Chemical Manufacturer Loses Appeal Over Involuntary Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy courts have authority to set a deadline for creditors to join an involuntary petition, a federal appeals court ruled, rejecting a bid to sustain a Chapter 7 case pursued by Polish chemical manufacturer PCC Rokita SA.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts committed no legal error when it dismissed an involuntary bankruptcy case for specialty engineering firm HH Technology Corp. since the requisite level of creditor support wasn’t reached, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed in a ruling Thursday.

PCC Rokita, which sought to collect on a more than $1 million foreign ...