Debt Adjustments for Municipalities Under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code: A Collier Monograph

This Collier Monograph presents a thorough treatment of chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code, which sets forth the bankruptcy relief available to state municipalities. Chapter 9 is a powerful yet underutilized restructuring tool available to financially challenged municipalities and public corporations within the United States. Chapter 9 provides an express means to compromise municipal obligations against a creditor's wishes. Chapter 9 also gives a municipality the ability to operate while in bankruptcy with relatively minimal judicial oversight, protected by the automatic stay, free of the risk of a competing plan, liquidation, the appointment of a trustee or many of the other controls that normally act as a check upon a debtor during a bankruptcy reorganization case.<br><br>The topics include: <br>• the purpose of municipal bankruptcy; <br>• nonbankruptcy alternatives to Bankruptcy Code chapter 9; <br>• comparison of chapter 9 to chapter 11; <br>• prepetition planning, including negotiations with creditors and creation of a restructuring plan; <br>• eligibility to file under chapter 9commencement of the chapter 9 case; <br>• a municipality's operating in chapter 9; <br>• reducing liabilities and exiting bankruptcy; <br>• history of chapter 9; and <br>• a listing of chapter 9 state authorizing statutes. <br>