrey—the Washington, D.C.-based law firm that dissolved and entered bankruptcy in 2011—has reached a settlement with one of Howrey's insurance carriers, and is continuing to negotiate with 50 other law firms in an effort to recover millions of dollars to repay Howrey creditors, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Houston attorney Allan Diamond, whose role as trustee is to recover as much money as possible for the firm's creditors, filed papers with the bankruptcy court on Friday seeking approval for a settlement he has reached with the Attorneys’ Liability Assurance Society which provides malpractice insurance for Howrey. The agreement would funnel a minimum of about $5.2 million and up to $7.6 million to the Howrey estate. Diamond also filed lawsuits against seven law firms over "unfinished business" claims. Diamond has already reached such agreements with Holland & Knight and Fenwick & West that will bring at least $41,000 to the Howrey estate, according to papers filed with the bankruptcy court in late March.

To hear more about the Howrey case and law firm bankruptcies, make sure to register for next week's Annual Spring Meeting that will feature a joint session by ABI's Bankruptcy Litigation and Labor & Employment Committees on the topic. Click here for more information or to register.

Fisker Automotive, the struggling government-backed hybrid sports car maker, on Friday terminated most of its rank-and-file employees in what sources said was a last-ditch effort to conserve cash and stave off a potential bankruptcy filing, Reuters reported on Friday. Fisker, which raised $1.2 billion from investors and tapped nearly $200 million in government loans, has nearly $30 million in cash on hand. Fisker confirmed in a statement that it let go about 75 percent of its workforce but did not specify the number of workers affected. It called the move "a necessary strategic step in our efforts to maximize the value of Fisker's core assets."

Casey Anthony is objecting to a proposal that she sell her life story as part of her bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported on Friday. Her attorneys filed a motion last week in bankruptcy court asking a judge to reject the proposal. Last month, her bankruptcy trustee asked the judge for permission to sell the exclusive rights to Anthony’s story. Anthony is unemployed and does not have regular income. Her attorneys say a proposal to sell her story would require Anthony to create something that does not already exist and violates the purpose of bankruptcy, which is to create a fresh start. They also say the proposal could bar Anthony from ever discussing her life. Anthony was acquitted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2011.

Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. has slashed billions of dollars of claims made by a former Swiss derivatives unit as details of the agreement were presented in a court filing, Reuters reported yesterday. Lehman Brothers emerged from bankruptcy a year ago but it is still working to resolve several outstanding legal battles. The agreement with Switzerland-based Lehman Brothers Finance AG was the last major dispute to be settled, according to Daniel Ehrmann, Lehman Brother Holding's international chief.

The shell of A123 Systems Inc. left behind in bankruptcy is seeking to preserve millions of dollars in tax-credits with the state of Michigan, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The lithium ion battery maker, which was awarded nearly $250 million in grants from the Department of Energy before filing for bankruptcy, received about $125 million in tax credits from Michigan to help offset the costs associated with construction of the company's battery-making plant in the state and as an incentive to hire local residents.

Fisker Automotive, the environmentally friendly-car company that has not built a car since July, has hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis to advise it on a possible bankruptcy filing, Reuters reported yesterday. Kirkland's Anup Sathy, a bankruptcy lawyer who handled the chapter 11 filings of General Growth Properties and Innkeepers USA Trust, is advising the U.S. automaker. Fisker, which furloughed its more than 200 U.S. workers this week to conserve cash, has been exploring bankruptcy as an option while it continues to look for a strategic partner.