The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

In a classic case of what goes up, must come down, the world’s forth largest airline is now seeking the safe havens of bankruptcy so that it might once again be “something special in the air.”

According to Reuters, American filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week “to cut labor costs in the face of high fuel prices and dampened travel demand, capping a prolonged descent for what was once the largest U.S. carrier.”

Apparently, the U.S. company “which employs about 88,000, has been mired for years in fruitless union negotiations, complaining that it shoulders higher labor costs than rival domestic and foreign carriers that have already restructured in bankruptcy.…

In what is becoming a “developing” story, financial news outlet Bloomberg is reporting that Eastman Kodak Company is currently weighing the benefits of a bankruptcy filing. The 131-year-old U.S. camera company recently hired law firm Jones Day for restructuring advice, the Wall Street Journal reported. Long known for its wide range of photographic film products, Kodak had recently tried to turnaround years of dramatic declines by refocusing on the major markets of digital photography, digital printing and its planned sale of 1,100 digital imaging patents, which the company said accounted for about 10 percent of its total patent portfolio.

According to Bloomberg, insiders at the multinational company say it is still weighing its options, including a bankruptcy filing, to expedite the sale of its lucrative patents.…

When President Obama released his eagerly anticipated $45 billion jobs plan last week, many economists were quick to criticize the efficacy of the strategy’s payroll tax cuts.

But many small business owners across the country are praising the plan, saying that these exact incentives would allow them to immediately hire a number of workers they’ve been needing for months, if not years, but formerly had no way of subsidizing.

This news comes as small business is facing a far from booming economic environment, amid ongoing debates about the debt ceiling which have stymied any stimulus from Congress, consumer confidence plunges and many projects drying up in all sectors.…

Local Businessman Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (And You Can Too)

A North Carolina businessman recently filed sought the safe havens of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being hit with two civil complaints in the past year, based on a recent story by the Johnston County’s The Herald. According to the paper, “The Dueas filed for bankruptcy protection on April 29 – about two weeks after a Smithfield cardiologist sued Jody Duea. Dr. Frank Wefald, owner of Millenia Cardiovascular, leases office space in Neuse River Commons. According to the doctor’s civil complaint, Jody Duea managed Millenia’s finances and Wefald’s personal accounts as Wefald’s office manager from February 2009 to September 2010.…

Arts and cultural organizations are not immune to the economic impacts of the recent Great Recession. Falling attendance and rising costs of real estate, overhead and administration marked the decline of many museums, galleries and theatrical venues in recent years.

This same scenario appeared to be problem for the Philadelphia Orchestra, long considered one of the best in the country. This month, the world-renowned group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection—an apparent first in recent history for a major American orchestra.

According to a report by The Huffington Post, “Board chairman Richard Worley said members made a nearly unanimous vote Saturday to file for reorganization in a federal bankruptcy court in Philadelphia after a “long meeting, thoughtful meeting, emotional meeting.…

Not that long ago, green industries like ethanol producers were on par to make a ton of greenbacks, capitalizing on the needs of a public clamoring for cleaner and less costly alternatives to fossil fuels and rising gasoline prizes. But fast forward to 2011, a time when corn prices have more than doubled while ethanol prices refused to keep pace proportionally with these rises in corn prices.

This economic imbalance became a recipe for disaster for North Carolina’s first-ever ethanol plant, Clean Burn Fuels, causing the company to close in early March and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. The company, founded in 2005, filed for Chapter 11 according to a company statement “to preserve its assets while creating a plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection in late summer or early fall.” “By that time, the new corn crop will be available, thus providing more clarity regarding the relative levels and stability of corn and ethanol prices,” continued the company statement.…

With the resurgence of the nation’s rabid appetite for news and information, the emergence of online shopping, and the advent of e-readers, with their promise of any book, any time, anywhere, as well as cheaper pricing, shoppers are now abandoning bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Nobles as they did music stores more than 10 years ago. Despite these troubles, however, the news isn’t all bad for companies like Borders, willing to seek the safe havens of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

This week a bankruptcy judge refused to throw the proverbial book at well-known retailer, Borders. This news comes as the nation’s number two bookseller attempts to reorganize so it can emerge from bankruptcy protection a smaller and profitable company.…

The publishing industry is undergoing some pretty dramatic changes in recent years, with many of these changes reflected in brick and mortar bookseller bankruptcies. And Borders Group Inc. (BGP) is likely the most recent victim of the increasing movement towards e-books and digital media.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based national chain which made its major imprint with physical shelf-space for literary best-sellers and popular music CDs, is set to file for bankruptcy this week. With its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Borders will likely close more than 600 stores nationwide and lay off thousands of its nearly 20,000 employees as it attempts to restructure to become more competitive with online retailers like Amazon.com and more nimble book retailers like Barnes and Noble.…

With the U.S unemployment rate holding steady at an unsettling 9.5% this past month— signifying more than 14.6 million out-of-work Americans—news that some of our nation’s industries are actually suffering from worker shortages may come as a surprise.

What’s to blame for the discrepancy between the near double-digit national unemployment rate and the dearth of workers to fill certain jobs? One word: qualifications.

In fact, according to CareerBuilder’s 2010 Mid-Year Job Forecast:

• One-in-five employers (22 percent) reported that, despite an abundant labor pool, they still have positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates.
• Forty-eight percent of HR managers reported that there was an area of their organization in which they lacked qualified workers.

…

Could the food industry be the latest bellwether of a better economy and returning consumer confidence? Some industry experts seem to think so.

According to William Neuman’s report in his recent New York Times article, “The Tables Turn,” “Restaurants all over the country are beginning to see signs of a potential recovery after a dismal 2009. Sales at some restaurants have risen in the last few months, and the industry has hired thousands of additional workers.  “There’s no question about this,” said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market research firm that tracks sales at 47 restaurant chains with a total of 103,000 outlets.…

While many economists say this decade’s Great Recession ended in the middle of 2009, millions of struggling Americans still working hard to find meaningful employment would definitely disagree…and now, the figures do too.

According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report, more than 40% of the nation’s 14.9 million unemployed workers have been out of a job for at least 27 weeks, with an average member of this beleaguered club having been unemployed for 29.7 weeks. For those keeping count, that’s nearly seven months.

And with each passing month, it becomes more and more clear that finding new jobs isn’t getting any easier, with leading economists speculating that not only is the nearly 10% unemployment rate not likely to fall anytime soon, but also that the actual number of workers seeking full-time jobs is on par to grow.…

While the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7 percent for the third straight month, in March the nation’s economy posted its largest job gain in three years.

According to recent Labor Department calculations, employers added 162,000 jobs last month— the most since the recession began more than two years ago. As The Huffington Post reports, “The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast. Private employers added 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007.”

Both public and private sectors felt an uptick in hiring, with temp services adding 40,000 workers; health care generating 7,000 jobs; and hospitality adding 22,000 positions.…