Judges Rhodes has approved the Chapter 9 Plan of Reorganization for the City of Detroit. You can find the article here.
Judge Rhodes will be the guest speaker at the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum Joseph Bernfeld Distinguished Speaker on February 9, 2015. Be sure to save the date!
BLOOMBERG
Nov. 21, 2012
San Bernardino Agrees to Mediation With Firefighters
By Steven Church
San Bernardino, the bankrupt California city, and its firefighters union agreed to seek court-supervised mediation of their labor contract disputes, the city said in court papers.
The two sides will ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Scott Clarkson to oversee talks aimed at resolving their disagreements, which were not specified in the court filing today in Riverside, California.
Two weeks after the city filed for bankruptcy protection on Aug. 1, the union threatened to try to have the case dismissed.
San Bernardino was the third California city to file bankruptcy in less than three months. The city of about 209,000 people lies about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. A fiscal emergency, brought on by a $46 million budget shortfall, forced it to stop paying some creditors and seek court protection, the city said.
The case is In re San Bernardino, 12-28006, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California (Riverside).
To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware at schurch3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net
Read the Public Notice here.
On August 1, 2012, the City of San Bernardino, California filed a petition for an Order of Relief under Chapter 9 of Title 11, United States Code. The case number is 6:12-bk-28006. Chief Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski has ordered that pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 921(b), Bankruptcy Judge Meredith A. Jury is designated to conduct the case.
The Court has established a webpage to provide information about this case and post select documents of interest. This webpage can be accessed by clicking on Case of Interest: City of San Bernardino on the home page of the Court’s website at www.cacb.uscourts.gov.
Bankruptcy Court
Court’s Webpage for this Case (shortcut): http://go.usa.gov/GKB
Inquiries for this Case
Phone number: (951) 774-1090
City of San Bernardino
Website: www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us
Legal Inquiries
James F. Penman, City Attorney
Phone number: 909-384-5355
Administrative and Financial Inquiries
Andrea Travis-Miller, Interim City Manager
Phone number: 909-384-5122
Section 109(c) An entity may be a debtor under chapter 9 of this title if and only if such entity –
(1) is a municipality;
(2) is specifically authorized, in its capacity as a municipality or by name, to be a debtor under such chapter by State law, or by a governmental officer or organization empowered by State law to authorize such entity to be a debtor under such chapter;
(3) is insolvent;
(4) desires to effect a plan to adjust such debts; and
(5)(A) has obtained the agreement of creditors holding at least a majority in amount of the claims of each class that such entity intends to impair under a plan in a case under such chapter;
(B) has negotiated in good faith with creditors and has failed to obtain the agreement of creditors holding at least a majority in amount of the claims of each class that such entity intends to impair under a plan in a case under such chapter;
(C) is unable to negotiate with creditors because such negotiation is impracticable; or
(D) reasonably believes that a creditor may attempt to obtain a transfer that is avoidable under section 547 of this title.
Definitions:
Section 101(32) The term “insolvent” means –
(C) with reference to a municipality, financial condition such that the municipality is –
(i) generally not paying its debts as they become due unless such debts are the subject of a bona fide dispute; or
(ii) unable to pay its debts as they become due.
Section 101 (40) The term “municipality” means political subdivision or public agency or instrumentality of a State.
Some info on Judge Meredith Jury (btw, I think she is a great judge and a great judge for this case).
Appointment(s): Appointed 11/24/97 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Reappointed 11/24/11 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. (Current term expires 11/23/25.)
Education:
University of Colorado, Boulder, 1969, B.A. (cum laude) in English, Phi Beta Kappa;
University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1971, M.A. in economics, 1972, M.S. in English education;
University of California Law School, Los Angeles, 1976, J.D.
Career Record: 1976-97, Associate-Partner, Best Best and Krieger, LLP, Riverside, California.
Admitted to the California State Bar and U. S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1976; U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1980.
She wrote on opinion for the 9th Circuit BAP in 2009 about the requirements of filing a Chapter 9. You can access that case here.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Central District Of California (Riverside) Bankruptcy
Petition #: 6:12-bk-28006 Assigned to: Chapter 9 Voluntary Asset
Date filed: 08/01/2012
Debtor City of San Bernardino, California
City Hall 300 North “D” Street
San Bernardino, CA 92418
SAN BERNARDINO-CA Tax ID / EIN: 95-6000772
represented by Paul R. Glassman Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth 100 Wilshire Blvd Ste 440 Santa Monica, CA 90401 424-214-7000 Fax : 424-214-7010 Email: pglassman@sycr.com
U.S. Trustee United States Trustee (RS) 3685 Main Street, Suite 300 Riverside, CA 92501
Docket Text 08/01/2012
1 Chapter 9 Voluntary Petition . Fee Amount $1046 Filed by City of San Bernardino, California (Glassman, Paul) (Entered: 08/01/2012) 08/01/2012
Receipt of Voluntary Petition (Chapter 9)(6:12-bk-28006) [misc,volp9] (1046.00) Filing Fee. Receipt number 28495989. Fee amount 1046.00. (U.S. Treasury) (Entered: 08/01/2012)
The Emergency Petition is here. San Bern My bet is it will be assigned to Judge Meredith Jury in Riverside. 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kosinski picks the judge but presumably he will ask Chief Judge Peter Carroll who will recommend Meridith Jury. She is the senior judge in Riverside and has experience with chapter 9 given all the appeals in the Vallejo case.
