It is unclear how much of the disaster's cost was paid by liability insurance; laid-off MMA workers reported problems obtaining the severance pay owed them and cheques to suppliers were rejected due to non-sufficient funds. On August 7, 2013, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in both the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal (under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act) and the United States Bankruptcy Court in Bangor, Maine (under Chapter 11). According to Burkhardt, the financial obligations of both US and Canadian subsidiaries "now exceed the value of their assets, including prospective insurance recoveries, as a direct result of the tragic derailment at Lac-Megantic. A process under Chapter 11 and the CCAA is the best way to ensure fairness of treatment to all in these tragic circumstances." MMA had $50–100 million in US assets and less than $18 million in Canadian assets, including the track itself. It owed $27.5 million on a 2005 Federal Railroad Administration loan, $6 million on a 2009 line of credit issued by the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway and $3.5 million to various other creditors and tax authorities. J.D. Irving, as owner of NBM Railways, is one of MMA Canada's largest unsecured creditors at $2.35 million. The total cost of the Lac-Mégantic derailment exceeded $200 million; MMA had $25 million in liability insurance and $274,000 in its bank accounts at the time of bankruptcy filing. Eighty-five MM&A employees remained on duty after the bankruptcy filing to provide service to all stations on the line except Lac-Mégantic, where all tracks remained blocked since the July 6 derailment and fire. Fifteen of those workers were laid off on August 20. On August 13, 2013, the Canadian Transportation Agency announced it planned to revoke the MMA's certificate of fitness effective August 20, 2013, citing inadequate liability insurance; this effectively would have banned the MM&A from operating in Canada. The August 20 date was later extended until February 1 and subsequently to April 1. Since the insurance policy's franchise provided no coverage for liability claims under a quarter-million dollars, the Québec Superior Court would set aside this sum in MMA's bankruptcy as available to victims of a future disaster involving MMA. On September 12, Transport Canada shut down part of the MMA line after an inspection of six track segments found substandard rail conditions which included a concentration of defective ties on a section near a propane storage facility.