Law and legal issues

Holders of $5.2 billion of Detroit water and sewer bonds will have a say in whether a new regional authority will take over the long-troubled Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

A federal judge ordered former Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox to three years for stealing $108,000 of campaign donations, accepting a $52,000 bribe and filing false tax returns

Wayne County, Mich. introduced discussion of how its debt might fare in a bankruptcy as it prepared to come to market with $187 million of notes.

A federal judge denied requests by two Florida counties seeking to block the issuance of $1.75 billion in private activity bonds for a private passenger train project.

Rhode Island lawmakers must approve now that Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Cater signed off on a class-action settlement in the lawsuit over the state's 2011 law that overhauled pension benefits.

The New Jersey Supreme Court decision that pension contribution levels aren't contractually protected under a 2011 law will accelerate the state's already high growth of pension liabilities, according to Moody's.

Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Cater late Tuesday signed off on a class-action settlement in the lawsuit over the state’s 2011 law that overhauled pension benefits.

The Virginia Supreme Court is ordering a lower court to take another look at legal efforts to prevent the financially troubled Sweet Briar College from closing.

The Southern California Logistics Airport Authority's already junk-rated bonds are on review for another downgrade by Moody's Investors Service.

The United States Supreme Court is poised to decide whether or not to hear the case of former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux, whose attorneys told the nation's top court it should accept the case to decide an important question of how exposed municipal officials should be to federal government lawsuits.

The New Jersey Supreme Court sided with Gov. Chris Christie in his effort to cut pension funding in a decision that could have negative long-term consequences, according to ratings analysts.

A Florida attorney who says his property will be devalued by a private passenger train wants to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging tax-exempt financing for the project.

A recent ruling by the bankruptcy judge in San Bernardino’s Chapter 9 case, and the city’s bankruptcy exit plan, are credit negatives for San Bernardino's pension obligation bond investors, according to a Moody's report.

A federal appeals court denied the appeals of a trio of convicted bid-riggers Thursday in a ruling that could have lasting effects for future fraudsters.

The Florida Development Finance Corp. postponed a June 10 meeting that was scheduled to consider the bond resolution for All Aboard Florida’s $1.75 billion of private activity bonds.

The Wayne County, Mich. board Thursday rejected a proposal to cover a court-ordered pension payment with a special property tax levy, voting instead to dip into a delinquent revolving tax fund.

Moody's Investors Service pushed a small Ohio hospital deep into junk territory amid a variable-rate debt-driven liquidity crisis and after a proposed merger with the state's largest provider fell through.

Former Harrisburg, Pa., Mayor Stephen Reed, one day after agents raided his home, told reporters he has Stage 4 prostate cancer.

Two weeks after El Paso Children’s Hospital filed for bankruptcy, the county hospital district that issued $120 million of bonds filed a voluntary disclosure of the filing on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA Web site.

The Florida Development Finance Corp. will meet June 10 to consider All Aboard Florida’s $1.75 billion bond resolution, though project opponents have questioned if the meeting would be legal.