Law and legal issues

Insured municipal bonds are outperforming general obligation debt as investors place more value on guarantees amid falling bond prices and default concerns sparked by Detroit’s bankruptcy.

Of the 140 creditors challenging Detroit’s eligibility for bankruptcy, not one was a bondholder or bond insurer, who learned “an object lesson from Stockton,” according to bond attorneys.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McCrum has been named special prosecutor to lead an investigation of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

The Louisiana state agency responsible for coastal protection may ask for dismissal of a levee district lawsuit seeking billions of dollars as damages from oil companies.

A federal judge dismissed part of a suit by Providence, R.I., against actuary Buck Consultants alleging an accounting error that officials said cost the city $10.8 million.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Morris Brown College rejected a plan to help the college exit bankruptcy and also help locate a new Atlanta Falcons stadium but the proposal is still in play.

The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority last week hired Dorsey & Whitney and FTI Consulting to conduct a financial review of Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and his real estate business after a New Jersey judge found a Wilf partnership guilty of fraud in a longstanding civil case.

Creditors opposed to Detroit's bankruptcy petition face a midnight deadline today to file their objections to the plan, while firms fighting the city's one and only settlement gear up for a Wednesday hearing.

A New Orleans levee district suing oil companies for billions of dollars in coastal damages offered to suspend the suit if the state proposes an alternative compensation plan.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane plans to investigate incinerator bond financing deals that crippled capital city Harrisburg, her office confirmed.

The judge overseeing American Airlines' bankruptcy put confirmation of the carrier's restructuring plan on hold after the federal government moved to block its merger with US Airways Group.

A federal grand jury indicted former Ohio deputy treasurer Amer Ahmad, recently Chicago comptroller, on corruption charges of orchestrating a kickback scheme involving Ohio investment business.

Detroit's Chapter 9 filing may be "a game changer" that resolves controversial issues that have not been dealt with in prior cases, according to paper on muni defaults from the Bond Dealers of America.

A special prosecutor is expected to be named next week to investigate whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry violated state law by threatening to veto funding for an ethics enforcement unit.

Officials overseeing bankrupt JeffCo get a lesson in "disclosure responsibilities" from disclosure expert John McNally, a partner at Hawkins, Delafield, & Wood.

In a blow to state pension reforms, a Michigan appellate panel struck down provisions in a 2011 law requiring a minimum contribution from state employees to remain in the state's defined benefit plan.

Two small revenue deals from Michigan — a state transportation refunding and a school district financing — found buyers this week at acceptable rates, breaking a logjam on issuance from the state following Detroit's bankruptcy filing.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport moved pricing on its latest bond sale ahead by one day.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott plans to sue Georgia in an attempt to stop the state's 'unchecked' fresh water consumption, which is parching Apalachicola oyster beds.

Ambac Financial Group, the bond insurer recently emerged from bankruptcy, reported $206 million of net income in the two months after the company's exit from Chapter 11, and $3.1 billion in income during the prior month.