Law and legal issues

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr on Wednesday offered a glimpse into the city's high-stakes negotiations — and subsequent settlements — with bondholders during the course of its historic bankruptcy.

The judge in the Stockton, Calif. bankruptcy case has ruled that a city in Chapter 9 bankruptcy has the power to adjust California Public Employees' Retirement System pensions.

Hawaii judge rules that Hawaii House of Representatives has jurisdiction over residency of legislators, not court, in ruling dismissing lawsuit challenging Hawaii Rep. Calvin Say's residency.

A lease the Pennsylvania government signed for the Harrisburg Redevelopment Authority's 12-story Verizon Tower doesn't generate the revenue needed to prevent a default by the city on its debt-service guarantee for the project, said Moody's.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed a challenge to the investment advisers pay-to-play rule, ruling that it lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.

Detroit's attorneys called a $1.5 billion 2005 certificates of participation financing an "insider deal" that benefited banks and helped doom the struggling city during a federal hearing on the disputed debt issuance.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn ruled Tuesday that appeals in Jefferson County, Ala.'s bankruptcy case will go forward.

A post-bankrupt Detroit will not only be a "normal borrower" within a year, but will be stronger than many credits in the muni market, the city's investment banker testified in federal court Tuesday.

A Lackawanna County Court ruled that Scranton, Pa., overstepped in assessing a commuter tax on nonresidents.

A Brooklyn judge may have brought light to the end of the tunnel for financially struggling SUNY Downstate with a ruling that could facilitate the already agreed transfer of Long Island College Hospital to New York University.

A ruling by a Superior Court judge in Orange County, Calif., Friday cleared the way for the Anaheim City Council to sell $300 million in bonds to pay for a 200,000-square-foot convention center expansion.

The city treasury of Harrisburg, Pa., is free of security breaches, its interim treasurer said, after an investigation that followed his predecessor's arrest for theft from two local nonprofits.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., the last major holdout creditor in Detroit's bankruptcy, is reportedly nearing a settlement with the city that includes a mix of cash and city assets.

A Superior Court judge in Riverside County will hear arguments Oct. 31 on a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by Ontario, California seeking the return of its airport from Los Angeles.

The judge overseeing a retiree lawsuit challenging the city of Pontiac's effort to cut retiree health care benefits has ordered the parties into in mediation with one of the mediators of the Detroit bankruptcy case, while the city has hired Detroit's top restructuring firm to analyze its options for paying off the debt.

US Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who is overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy, ruled in favor of the city Monday when he dismissed a restraining order blocking the city's ability to shut off water to nonpaying customers.

Detroit Friday gained Michigan's final approval for a plan to issue $1.1 billion of bonds for a bankruptcy exit financing and to raise money to pay off several creditors.

Detroit officials regained control of most government functions, while remaining under state-controlled emergency management, after the city council late Thursday adopted a resolution that keeps Kevyn Orr on as manager with reduced powers until the bankruptcy is over.

Batavia, Ill., officials plan to ask the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office to examine the city's 2007 decision to purchase power from the controversial bond-financed, coal-fired Prairie State Energy Campus.

A day after Michigan gave a $2.6 million loan to the city of Allen Park, Gov. Rick Snyder declared that the Detroit suburb's financial emergency is resolved, allowing the city's emergency manager, Joyce Parker, to formally step aside.