Law and legal issues

The Detroit Institute of Arts has raised 80% of the $100 million it pledged to contribute to Detroit's underfunded pension debt.

Based on two court cases, two former JPMorgan bankers want the SEC's pay-to-play case involving Jefferson County, Ala.'s failed sewer deals dismissed.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said the state will appeal a state district court order to restore $1.6 billion in school funding.

One year after Detroit filed for bankruptcy, muni experts said the city's approach should set a precedent for how not to manage a distressed workout, and that they've learned to throw out many traditional assumptions and beliefs about the treatment of bond debt in Chapter 9.

Louisiana issuers should take advantage of the SEC's initiative to self-report continuing disclosure lapses, the State Bond Commission urged Thursday.

Two former attorneys general for Utah, Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow, took bribes in criminal and civil cases, prosecutors said in charges filed in the state's 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City.

The Contra Costa County, Calif. civil grand jury found that seven of its school districts have issued capital appreciation bonds in the last ten years, and is urging them not to sell any more.

Keith Stokes, the former executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. has withdrawn from a lawsuit against the agency's former lawyer and bond counsel over the 38 Studios fiasco.

Birmingham, Ala. city councilor Sheila Tyson, saying her constituents can't afford Jefferson County's post-bankruptcy debt, is trying to boost public support for an appeal, as hearings commence.

Reno, Nevada, conducted a special budget workshop July 15 in an attempt to plug a $2 million hole created when a Washoe County District Judge filed an injunction on June 24 preventing the city from laying off 33 firefighters

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals set an accelerated two-week schedule to consider bond insurer Syncora Guarantee's appeal of a key decision in Detroit's bankruptcy case.

A ruling that Stockton's pension obligations can be treated the same as other contracts in municipal bankruptcy would have significant impacts on some local government bondholders in California, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Moody's Investors Service shifted its outlook on Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority's A1 rating to negative after a court overturned the car-rental tax backing $282 million of stadium bonds.

Bankruptcy court filings indicates mediation dates have been set for insurers to wrap San Bernardino's bonds to negotiate their fate in the city's Chapter 9 bankruptcy case.

Detroit's newest bondholder settlement calls for a 66% haircut for limited-tax general obligation bondholders, a deal that's severe but unsurprising given Detroit's credit, muni experts said.

Gov. Tom Corbett's line-item veto of Pennsylvania's $29.1 billion budget jeopardizes the Harrisburg recovery plan, said state Sen. Rob Teplitz.

With its emergency manager warning of a possible bankruptcy, the city of Flint is hoping a temporary court ruling allowing it to cut retiree health care benefits will bring some relief to its 2015 budget.

As the legal fight over Puerto Rico's Recovery Act heats up, Argentina and Arkansas provide roadmaps to what may lie ahead.

The Illinois Supreme Court's decision that state constitutional protections of pension benefits apply to retiree healthcare premium subsidies "casts doubt" on recent local and state pension reform efforts, Moody's Investors Service said.

Florida has hired legal counsel to sue the bankrupt Digital Domain over $20 million in state incentive funding.