Law and legal issues

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Las Vegas Monorail Co. bondholder Eaton Vance has broken with other large holders of the bankrupt project’s debt to challenge the settlement that trustee Wells Fargo Bank NA negotiated with Wisconsin state regulators to commute the monorail’s bond insurance policy.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California’s attorney general appears to have thrown a monkey wrench into school districts’ common practice of paying for issuance costs using original issue premium.

The California Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of an appellate ruling requiring developers of many community facilities districts to pay so-called prevailing wages for all public improvements, whether or not they are financed with bonds.

Voters in the beleaguered Southern California city of Bell tossed out their entire City Council during a recall election Tuesday.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Sierra Kings Health Care District’s general obligation bonds to Baa3 from Ba2 after a federal judge ruled that GO debt service cannot be interrupted by the district’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.

CHICAGO — Michigan is set to enact a controversial law that expands state power over fiscally stressed local governments and gives emergency managers broader authority, including the ability to terminate labor contracts.

SAN FRANCISCO — The city of Vallejo, Calif., must disclose more information about the role of its mayor and bankruptcy law firm in past bond deals due to accusations of conflicts of interest, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Louisiana is seeking damages of $1 million a day each from BP and other companies associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider the appeals of former Jefferson County commissioner Chris McNair and several contractors who were convicted on bribery charges related to the county’s sewer system.

SACRAMENTO — A federal bankruptcy judge said he will set a date in June for the final showdown with creditors on Vallejo, Calif.’s plan to try and rid itself of debt.

Officials from Porter County said they will consider filing a new lawsuit with the Indiana Supreme Court after the state Court of Appeals last week declared the county could not withdraw from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.

WASHINGTON — In the first case of its kind, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Southwest Securities Inc. $500,000 for paying unaffiliated individuals to solicit municipal securities business for it, in violation of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-38.

Trustees of the Austin Independent School District declared a financial exigency last week that will allow it to terminate contracts covering 1,153 teaching and administrative posts.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Friday rejected, once and for all, $2.4 billion of federal funds for a high-speed rail project as the state Supreme Court unanimously refused to overturn his decision.

SAN FRANCISCO — Vallejo retirees have fired another salvo in a battle for scarce funds in the California city’s proposed plan to exit bankruptcy, including conflict of interest accusations against the city’s mayor and law firm.

CHICAGO — A hearing set for next week on Chicago’s request that a Cook County Circuit Court judge dismiss an airline lawsuit that seeks to block $3.36 billion of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport was pushed back a week as settlement negotiations continue.

BRADENTON, Fla. — In an effort to convince Gov. Rick Scott that Florida’s high-speed rail project is viable and as risk-free to taxpayers as possible, mayors and prominent business groups said Thursday that a proposal is on the table that answers Scott’s concerns.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear Illinois’ appeal of a lower court decision invalidating the state’s $31 billion capital budget and the funding streams that support it.

CHICAGO — Faced with the headline risk associated with ongoing reports over its fiscal struggles, Detroit Public Schools was forced to pay a steep premium Thursday on its sale of $231 million of short-term notes.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Gov. Rick Scott told the Florida Supreme Court in a brief Wednesday that the decision to reject federal funds for high-speed rail rests with him and a petition to overturn his decision has come from “state senators whose policy preferences have not prevailed in the political process.”