Bankruptcy is most certainly a 24-hour sport – just ask the bidders vying for the assets of Penn Traffic Co.

The day before a Friday hearing on proposed auction rules, the supermarket chain was set to move forward with two lead bids from Price Chopper and Hilco Merchant Resources LLC. Penn Traffic wanted Price Chopper to kick off bidding for 22 stores with a $54 million bid, and Hilco was guaranteeing Penn Traffic $19.75 million in exchange for operating going-out-of business sales at the remaining locations.

In case you needed more evidence that 2009 was a blockbuster year for bankruptcies, the total number of defaults for the year are out.

YRC Worldwide Inc. has cleared a key hurdle in its effort to avoid a bankruptcy filing by getting bondholders to swap $470 million in debt for equity, The Wall Street Journal reports.

W.R. Grace & Co., the chemical company that earlier this year defeated criminal charges related to its mining activities in Montana, is now being accused of using “scorched-earth” tactics against Speights & Runyan, a South Carolina law firm that represents owners of asbestos-tainted buildings. Read the Daily Bankruptcy Review story here.