PETITION

Source: Getty Images (Musk, Zuckerberg, Altman & Dario) When PETITION first started, it was focused not just on what was happening in corporate conference rooms and bankruptcy courts across the country, but also on disruption, i.e., emerging trends today that could be the source of distress tomorrow. As we sit here today, it’s easy (and late) to say, without equivocation, that artificial intelligence is the biggest potential source of disruption and future distress out there.

Top (L-R): Sydney Sweeney's controversial knockers, Macklemore's uncontroverted lack of talent, Kevin Warsh, airBaltic The big news this week outside of the controversies surrounding (i) Sydney Sweeneyā€™s seemingly-everywhere ā€œknockersā€* and (ii) Macklemoreā€™s political views,** was the much-expected decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board to hike rates 25 bps to a target range of 3.75%-4% ā€” the first rate hike in three years and a unanimous one at that.

It’s been a while since we saw a large restaurant franchisee chapter 11! On September 17, 2026, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Meritage Hospitality Group Inc.* (“Meritage”), Uncommon Hospitality LLC (“UH”), OCM Development LLC (“OCM”), and 12 other affiliated debtors (collectively, the “debtors” or the “company”) filed chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Western District of Michigan (Judge Boyd).

Back on August 30, 2026, Boston-based Noble Supply & Logistics LLC (‚ÄúNoble‚ÄĚ) and 10 affiliates (collectively with Noble, the ‚Äúdebtors‚ÄĚ) ‚ÄĒ global suppliers of non-lethal equipment, supplies, and related services to the United States military and its allies ‚ÄĒ filed, despite there being ongoing conflict in the Middle East, ūü§Ē, chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the District of Delaware (Judge Goldblatt) to pursue a sale or, in the event there‚Äôs no taker, an orderly wind-down.

On September 14, 2026, Air Baltic Corporation AS (“Air Baltic” or the “company”) and two affiliates (collectively, the “debtors”) filed chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of New York (Judge Beckerman).

On September 14, 2026, Air Baltic Corporation AS (‚ÄúAir Baltic‚ÄĚ or the ‚Äúcompany‚ÄĚ) and two affiliates (collectively, the ‚Äúdebtors‚ÄĚ) filed chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of New York (Judge Beckerman).

Man, we needed a break. And there‚Äôs nothing like having an opportunity to step away from the doom and gloom of restructuring, catch up on other news, and see sh*t like this: Is it wrong that the first thing Johnny thought after reading this was that there‚Äôll be an awful lot of corporate bankruptcies between now and ‚Äúthe end of the decade?‚ÄĚ ūü§Ď So where were we? Right, LIV 2.0, ūüôĄ.

Whether you’re partial to Sir Paul McCartney … … or GNR … … the soundtrack for this reading couldn’t be more obvious. The official end of summer isn’t until September 22, 2026 but we all know the unofficial end of summer was this past Monday (Labor Day), and these f*cks barely waited an hour before compounding our misery with a wildly telegraphed golf-related bankruptcy filing. As if we didn’t already know “the season” — at least for many poor chaps in the Northeast — is all but over, 🖕.

Hopefully you saw our announcement on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 ‚Ķ ‚Ķ but, ICYMI, the team is disbursed over the remainder of summer and taking a much-needed break from the action. Some of us will come back and ‚ÄĒ ‚ö°ÔłŹBAM‚ö°ÔłŹ‚ÄĒ it‚Äôs holiday time. The team, therefore, will be ‚Äúoff-schedule‚ÄĚ through the end of September, publishing on erratic days ‚ÄĒ not the standard Wednesday/Sunday cadence.

A little over a month ago, we covered the self-dubbed prepackaged cases of EchoStar Corporation ($ECHO)’s DISH DBS Corporation (“DBS”) and DISH Wireless L.L.C. (“DWLLC,” and together with DBS and their sixteen debtor affiliates, the “debtors” and together with their non-debtor affiliates, the “company”).