Municipal Bankruptcy

The panel will discuss how Puerto Rico can implement economic growth and fiscal stability measures and right-size its debt obligations, and the legal, political and financial tools that can be used to achieve an optimal outcome for Puerto Rico and its people, businesses and creditors.

The Tenth Amendment has been construed to require that a municipality in bankruptcy must maintain control over its assets and revenues, but the Bankruptcy Code requires that the municipality establish that its plan of adjustment is in the best interests of creditors and is feasible. This program will address that conflict and a range of other issues relating to valuation that arise in municipal restructuring cases, including valuing assets such as tax revenues streams, as well as such obligations as bond, pension and health care.

The panel will discuss Puerto Rico’s present economic condition/situation, the sequence of events that have led to PR’s present economic crisis, what should/can be done to restructure PR’s debt, whether chapter 9 is an appropriate tool to restructure PR’s debt or a solution to its economic condition, and the legal issues that PR is likely to confront in light of its economic crisis.

NO CLE Credit Available - Free Session.

Join in a dialogue led by former ABI Presidents:
Richardo I. Kilpatrick
Kilpatrick & Associates, PC; Auburn Hills, Mich.
Melissa Kibler Knoll
Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC; Chicago
Michael P. Richman
Hunton & Williams LLP; New York

Jeffrey N. Pomerantz, Moderator
ABI Vice President-Education
Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP; Los Angeles

Resolved: Curbing pension rights in a chapter 9 case is constitutional.
Con: Babette A. Ceccotti
Cohen, Weiss & Simon LLP; New York

Resolved: Committee member fees are not payable as part of a Chapter 11 plan.
Pro: Nan Roberts Eitel
Executive Office for U.S. Trustees; Washington, D.C.
Con: Dennis F. Dunne
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP; New York