Major companies that have previously filed for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) usually weren't able to resolve the underlying problems that caused their financial messes in the first place. For Eaton's, their problems had roots going back to the 1920s and there wasn't enough time under the CCAA to solve them, so they ended up in full bankruptcy proceedings within a little over two years.  The CCAA also didn't save Dylex (Tip Top, Fairweather) from collapse.

In Sears' case, the problems also go back a number of years, starting with the ill-fated decision in 1999 to buy up most of the Eaton's leases and the Eaton name.  But, the onslaught of the e-commerce era in the past 20 years is a challenge that Sears and most other department stores will simply not be able to withstand. Even if Sears does emerge from under the CCAA by the end of this year or in early 2018, it will almost certainly go bankrupt within a year or so after that.