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The efforts by former employees of now-closed New Brighton, Minn.-based trucking company LME to secure their owed back wages and expenses may have gotten a bit clearer.

Eddie Lampert suffered a setback in federal court this week when a judge effectively ruled that some of his claims against the bankrupt estate of Sears Holdings Corp. have so little priority that they are likely worth a fraction of what he’s demanding.

The bankrupt estate of Sears Holdings Corp. sued Eddie Lampert and his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc., claiming they wrongly transferred $2 billion of company assets beyond the reach of creditors in the years leading up to the retailer’s bankruptcy.

In a move sure to shake up the regional less-than-truckload freight market in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, New England Motor Freight filed for bankruptcy Feb. 11 and said it intends to wind down all of its trucking operations.

A bankruptcy judge on Feb. 7 approved a $5.2 billion plan by Sears’ chairman and biggest shareholder to keep the iconic business going.

Eddie Lampert’s winning bid to salvage Sears Holdings Corp. valued the bankrupt retailer at $5.2 billion, according to a statement.

Eddie Lampert won a bankruptcy auction for Sears with a plan that will keep the rtailer in business and seek to save tens of thousands of jobs, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.

Eddie Lampert’s ESL Investments submitted an improved offer of more than $5 billion in an attempt to keep Sears Holdings Corp. in business.

Eddie Lampert will get another shot at keeping Sears Holdings Corp. from liquidation. The Sears chairman and former CEO must put up $120 million by Jan. 9 to get a chance to take part in an auction against other bidders.

Sears representatives summoned liquidation firms and other advisers to emergency meetings on Jan. 4 after rejecting Lampert’s $4.4 billion bid to buy and operate Sears stores.