A discovery of Harris County district court records gives a look into the practice of law in the past. An opinion written by Chief Justice John Hemphill, the “John Marshall of Texas” was discovered and “ultimately decided the case” of Houston v. Lamar. A recent article indicates an accident “led to the 140-year [...]

We last left off with the city council of Vallejo, California, planning a meeting on Thursday to decide whether or not the city needed to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The financial turmoil that lowered the expected balance of the city’s general fund account was caused by three different factors:
1. the mortgage crisis since Vallejo [...]

The city of Vallejo, with a population of about 117,000, would be the first large city in California to declare bankruptcy as a result of revenue shortfalls used to pay its day-to-day operating costs. The city has been slammed by the weakening housing market and will run out of money from it’s general fund [...]

The FDIC is looking to hire 25 retired employees and staffing up for a possible wave of bank failures.
“The FDIC identified 76 banks as potential problems during the last quarter of 2007, 11 more than in the third quarter.
Problem institutions are put under closer scrutiny but the agency never discloses their identity, hoping to avoid [...]

“The flagship bank of Switzerland, UBS, is in deep trouble.
Not only did it recently report its first ever annual loss, of 4.4 billion Swiss francs, or $4 billion, as well as 21 billion francs in write-offs and an estimated $88 billion in additional exposure to risky U.S. investments, but the chairman is also facing mounting [...]

Often thought of as the ’silent justice’, two years and 142 cases have passed since the last time Justice Thomas spoke during oral arguments (besides the comments to Justices Breyer and Kennedy who sit to his immediate right and left, respectively). The last time Justice Thomas posed a question during oral arguments was on [...]

On February 20, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in which it held that the issuance of a fairness opinion by Credit Suisse First Boston right before the tech bust of 2000 was not gross negligence. In this instance, a Liquidating Trust established for the benefit of unsecured creditors sued SCAB [...]

“U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Somma, 63, pleaded no contest in Manchester District Court to a misdemeanor first–offense driving while intoxicated charge.” according to Union Leader.
Somma was arrested on February 6, after his Mercedes-Benz rear-ended a pick-up truck at a traffic light in Manchester. “Somma struck a plea deal with prosecutors in [...]

The subprime mortgage troubles are now spreading to customers who rely on credit. The consumer debt has double in the past decade and reached an “all-time high of $2.55 trillion” in December 2007. Consumers were using their houses as piggybanks with home equity loans and now they are struggling. They are charging [...]

Ritchie Capital Management LLC, who was founded in 1997 by Thane Ritchie and manages more than $1 billion in investor assets including the remnants of Multi-Strategy, has been forced into involuntary bankruptcy by three investment companies with regards to two funds. Ritchie’s lawyer, Ronald Barliant, said involuntary bankruptcy is almost unheard-of.
Hedge funds are loosely [...]