The Daily Docket: Bankruptcy Shield Protects GM From Ignition Switch...

In a 134-page ruling, a federal judge handed General Motors Co. a legal victory on Wednesday, ruling the Detroit auto maker can retain a bankruptcy shield that protects it from as much as $10 billion in claims brought by customers seeking damages tied to faulty ignition switches, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

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Troubled gun maker Colt Defense LLC launched an exchange offer Wednesday that would cut its bond debt by 70% to $75 million from $250 million, WSJ reports.

Since crude prices began tumbling last year, energy companies have announced plans to lay off more than 100,000 workers around the world, WSJ reports. The hardship is concentrating in oil-field jobs that have been that rarity in the U.S. economy: highly paid positions that don’t require a college degree.

Art work and office buildings are being sold by bankruptcy receivers for Portugal’s Espirito Santo group of companies that collapsed last year amid fraud allegations, WSJ reports.

A judge Wednesday said MF Global Inc. could distribute more than $480 million to unsecured creditors of the collapsed brokerage, bringing their recoveries to about 74% of what they are owed, WSJ reports.

Plethico Pharmaceuticals Ltd., which has twice been accused of fraud in connection with a natural products company it sold in bankruptcy, may have once again negotiated its way out of legal trouble, WSJ reports.

The Internal Revenue Service wants Texas entrepreneur Sam Wyly and his brother’s estate to pay more than $3 billion in back taxes, penalties and interest from offshore trusts they established decades ago, the Dallas Morning News reports.

An ovarian-cancer-research charity backed by New York’s bankruptcy community honored former President Bill Clinton with an inaugural Global Women’s Health Award on Tuesday, WSJ reports.

Connecticut bankruptcy judge Albert Dabrowski is retiring after 22 years on the bench, the Connecticut Law Tribune reports.

Bankruptcy lawyers who are wrapping up affairs for the city of Detroit accidentally sued the wrong church over a $170,000 electric bill, according to the Associated Press.