Law and legal issues

Three Harrisburg citizens, including a former mayoral candidate, have requested a federal court to impose an emergency temporary injunction to halt the state-appointed receiver in Pennsylvania's capital city from implementing a financial recovery plan.

Attorneys representing a group of Texas parents filed the fifth in a series of lawsuits Friday seeking to have the state's public education system declared unconstitutional.

WASHINGTON — A Fluvanna County, Va., circuit court judge on Thursday dismissed the lawsuit the county's Board of Supervisors had filed against their former financial advisor, Davenport & Co., after agreeing with the firm that the court could not decide the case under the state constitution's separation of powers doctrine.

Two moves to block San Diego’s comprehensive pension-reform initiative from going to the voters were rejected this week by Superior Court judges, according to city attorney Jan Goldsmith.

The Stockton City Council on Tuesday is expected to take what would be an initial step toward bankruptcy, according to published reports.

Fluvanna County, Va.'s Board of Supervisors and its former financial advisor, Davenport & Co., present two different versions of the December 2008 bond financing for a new high school in documents filed in connection with the board's lawsuit against the firm.

Moody’s Investors Service last week said it continues to review Jefferson County’s ratings for possible downgrade. They were placed under review after the county filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in November.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel ordered Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Co. to pay a Birmingham investor $1.95 million for misrepresenting that the Jefferson County, Ala., sewer bonds he purchased were safe, liquid and tax-free investments.

Fluvanna County, Va., and Davenport & Co., its financial advisor for 15 years, are battling each other in a circuit county court over whether the firm misled the county about $67.5 million of bonds sold in December 2008 to finance construction of a new high school.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Jefferson County, Ala., on Friday filed a notice of cross appeal and said that it may challenge a bankruptcy judge's ruling that allows sewer revenues to be used for debt service payments.

LOS ANGELES -The motto of the Las Vegas Monorail must be, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try - and try again," after submitting its fourth amended plan to exit bankruptcy.

As Michigan officials near their deadline for deciding the future of Detroit, a new report suggests that one of the more dramatic options on the table — a Chapter 9 bankruptcy — doesn't offer a panacea to the city's deep-seated financial problems.

State Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, said last week he expects a lawsuit over the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight’s decision to approve $26 million of state lease revenue bonds for a dam project in Tulsa.

Investors holding $3.14 billion of Jefferson County, Ala.'s sewer warrants should continue to see uninterrupted debt-service payments over the next few months thanks to an interim agreement approved by the county's bankruptcy judge this week.

Georgia is once again in the crosshairs of a water-rights dispute as neighboring Alabama and Florida filed appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

Standard & Poor’s last week affirmed its C rating on $2.3 billion of Jefferson County’s sewer system revenue warrants.

The Jefferson County Commission Tuesday voted to hire a director of capital structure and investments to manage the $4.2 billion of debt that was placed into bankruptcy in November.

A Rhode Island Superior Court judge’s preliminary injunction preventing the state’s capital, Providence, from moving retirees who are 65 and older off the city’s health insurance plan and into Medicare is a credit-negative, said Moody’s Investors Service.

Troubled Michigan school districts may find more affordable market access under legislation signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder that insulates certain types of bonds from the effects of bankruptcy.

The state-appointed receiver for financially ailing Harrisburg wants to close on the sale or lease of the city's two main assets by the end of June — the incinerator that's ground zero in the debt crisis in Pennsylvania's capital city, and its revenue-producing parking garages.