Law and legal issues

Jefferson County, Ala., is nearing the end of the nation's second-biggest municipal bankruptcy case as it prepares to close on the sale of $1.7 billion of new sewer warrants on Tuesday.

A group of Detroit's creditors, including bond insurers, asked the bankruptcy court overseeing the city's case to appoint a committee to assess the value of the city art collection and propose ideas for monetizing it.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane is expected to issue a decision on the American Airlines bankruptcy at a hearing at 10 a.m. Wednesday in New York.

The Securities and Exchange Commission says its case against former JPMorgan bankers Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin should go to trial.

Detroit's proposed $350 million debtor-in-possession financing would mark the largest such deal in Chapter 9 history, but not the first: that honor goes to Orange County, Calif.

The Missouri Secretary of State Securities Division filed a civil enforcement action against Morgan Keegan accusing the firm of securities fraud in its role as underwriter of $39 million of defaulted bonds issued by Moberly, Mo.

CHICAGO — U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes will issue his decision over Detroit's eligibility to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on Dec. 3.

A bankruptcy Court judge said he expects to rule by Wednesday on American Airlines' request for final clearance to merge with US Airways Group Inc. and exit Chapter 11.

Moody's said Monday that a lawsuit filed to challenge Atlanta's two-year-old pension reform is a credit negative because of the uncertainty it creates.

U.S. Bankruptcy Attorney Thomas Bennett issued a 79-page Friday confirming his verbal approval of Jefferson County, Ala.'s Chapter 9 exit plan.

Congressional committee leaders have sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder expressing concerns that the proposed settlement agreement with US Airways and American Airlines might hurt less populated and rural areas.

Two years after filing what was then the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country, Jefferson County, Ala., Thursday won approval of its plan to emerge from Chapter 9.

A municipal restructuring executive who played a key role in DC's oversight board in the 1990s is Detroit's new CFO.

Stockton is poised to exit Chapter 9 bankruptcy in March 2014, but not without a fight with its last major creditor, Franklin Advisers, over $35 million of the city's lease revenue bonds.

After successful pricing of $1.8 billion in sewer debt, a hearing on Jefferson County, Ala.'s bankruptcy plan could lead the county out of Chapter 9 this week.

Detroit should drop its plan to unwind its costly interest-rate swaps and instead argue the transactions be declared illegal, a former municipal investment banker Wallace Turbeville said in a report released.

The Desert Hot Springs, Calif., City Council voted unanimously to declare a fiscal emergency, the first step in the state's process leading to filing for municipal bankruptcy, according to news reports.

State and federal investigations of the Beaumont, Texas, Independent School District brought a Moody's Investors Service warnings of a possible downgrade on the district's $405 million of general obligation debt Tuesday.

Bankrupt Jefferson County, Ala., sold $1.8 billion of new sewer warrants following a three-day pricing, County Commission President David Carrington said Tuesday night.

Fitch Ratings affirmed ratings on Miami's bond issues citing improved finances but said there is fiscal uncertainty due to legal challenges.