Law and legal issues

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Alan C. Stout will decide after hearings on Dec. 9 and 10 whether Hillview, Ky., is eligible to proceed with its bankruptcy petition.

The Illinois-based College of DuPage’s former treasurer Thomas Glaser and controller Lynn Sapyta filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing their former employer of wrongful termination for their opposition to a board member’s political agenda.

Two former JPMorgan bankers have agreed not to violate securities laws and to repay money they made while working on transactions involving Jefferson County, Ala., Securities and Exchange Commission documents said Tuesday.

A legal opinion defining San Diego Unified School District bonds as special revenues was credited with the district's $470 million pre-Thanksgiving general obligation bond sale being oversubscribed.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla, who will soon decide whether the commonwealth will default on a debt service payment, and Pedro Pierluisi, the territory's representative in Congress, will headline a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday to address the commonwealth's fiscal and debt crisis, as well as possible fixes.

Texas could face the loss of as much as $1.1 billion per year in franchise tax revenue if a recent court ruling survives an appeal, Comptroller Glenn Hegar warned.

Christopher Brogdon, the retirement home financier who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission charges, has denied being liable for a particularly problematic deal in new filings with a federal court in Georgia.

Texas’ El Paso County Hospital District received a two-notch Standard & Poor’s downgrade in the wake of the district’s legal settlement with an affiliated children’s hospital that’s in bankruptcy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency freeze of the assets of an Atlanta-based businessman and filed a lawsuit charging him and his associates with fraud for misusing investor proceeds that were intended to be used to purchase and renovate senior living facilities.

Cook County’s plan to veer from state law and make an actuarial-based pension contribution offers a “novel approach” that could shape public pension funding debate in Illinois, Fitch Ratings says.

A Rhode Island oversight panel voted to ask House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello to subpoena former baseball star Curt Schilling over the 38 Studios debacle.

The municipal market’s buyside views Chicago’s pension reform appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court as a longshot and wants the city to come up with an alternative.

Jefferson County, Ala.,’s 2013 sewer system debt remains at junk levels even though the county’s post-bankruptcy plan is working as intended so far, Fitch said while affirming its double-B ratings.

After amassing nearly $2 billion in unused bonding authority from Louisiana and Florida the past few years, BioNitrogen Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 3.

The Nov. 10 agreement between the town of Morristown, N.J., and Atlantic Health System on Morristown Medical Center property tax appeals could have a "ripple effect" for no-for-profit hospitals across the U.S., according to Moody's Investors Service.

The fate of Chicago’s overhaul of two of its four pension funds now rests with the seven justices of the Illinois Supreme Court.

A U.S. Court of Appeals bankruptcy panel will hear arguments Thursday from Stockton, Calif. and creditor holdout Franklin Templeton Investments, which is appealing confirmation of the city's plan of adjustment.

Puerto Rico's congressional representative Pedro Pierluisi strongly opposed the idea of the federal government imposing a federal fiscal control board on Puerto Rico, warning it would be "a blatant exercise of colonialism."

Unrated Scranton, Pa., is taking steps to regain the good graces of the capital markets, said its mayor and business administrator.

Puerto Rico said recently that there is no reason to believe that its debt is unconstitutional, but that this issue could arise in legal disputes if there is no “consensual restructuring” of the debt.