Next Week in Bankruptcy

General Motors Co.’s first trial over faulty ignition switches begins Monday before a jury in New York federal court and is likely to continue for several weeks, through Feb. 11.

The company, which was in bankruptcy in 2009, is now facing several trials in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan in cases brought by alleged victims of faulty ignition switches in GM cars. A recent ruling from a bankruptcy judge regarding knowledge and conduct transferred to the post-bankruptcy GM opened the company to punitive damages in these lawsuits.

This case is the first of the so-called bellwether cases in the GM ignition-switch lawsuits, which are linked through a multidistrict litigation. A bellwether case is selected to test arguments and gauge possible recoveries for other similarly situated plaintiffs in an attempt to reach a large-scale resolution.

Five more bellwether cases are scheduled to move forward throughout 2016.

This case involves a 2003 Saturn Ion and an accident in Oklahoma in 2014, during which the airbags didn’t deploy. In October 2014, the plaintiff, Robert Scheuer, sued GM for injuries he claims were caused by the airbags’ failure.

On Tuesday, the New York City Opera will ask a bankruptcy judge to confirm a bankruptcy-exit plan that could resurrect the shuttered cultural institution.

Two years after the company known as “the people’s opera” shut down and entered bankruptcy, a plan was brokered that would put its remaining assets in the hands of hedge-fund manager Roy Niederhoffer, a former City Opera board member with a plan to restart performances.

The proposal from Mr. Niederhoffer is backed by a committee representing the company’s unsecured creditors and aims to attract audiences and donors with a mix of opera staples and niche works.

However, the New York state attorney general’s office responded to the plan this week with skepticism over its long-term financial viability.

Though “the plan is almost certainly financially viable in the short run,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Rose Firestein, that “cannot be said for the plan’s financial sustainability beyond its first few years.”

Texas oil-and-gas company Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. will request final approval on Monday for a $200 million bankruptcy financing package that allows the company to continue operations as it works to execute a debt-exchange deal.

Last month, the company received preliminary access to the loan from Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

The bankruptcy financing is being backstopped by a group of lenders and bondholders that signed on to support Magnum’s restructuring plan. The company is proposing a debt-for-equity swap that would hand ownership of the company to the lenders and bondholders in exchange for forgiveness of $1 billion in pre-bankruptcy debt and the $200 million bankruptcy loan. General unsecured creditors would likely receive a significant cash recovery, the company said in court documents.

-Patrick Fitzgerald and Jennifer Smith contributed to this article.

Write to Stephanie Gleason at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @stephgleason