Unsecured Creditors

Adelphia Communications Corp.'s unsecured creditors sued the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking that they be paid before any funds go to the government agency. The SEC filed a claim against the fifth-largest U.S. cable television company on behalf of bondholders and shareholders who lost money during the accounting fraud that drove Adelphia into bankruptcy protection in 2002.

Reporting from Chicago -- Tribune Co. and a group of its senior creditors filed an amended plan of reorganization that the media company hopes will solve problems that prevented a Delaware judge from approving an earlier version in October. In court documents filed Friday night, the company and its allies expressed hope that the new plan could pave the way to an exit from the nearly 3-year-old Chapter 11 proceeding. That will depend on how U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J. Carey responds to a new proposal that addresses disputes that cropped up among junior creditors after his ruling.

The Major League Baseball Players' Assn., the family of Bryan Stow and KABC radio are among five parties appointed Wednesday to represent the interests of unsecured creditors in the Dodgers' bankruptcy case. The committee, selected by a United States trustee, acts to ensure the interests of all unsecured creditors in the case. The Dodgers, as the debtor, are responsible for covering the legal bills incurred by the committee. The Dodgers' bankruptcy petition listed the team's top 40 unsecured creditors, in accordance with bankruptcy law. The majority of those 40 are current and former players, led by Manny Ramirez , to whom the Dodgers owe $21 million.

Michael D. Antonovich: A headline on an article in the Sept. 2 LATExtra section about conflict of interest allegations against Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said that Antonovich's wife was owed more than $200,000 by an affiliate of Anschutz Entertainment Group when he voted on a measure about AEG's plans for a downtown football stadium. Antonovich introduced a motion to oppose AEG's effort to secure special state protection limiting environmental lawsuits against the project, but he withdrew the motion without a vote.

Since filing for bankruptcy last March, Eastern Airlines has consistently vowed to pay all creditors in full, but it made a significant reversal on Thursday in offering unsecured creditors just 10 cents on the dollar, in cash. The troubled carrier said it would repay another 70% of its debt over the next decade, though without interest. In return, Eastern's parent, Texas Air Corp., said it would give creditors up to 40% of its equity in the Miami-based airline.

Unsecured creditors of bankrupt American Continental Corp., joining forces with federal thrift regulators, have filed a plan in federal court in Phoenix that would give creditors $21 million and control of the one-time parent of Lincoln Savings & Loan. The plan calls for the ouster of top American Continental officers, liquidation of the company and lawsuits against those responsible for the company's demise. Details of the plan, filed late Wednesday, were released Thursday in U.S.

A judge declined Wednesday to award a $3-million premium to the law firm that represented unsecured creditors in the MCI Inc. bankruptcy case. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which represented MCI's unsecured creditors' committee, asked for the premium in addition to $16 million in fees and expenses already awarded by a Bankruptcy Court judge in New York in recognition of its efforts to help rehabilitate the company.

After nearly a year of contentious negotiations, Eastern Airlines on Thursday reached agreement in principle with its unsecured creditors on a financial plan that would give the creditors about half of what they are owed. The accord moves the ailing Miami-based carrier a major step closer to emerging from bankruptcy.

A last-minute deal that provides at least $400,000 for unsecured creditors will keep bankrupt Jim Slemons Imports from being closed at least until an Oct. 21 bankruptcy court hearing decides the fate of the new plan, the attorney for the luxury auto dealer said Wednesday. And that hearing could turn into a spirited auction, bankruptcy lawyer William Lobel said.

A 13-member committee was formed Wednesday to represent unsecured creditors in the Carter Hawley Hale Stores bankruptcy case. The panel will negotiate for suppliers and bondholders that were owed money by Carter Hawley when the retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection Feb. 11. Under Chapter 11, a company is shielded from creditors' lawsuits and continues operating while it works out a plan to solve its financial problems.

Harry & David Holdings Inc., the famed fruit and treats retailer that has been filling mail orders since the 1930s, said it would emerge from bankruptcy protection in mid-September. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath in Wilmington, Del., signed the final order after giving tentative endorsement of the company's reorganization plan earlier this month. "We've reached a significant milestone for Harry & David and are excited to emerge from the Chapter 11 process as a stronger company," interim Chief Executive Kay Hong said in a statement Tuesday.

The Major League Baseball Players' Assn., the family of Bryan Stow and KABC radio are among five parties appointed Wednesday to represent the interests of unsecured creditors in the Dodgers' bankruptcy case. The committee, selected by a United States trustee, acts to ensure the interests of all unsecured creditors in the case. The Dodgers, as the debtor, are responsible for covering the legal bills incurred by the committee. The Dodgers' bankruptcy petition listed the team's top 40 unsecured creditors, in accordance with bankruptcy law. The majority of those 40 are current and former players, led by Manny Ramirez , to whom the Dodgers owe $21 million.

The warring creditors in Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy case fired their opening shots Monday in a court hearing aimed at resolving a case that one lawyer said had come to resemble "water torture. " Lawyers for the two principal groups of combatants presented U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey with a stark choice: He can confirm a restructuring plan favored by senior creditors, the company and many unsecured creditors based on a decidedly imperfect settlement of the legal claims surrounding the company's ill-fated 2007 leveraged buyout.

Vallejo, which filed for bankruptcy in 2008, has proposed paying its unsecured creditors, who are mostly current and former employees, as little as 5% to 20% of the amount they say they are owed in a bid to return the economically shaky Bay Area bedroom community to fiscal health. John Knox, a San Francisco lawyer representing Vallejo, said the proposal to not repay all debts is "probably rare" for a municipal bankruptcy. But he said it would save the city "tens of millions of dollars," including claims for unpaid sick leave and vacation.

The unsecured creditors committee in Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy case asked a Delaware judge Monday for the right to sue Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell and other investors and lenders who participated in the company's ill-fated 2007 leveraged buyout. The motion was largely procedural, and the document said the request is not aimed at disrupting a court-ordered mediation in the case, which is scheduled for this month. Lawyers for the committee had signaled at a previous court hearing that they would probably file a new complaint and ask for permission to pursue it because U.S. bankruptcy law would require bringing litigation surrounding the buyout within two years of the company's filing for Chapter 11 protection.

Under pressure from its creditors and unions, bankrupt Tribune Co. agreed to cut back on the bonuses it would pay under its proposed 2010 management incentive plan. The move comes as the Chicago media company seeks to win approval from creditors for a reorganization plan that would allow it to exit a bankruptcy case that has dragged on for almost 20 months. Management bonuses have been a flash point in the Tribune case since the company entered Chapter 11 proceedings in December 2008.

Unsecured creditors of Adelphia Communications Corp. offered their own terms for a reorganization plan, seeking stock in the new company. The plan also would give creditors a say in naming directors and would allow lawsuits against Adelphia's former executives, auditors and co-borrowing lenders to continue. Like Adelphia's plan, the unsecured creditors' plan values Adelphia at $17 billion.

Tribune Co. has brokered an agreement with its major creditors that will allow it to file its reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware by Tuesday. The agreement, announced Thursday, would give a contentious group of junior creditors, led by distressed-debt investor Centerbridge Partners, a 7.4% slice of the company. The agreement also is supported by the unsecured creditors committee, which is expected to drop its previously filed motion asking for permission to sue the company over the propriety of Tribune's 2007 leveraged buyout.

Freedom Communications Inc., owner of the Orange County Register along with 89 other daily and weekly publications and eight TV stations, received court approval for a disclosure statement supporting its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday. The approval of the Irvine-based company's statement in a Delaware U.S. Bankruptcy Court gives Freedom the clearance to solicit votes on its reorganization plan from its creditors, the company said in a statement. A hearing to grant final approval to the reorganization plan has been set for March 9, the statement said.