There have been a couple of notable filings in Spheris' bankruptcy case over the past week or so. Here’s a breakdown to get you up to speed:

March 16: In a recent SEC filing, “stalking horse” bidder MedQuist said it’s got a commitment letter from General Electric Capital Corp. for a credit line to complete its purchase of Spheris’ assets. The planned deal should cost MedQuist $75.2 million.

March 22: Oracle, a creditor and contract counter-party in the case, filed an objection to several Spheris motions, including those seeking orders approving its bid procedures, break-up fee and expense reimbursement, and assumption and assignment of executory contracts and unexpired leases. The company said it objects to any “transition service agreement” between the debtors and MedQuist/CBay (which it hasn’t seen) if it grants the acquirers access to Oracle’s software without the company's consent.

Multimodal Technologies filed a similar objection that day, arguing among other points that its contract with Spheris is a “non-exclusive patent, copyright and trademark license, all of which cannot be assumed or assigned without MM’s consent.” One worry is Multimodal’s contract will be assigned to a competitor — Medquist or potential bidder Nuance Communications.

March 23: Loudon County, Virginia, filed a notice of tax lien related to Spheris’ property (office furniture and equipment) there.

More background is available at this link and this link.