[JURIST] Leading Friday's corporations and securities law news, US Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff [official profile] has granted United Airlines [corporate website] an extension to file its final bankruptcy plan. The plan, which was due in September, will now be due November 1st. The judge said the 60-day extension will be the last. Some of United's flight attendants, whose pension Wedoff allowed to be canceled [JURIST report] last March, demonstrated outside of the courthouse in Chicago. Bloomberg has more.

In other corporations and securities law news…

• As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, Merck [corporate website] is considering settling some of the thousands of lawsuits stemming from its Vioxx arthritis medication [JURIST news archive]. When asked about settling cases, Kent Jarrell, spokesman for the Merck legal team, said, "For a relatively small set of cases that involve patients who used Vioxx for over 18 months, we will take a close look." This softens the position the company took in a press release [text] earlier this week where Merck, in response to a $253 million verdict [JURIST report] in the first Vioxx case, vowed to "vigorously defend individual VIOXX cases one by one." The next Vioxx trial is scheduled to begin September 12th in New Jersey, Merck's home state. Reuters has more.
• Pixar Animation Studios [corporate website] announced that it has received an informal request for information from the SEC. The Wall Street Journal reports [subscription required] that the request concerned an unexpectedly high number of returns for the DVD release of "The Incredibles," which caused the company to miss its second-quarter earnings forecast [Pixar press release]. The request is similar to one Pixar's rival DreamWorks received in July [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.
• Bayou Securities may be missing millions of dollars. The troubled Connecticut hedge fund collapsed last month but promised investors they would receive all of their money back. Investors have complained that the firm is not returning their money or their calls, prompting the Connecticut Attorney General to consider the need for stricter regulation [Reuters report]. The firm told investors last year that it had $500 million in assets, but sources say the firm has lost much of that. CNN has more.