Detroit Update Spring 2014
/- By Chad
Livengood Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Detroit employee union to tell members to hold off on bankruptcy vote
Lansing A special House committee is taking public comment this afternoon on a package of bills that would infuse Detroit's pensions with $195 million in state tax dollars.
- 10:59 PM, May. 14, 2014
- By Chad
Livengood Detroit News Lansing Bureau
State influence over Detroit after bankruptcy key issue
The state of Michigan's control over post-bankruptcy Detroit remains a top issue for lawmakers as they debate a $194.8 million aid package for city pensioners.
- 11:33 PM, May. 13, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Daniel
Howes and David Shepardson The Detroit News
GM, Ford, Chrysler preparing to give DIA large donations to aid bankruptcy exit
Plans by Detroit's automakers to donate roughly $25 million to the Detroit Institute of Arts are part of the museum's $100 million contribution to a 'grand bargain' intended to help the city exit bankruptcy, protect city-owned art and bolster public pensions.
- 11:22 PM, May. 13, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Chad
Livengood Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Orr pressures lawmakers for state contribution to settle bankruptcy
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr warned Tuesday of the 'catastrophic' consequences for retirees if lawmakers balk at contributing $194.8 million to a fund to aid city pensioners.
- 10:22 AM, May. 13, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Chad
Livengood The Detroit News
DIA tells bankruptcy judge: Inspecting art puts it at risk
The Detroit Institute of Arts says a request by city creditors to let interested art buyers pull paintings off the museum's wall for a rushed 'yard-sale-like' bankruptcy appraisal just 'invites disaster.'
- 11:38 PM, May. 12, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Robert
Snell The Detroit News
Bankruptcy judge rips Detroit's law firm for sharing confidential info
The city's bankruptcy judge today chastised Detroit's high-priced law firm for inadvertently sharing confidential documents about closed-door negotiations among creditors.
- 10:38 PM, May. 8, 2014
- By Chad
Livengood Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Republican lawmakers tie Detroit aid to up to 20 years of state supervision
Lansing — Detroit's finances would remain under state oversight for up to 20 years or more and the city would have to stop offering lifetime pensions to future employees to get $194.8 million in state aid to help end its bankruptcy.
- 1:22 PM, May. 8, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Robert
Snell The Detroit News
Detroit's 2 largest public safety unions will probably fight debt plan
The city's two largest public safety unions will probably fight Detroit's plan to cut debt and emerge from bankruptcy court, according to a court filing Thursday.
- 6:51 PM, May. 5, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Robert
Snell and Chad Livengood The Detroit News
2 public safety unions settle with Detroit; judge OKs wording for ballot mailing
The city revealed today it has reached deals with two public safety unions but the largest police union is balking at the city's plan to not pay health care benefits to police officers who retire within five years.
- 7:15 PM, May. 2, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Robert
Snell, Chad Livengood and Christine Ferretti The Detroit News
Detroit gets 3-day extension to file debt-cutting plan; retiree group reaches deal
Detroit The city's largest retiree group agreed to a 4.5 percent pension cut and gave up cost-of-living adjustments Friday in a deal that could help speed Detroit's exit from bankruptcy court.
- 10:36 PM, Apr. 30, 2014
- By Chad
Livengood Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Plan floats Detroit oversight panel after bankruptcy
Lansing Gov. Rick Snyder said today he thinks lawmakers can avoid amending Michigan's controversial emergency manager law as part of a legislative package to make a $350 million contribution to a Detroit bankruptcy settlement.
- 2:03 PM, Apr. 30, 2014
- By Christine
Ferretti The Detroit News
Federal judge weighing constitutionality of Michigan's emergency manager law
The fate of a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the state's Emergency Manager law will soon be determined by a federal judge.
- 10:31 PM, Apr. 29, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Chad
Livengood Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Bills for state aid for Detroit pensions to be introduced next week
A 10-bill package to provide Detroit's pensions a $350 million infusion of state cash could be introduced next week, as Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr works to convince lawmakers to contribute to a settlement of the city's bankruptcy.
- 11:38 PM, Apr. 28, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Chad
Livengood and Robert Snell The Detroit News
Detroit's deal with labor unions puts pressure on holdouts
Detroit has reached a tentative agreement with a coalition of city labor unions for a new five-year collective bargaining agreement, federal bankruptcy ...
- 3:41 PM, Apr. 24, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Chad
Livengood and Christine Ferretti The Detroit News
Detroit plan to recoup $239M paid to annuity accounts threatens some pensions
Nearly 4,800 retired Detroit workers facing baseline pension cuts of 4.5 percent could see their monthly retirement benefits dwindle even further — with a ...
- 1:18 PM, Apr. 22, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Robert
Snell The Detroit News
East Coast financial expert will assess Detroit debt-cutting plan
The city's bankruptcy judge appointed an East Coast financial specialist today to evaluate the city's debt-cutting plan.
- 11:46 PM, Apr. 18, 2014
- Wayne County
- By Laura
Berman The Detroit News
Financial experts vie for chance to advise judge on Detroit bankruptcy
Three financial experts interviewed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes on Friday came schooled in different approaches but share one view: The city cannot ...
•Robert Snell
•The Detroit News
Some pieces are so large, a team of workers would need to use hydraulic lifts and climb scaffolds. “All of that movement creates a potential for risk,” O’Reilly said. “The very best way to keep art safe is not to touch it. Leave it in place.” Rhodes later told FGIC bankruptcy attorney Alfredo Perez his client could simply review the art collection by buying a ticket to the DIA.
Perez said his firm would need to arrange for access to art held in storage. FGIC, which faces losses of up to $1.1 billion in Detroit’s bankruptcy, made a global solicitation of bids earlier seeking investors interested in buying city-owned art or loaning the city money against the massive collection. The preliminary bids, disclosed in an April 9 bankruptcy filing and dubbed “indications of interest,” ranged from at least $895 million to buy 116 unnamed artworks to a $2 billion loan that would require the entire 66,000-piece collection to be held as collateral. The $816 million plan to rescue the city’s art collection and soften pension cuts is not such a grand bargain, a bond insurer said in court Thursday. “It’s more grandiose than grand,” Syncora Guarantee Inc. lawyer Marc Kieselstein told the judge. Syncora has pushed for the art collection to be sold to satisfy creditors, who fare a worse payout than retirees, the DIA and pension funds, all of which would benefit under the $816 million “grand bargain.” “We have our nose pressed up against the glass,” Kieselstein said. “Are you aware of a single case that holds municipalities in a Chapter 9 (bankruptcy) that has an unconditional right, an unconditional obligation, to minimize creditor losses?” the judge countered. “We think…that’s exactly what a city has to do,” the lawyer said.
“Why should creditors fare better in bankruptcy (compared to outside of bankruptcy court)?” the judge asked. “The ability to get a judgment,” the lawyer said. “A judgment’s a piece of paper,” Rhodes said. “What’s that get you?”
Chad Livengood contributed
rsnell@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2028
Pasted from <http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140515/METRO01/305150083/Judge-denies-creditors-request-pull-DIA-art-off-walls>
David Skeel is a professor of bankruptcy law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.