Rite Aid Bankruptcy Judge Sets March 1 Deadline to Reorganize

Bankrupt pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp. has until March 1 to complete its turnaround under a timeline approved by a federal judge on Tuesday.

US Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan scheduled a final hearing that day to decide the fate of the company’s reorganization proposal. The ruling comes after complaints that the case was moving so fast it threatened to harm lower-ranking creditors, including people who claim Rite Aid wrongly sold addictive pain killers.

The company, backed by senior lenders, had urged Kaplan to hold the hearing in February, arguing that the longer Rite Aid stays in bankruptcy, the more likely ...