Judges in Delaware and Canada approved on Tuesday a plan to pay more than $7 billion to creditors of Nortel Networks, ending years of litigation over the former telecommunications company that filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

The rulings by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in Wilmington, Delaware and Frank Newbould of the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto ends one of the longest and most expensive Chapter 11 cases, marked by battles over funds raised by the company's liquidation.

Newbould said it was unfortunate the "case wasn't settled sooner without the added expense and delay caused by the litigation."

The two courts were linked by video, as they have been throughout the proceedings. The coordinated ruling will allow repayment of vendors, retirees in Canada, government agencies and investment funds later this year.

Tuesday's hearing was marked by a brief outburst by Gross directed at Mark Kenney, a lawyer for the U.S. Trustee, the government's bankruptcy watchdog, as Kenney argued against the plan's liability releases. Kenney initially refused to cede the podium and only relented when Gross shouted that he would call the guards.

Ontario-based Nortel Networks was once among the biggest makers of telecommunications equipment in the world, with 93,000 employees and a market capitalization of $250 billion at the height of the 1990s technology bubble.