Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

New York City -- Barnes & Noble's shareholders on Wednesday ratified a shareholder rights plan that prevents an outside investor from acquiring 20% or more of the company's shares without board approval. 

Preliminary results show 72% of shareholders voted in favor of the plan at a special shareholder meeting in New York. The plan limits shareholder stakes to 20%, finally making the so-called "poison pill" official.

New York City -- Loehmann’s on Monday filed for bankruptcy.  The off-price retailer said it had negotiated a restructuring plan with owner Istithmar Retail Investments and noteholder Whippoorwill Associates before the filing that would cut debt by $115 million. Istithmar and Whippoorwill agreed to invest $25 million in the company, according to court papers.

Chicago -- Jones Lang LaSalle announced it has formed an alliance with the Property Tax division within Thomson Reuters’ Tax & Accounting business to provide tax mitigation services to corporate real estate clients.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Real Estate Tax Mitigation offering provides review, recommendations and appeal processes to manage a corporation’s real estate tax budget.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Wednesday by the Labor Department said that applications for jobless benefits declined by 24,000 to 435,000 in the week ended Nov. 6, the lowest level in four months.

The total number of people collecting unemployment insurance fell to the lowest level since November 2008, and those receiving extended payments also declined.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, dropped to 446,500 last week, the lowest since September 13, 2008, from 456,500, the report showed.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- A Detroit court on Wednesday said that Charles Conaway, the former head of Kmart Corp., has agreed to pay $5.5 million to end long-running litigation with government regulators over the retailer's finances nearly 10 years ago.

The deal would stop Conaway's appeal of a court-ordered financial penalty for misleading investors before Kmart's bankruptcy filing in 2002.

The appeals court has agreed to send the case back to federal court in Detroit to handle the settlement.