Unsecured Sears Creditors Line Up Litigation

A committee of unsecured Sears creditors are taking steps to file a lawsuit against ESL Investments and Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert. On Wednesday, the committee filed a motion calling for a hearing to air their grievances regarding Lampert and ESL’s role in the demise of the 126-year-old retailer. In a series of documents laid out in five acts totaling 574 pages, the creditors assert the fall of the once iconic retailer mirrors a Shakespearean play. Last week, the creditors filed an initial document teeing up the process. Now, they’re asking the court for approval to litigate their claims. A court hearing on the matter has not yet been set, according to the documents. The creditors are asking the court to recharacterize ESL’s debt as equity and to allow them to recover funds and value lost from ESL’s and Lampert’s past dealings with Sears, including the spin-off of Land’s End and the transfer of real estate to Seritage Growth Properties. Read more at Retail Dive.