Law and legal issues

BRADENTON, Fla. — Alabama Attorney General Troy King late Thursday filed lawsuits against BP PLC and BP America Inc. as well as drilling contractor Transocean Ltd. and related companies for their roles in the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The South Florida Water Management District unanimously approved a plan Thursday to pay nearly $200 million in cash, instead of using bond financing, to purchase U.S. Sugar Corp. land for Everglades restoration projects.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — National Public Finance Guarantee Corp. this week asked the judge handling the Vallejo bankruptcy case to order the resumption of state intercept payments that back one of the California city’s debt issues.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Former Birmingham Mayor and Jefferson County commissioner Larry Langford said Wednesday that his conviction should be reversed, mail fraud counts against him dismissed due to insufficient evidence, and he should be given a new trial.

WASHINGTON — Dealers are urging regulators not to impose fees on them to help fund the Governmental Accounting Standards Board until after a congressional watchdog agency completes a study of the standards setter.

Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. fell more deeply into the hole in the second quarter as the insolvent bond insurer lost more money on contracts linked to mortgage debt and its statutory deficit continued to widen.

A Miami-Dade County grand jury last week released a report on Jackson Health System, describing its financial problems as “a colossal mess.” No formal charges were brought by the panel.

The Harrisburg Authority will pay its entire $2.2 million, Sept. 1 payment to holders of incinerator bonds with debt reserve funds, as an incomplete board threatens the Pennsylvania agency’s ability to move ahead with needed business actions.

DALLAS — Bondholders are trying to find out what happened to a $200,000 debt-service reserve fund discovered missing when a north Texas issuer defaulted on $4 million of bonds used to purchase three retirement facilities.

A direct feed of the reset information for auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand obligations that dealers submit to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will cost $10,000 annually if the Securities and Exchange Commission signs off on a proposal submitted by the board Tuesday.

MBIA Inc. chief executive officer Jay Brown told investors Tuesday that the past two and a half years have proven the durability of his company’s balance sheet. Ambac Financial Group, by contrast, continued to warn that it may seek bankruptcy protection as early as 2011.

The Missouri Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court ruling that supports state laws on charter school financing.

DALLAS — Austin Bergstrom International Airport’s Hilton hotel faces a deepening financial hole in the wake of a series of defaults on $49 million of revenue bonds, according to a recent audit.

A federal judge in Birmingham last week denied motions filed by two former JPMorgan bankers to dismiss a Securities and Exchange Commission suit that alleges they committed securities fraud in connection with municipal bond and swap transactions with Jefferson County, Ala.

The American Bar Association’s taxation section has sent the Treasury Department several suggestions it contends would simplify and make more flexible interim guidance for issuers, bondholders, and other market participants that want to strip the tax credits from tax-credit bonds.

FGIC Corp., the holding company of beleaguered bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., announced Wednesday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Wednesday filed ­changes with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a ­controversial proposal that would dictate the priority of retail and other customer orders in primary offerings, as well as dealers’ related record-keeping responsibilities.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Former Jefferson County commissioner Gary White has become the latest of nearly two dozen people and companies in Alabama convicted for corruption involving the county’s debt-clogged sewer system.

CHICAGO — All five southeastern Wisconsin school districts involved in a failed investment scheme tied to funding their non-pension retiree health care trusts are reneging on their moral obligation pledge to repay asset-backed notes issued by the trusts and sold to Depfa Bank Plc.

Outgoing Alabama Attorney General Troy King last week said he has asked a private law firm to begin preparations for suing BP and other firms responsible for the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.