Law and legal issues

The Florida Supreme Court overturned 60 years of case law and made it harder to challenge future bond validations.

In the midst of a spate of municipal bankruptcies and a credit crisis in Puerto Rico, a report from Kroll Bond Rating Agency highlighted a divergence among the credit rating services.

Cincinnati is nearing a historic agreement to remedy its long-standing pension shortfall that sparked downgrades and years of court battles with retirees and unions.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has submitted a revised amended financial recovery plan for the teetering Chester Upland School District.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that it reached an undisclosed settlement with two ex-JPMorgan bankers involved in Jefferson County, Ala.’s sewer deals.

Pittsburgh’s state-appointed overseer is justified in withholding Pennsylvania gaming revenue by law, according to the agency’s executive director.

Six advocacy groups are urging two key Senate Republicans to keep Congress from providing Puerto Rico with access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.

Hillview, Ky.’s largest creditor, Truck America LLC, said Thursday that the city may not be eligible for bankruptcy because the state’s law is invalid.

As Jefferson County, Ala., defends its bankruptcy plan, the county must also clear new legal hurdles in order to return to the bond market later this year.

Rhode Island’s House of Representatives intends to resume hearings on the 38 Studio bond financing fiasco following the release of tens of thousands of pages of documents.

Rhode Island Superior Court has released tens of thousands of documents related to the state’s 38 Studios lawsuit.

A Michigan Senate committee will take up a statutory lien bill that is part of a national debate sparked in part by Detroit’s 2013 bankruptcy.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office will not decide on the local property tax exemptions of two P3 student housing projects at Texas A&M.

The Federal Highway Administration filed a motion Tuesday dropping its appeal of an adverse lower court ruling that the government illegally approved the controversial $1.5 billion Illiana toll road project.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on Sept. 29 to discuss the “dire financial situation” in Puerto Rico, committee chair Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Tuesday.

Florida-based Adventist Health System agreed to pay $118.7 million to settle allegations that it had physician referral agreements that violated the federal False Claims Act.

Atlantic City has positioned itself to make short-term required debt payments with no plans to enter bankruptcy, according to the city’s revenue director Michael Stinson.

The trustee for the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority’s defaulted toll bridge bonds wants to sue the state if enough bondholders step forward to authorize the legal challenge.

Some documents related to the 38 Studios lawsuit may remained sealed, a Rhode Island judge ruled.

Hillview, Ky., filed for bankruptcy last month under the weight of a $15 million court judgment; objections to the city’s petition are due by Oct. 1.