Law and legal issues

DALLAS - Former New Mexico investment officer Gary Bland is seeking $1.25 million from the State Investment Council in a lawsuit that claims he was damaged by claims of corruption.

A federal court approved bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc.'s bankruptcy plan Wednesday.

Detroit would issue $100 million of new-money self-insurance bonds and push off $37 million of near-term debt service as part of Michigan's plan to pull the city back from the brink of insolvency.

Harrisburg's intention to skip general obligation bond payments totaling $5.3 million that are due Thursday have bond market and other observers wondering what will happen next in Pennsylvania's capital city.

WASHINGTON — The Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to petition the Virginia Supreme Court for an appeal of a lower court's dismissal of their lawsuit against former financial advisor Davenport & Co. over $67.5 million of 2008 bonds.

Bond insurers came and went last week in the Bank of New York Mellon’s legal challenge in Jefferson County’s bankruptcy case.

An end may be in sight for the two-year old bankruptcy of the Las Vegas Monorail Co., albeit at a steep price for bondholders.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing late Tuesday blasted Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder for a proposed consent decree that the mayor said is a thinly disguised state takeover of the distressed city.

More shoes began to drop in Suffolk County, N.Y., as Standard & Poor's on Tuesday placed its AA long-term and underlying ratings on credit watch with negative implications.

Hercules, Calif., said it has tentatively settled a $4 million lawsuit brought by Ambac Assurance Corp. over a default by the city's redevelopment agency.

LOS ANGELES — La Mirada, a city of 50,000 southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on Friday received a downgrade from Moody's Investors Service to A1 from Aa3 on $13.6 million of outstanding lease revenue bonds after officials declared a fiscal emergency.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Bank of New York Mellon will distribute the toll revenues of Florida’s Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority to holders of the agency's defaulted bonds later this month.

Harrisburg, Pa., will skip $5.3 million in general obligation bond payments due March 15, its state-appointed receiver said Friday.

CHICAGO — A lot has changed in the municipal debt world in the 20 years since Clayton Gillette and the late Robert Amdursky first wrote "Municipal Debt Finance Law: Theory and Practice."

A dispute over the revenue projections for the Dulles Toll Road provides the backdrop for a hearing the Fairfax County, Va., Board of Supervisors is preparing to hold March 20 to decide whether to approve the next phase of construction on an associated rail line.

Investors holding term bonds exchanged last year as part of the Connector 2000 Association bankruptcy must exchange them a second time after the bonds they received proved to be untradeable for technical reasons.

A U.S. District Court judge in Chicago has dismissed the final count lodged against former Bear Stearns public finance banker P. Nicholas Hurtgen by federal prosecutors in connection with an extortion scheme involving a Chicago-area hospital seeking regulatory approval for a new hospital.

LOS ANGELES — Downey Regional Medical Center emerged from bankruptcy protection Wednesday, marking only the third time in California history a hospital has done so without changing ownership, hospital officials said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Stockton is not alone. The ski town of Mammoth Lakes is also using a new California state mediation law to try to avert Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Jefferson County is eligible for bankruptcy despites its lack of bond debt under a ruling issued late Sunday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Bennett.