So Detroit- what went wrong?

[FarCenter]

56. The case has already been filed

Judge Steven Rhodes Chosen to Handle Detroit Chapter 9 Case

Judge Rhodes, who was poised to retire at the end of the year, has been put in charge of the 686,000-resident city’s case after handling one of the state’s rare cases of Chapter 9, which is used by cities, counties and municipal authorities.

Judge Rhodes, 64 years old, was tapped to handle the massive Chapter 9 case by Judge Alice M. Batchelder, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In court papers, she said she chose Judge Rhodes after “having reviewed the levels of experience and the respective caseloads of the judges” within the Eastern District.

In a letter filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit, fellow Bankruptcy Judge Phillip Shefferly called his colleague “one of the most accomplished bankruptcy judges in the country.”

Judge Rhodes “is very knowledgeable about the relationship of federal bankruptcy law to state constitutional and other state law, which will likely be an important issue in this case,” he wrote.

Another federal judge wrote that Judge Rhodes has “outstanding administrative and management skills, which of course will be necessary in handling a case of this magnitude.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/07/19/judge-steven-rhodes-chosen-to-handle-detroit-chapter-9-case/