Judge orders WorldComto respond to creditors

Federal bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez has ordered WorldCom to respond to a "small group of creditors" —including America West Airlines and CIT Lending Services—that objects to its reorganization plan. This order could delay the company's emergence from bankruptcy protection by at least two weeks, the Washington Post reported today. The group believes it was not fairly represented in a vote that was held on the plan earlier this month and has questioned the payoff schedule established by the plan. America West and CTI both stand to receive 35¢ for each dollar owed, identical to the original plan, but other members of the creditor class to which they have been assigned stand to receive more than they would have under the first plan, the paper said.