Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Tuesday, Nov. 25. In today's briefing, Sonder abruptly asked loyalty-point guests to vacate their bookings on Nov. 9 immediately after the short-term rental company's partnership with Marriott went bad. Steward Health Care creditor trustee, Mark Kronfeld, filed an amended lawsuit seeking to claw back more than $1 billion in prebankruptcy dividends paid to private-equity owner Cerberus as part of $3.4 billion in questionable transfers. 

For Marriott International, the $15 million deal seemed like a low-risk way to add 9,000 rooms to its global portfolio.

So in August of last year, the world’s largest hotel chain struck a licensing agreement with an upstart short-term rental company called Sonder, whose twist on Airbnb-style booking was to provide guests with hotel amenities at apartment-like units across three continents.

Marriott customers, who earned loyalty points by booking Sonder units, liked the option enough that a few thousand were settled into Sonder rooms on Nov. 9 when a puzzling email arrived from Marriott: “We are kindly requesting that you check out of the property as soon as you are able.”

A trustee for Steward Health Care System’s creditors plans to claw back more than $1 billion in dividends that private-equity owner Cerberus Capital Management collected from the hospital chain in the years before it filed for bankruptcy.

In the latest amendment to a lawsuit, Mark Kronfeld, the trustee appointed to recover funds for Steward’s unsecured creditors, said the dividends were part of an overall $3.4 billion in questionable transfers made in those years that contributed to Steward’s financial failure.

The new lawsuit, filed Friday, focuses more on Cerberus than Steward’s July complaint, which centered largely on dividends and other payouts to CEO Ralph de la Torre and other insiders. The lawsuit also cast a wider net to include Steward’s former chief financial officer and president, Mark Rich, as a defendant.

Nicklaus Cos., a golf-course designer and marketer of Jack Nicklaus products, has filed for bankruptcy after being hit with a $50 million defamation verdict in favor of the legendary golfer and company founder.

The Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based company lost a defamation lawsuit to Nicklaus last month stemming from allegedly false statements about how Nicklaus wanted to accept a leadership role with LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed league. Nicklaus Cos. also owes nearly $500 million to financial lenders, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

American Signature, parent of Value City Furniture and American Signature Furniture, filed for chapter 11 protection in Delaware, citing ongoing pressures in the home furnishings sector.

The company has launched a court-supervised sale process and expects to enter a stalking-horse asset purchase agreement with ASI Purchaser ahead of a competitive auction within roughly 45 days.

Stores and websites remain open, offering Black Friday and holiday discounts. The company has secured $50 million in debtor-in-possession financing to fund operations.

Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones serves as its legal adviser, BRG as financial adviser and SSG Capital as investment banker.

A bankruptcy judge on Monday confirmed Rite Aid’s chapter 11 liquidation plan, overriding opposition from the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog.

The U.S. Trustee asserted that the plan’s third-party releases to protect nondebtors from litigation are nonconsensual and run counter to the U.S Supreme Court’s ruling in Purdue Pharma. U.S. Trustee and opponents had argued that the opt-out mechanism in Rite Aid’s case was insufficient especially for nonvoting creditors.

Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Trenton, N.J., said the third-party releases in this case are consensual. Since the Purdue ruling, some judges have demanded an "opt-in" structure to secure creditor consent. Kaplan, however, said the "opt-in" measure could lead nonresponding creditors to lose plan benefits.

Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy in May for the second time in two years. The pharmacy chain sold a majority of its assets, including pharmacy prescriptions and certain stores, while shutting down remaining locations.

—Akiko Matsuda

Six Flags Entertainment has hired John Reilly as the amusement-park operator’s new president and chief executive officer, effective Dec. 8.

Reilly’s appointment is the latest twist in the roller-coaster ride Six Flags has been on since it closed a merger with rival Cedar Fair last summer. The company is looking to recover from a bruising summer during which new attractions broke down and attendance and season-pass sales dropped as a result of bad weather.

Shares in Six Flags rose more than 5% following the announcement. The stock has dropped nearly 70% over the past year.

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