Law and legal issues

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla announced on Wednesday that the commonwealth will default on $37.3 million out of nearly $1 billion of debt payments due on Jan. 4, a “mild” default, according to one analyst, and one that could threaten the governor’s plans congressional help.

Desert Hot Springs, Calif., a Palm Springs suburb that has flirted with bankruptcy, received an improved stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s.

With a fresh default on debt service looming, Lombard, Ill., wants bondholders to buy into a proposed restructuring of its $190 million of hotel/conference center debt.

The San Bernardino City Council appointed two interim city managers to serve consecutively as the city works to extract itself from bankruptcy.

Puerto Rico's governor lashed out at a federal government court brief that the governor said undermined the commonwealth's self-governing status.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is transitioning the city of Lincoln Park back to local control from state-imposed emergency management.

Bills introduced by Senate and House Democrats on Monday to temporarily halt litigation over Puerto Rico debt raise legal issues and could divide rather than unite lawmakers over a solution to the territory’s debt crisis, sources said on Wednesday.

Four Senate Democrats and the House Minority Leader have introduced identical bills that would temporarily halt litigation by bondholders and creditors over Puerto Rico’s debt until Congress takes action to allow the territory to restructure the debt.

A Dec. 19 deadline for Atlantic City to pay the Borgata $62 million in tax refunds has passed and now the casino giant is asking a judge to order the payment.

The Federal Trade Commission has moved to block the proposed merger of Illinois-based Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University Health System citing to anti-competition concerns.

Congress postponed action on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis to next year as the island’s governor blasted U.S. legislators as pawns of Wall Street.

A decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court to not review a lower court decision allowing library districts to assess property taxes is a credit positive, said Moody's Investors Service.

The bondholders and insurer in the San Bernardino, Calif. bankruptcy case are both criticizing what they describe as the city’s lack of coherent financial disclosure.

After a multi-year battle, with Los Angeles, the Ontario, Calif. airport reverts to local control once the Ontario International Airport Authority receive approval from the Federal Aviation

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made a final pitch on Thursday for lawmakers to include provisions to help Puerto Rico with its debt crisis in the pending omnibus spending bill, calling it “the moral thing to do.”

Franklin Templeton, Stockton, Calif's holdout creditor, says it will not pursue further appeals of the plan that allowed the city to officially exit bankruptcy earlier this year.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said on Wednesday night that he is instructing all House committees that have jurisdiction over Puerto Rico to work with commonwealth officials to come up with a “responsible solution” for their fiscal and debt crises by the end of March.

All Aboard Florida says it remains on track to offer private passenger train service in 2017 even though it was unable to issue $1.75 billion of private activity bonds amid turmoil in the high-yield market.

Assured Guaranty’s chief executive officer is blasting the Treasury Department for pushing for bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rico, claiming the effort is blowing up utility authority negotiations with creditors and bondholders, as well as hurting the territory and alarming the municipal bond market.

An Alabama court struck down a state law that would have allowed Jefferson County to return to the bond market.