The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) yesterday filed separate motions to dismiss the federal court complaint filed last month by some PREPA bondholders seeking to invalidate the recently-enacted Puerto Rico Public Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act.&n

On August 11, Franklin Funds and Oppenheimer Rochester Funds filed a second amended complaint, opposition to motion to dismiss and cross-motion for summary judgment in the litigation they previously filed in the United States District Court for Puerto Rico challenging the constitutionality and validity of Puerto Rico’s so-called Recovery Act.  The second amended complaint reiterates that a PREPA filing under the Recovery Act, which establishes debt adjustment procedures for most of Puerto Rico’s public corporations, is both “probable and imminent.”  The summary judgment motion see

At the end of “The Candidate”, Robert Redford’s title character, having won, famously asks, “What do we do now?”

A similar question can be asked now that the federal district court in Puerto Rico has struck down the Puerto Rico Public Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act.

On February 6, 2015, Judge Francisco Besosa of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico held that the Puerto Rico Public Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act (the “Recovery Act”) is expressly preempted by section 903 of the Bankruptcy Code and is therefore unconstitutional.

Puerto Rico is possibly the most financially distressed political entity in North America. The most widely available statistic is that the island has $73 billion in debt.  However, if one considers unfunded pension liabilities some estimates place Puerto Rico’s debt at $167.46 billion.

On February 6th, Federal District Judge Francisco Besosa ruled that Puerto Rico’s municipal debt-restructuring law, the “Recovery Act”, was unconstitutional stating that:  “The Recovery Act is pre-empted by the federal Bankruptcy Code and is therefore void.”  The Court also permanently enjoined current and future government officials from enforcing the Act.  Puerto Rico has announced that it will be appealing the ruling.

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's efforts to deal with more than $70 billion in debt have been a magnet for media scrutiny during the last two years. A question frequently asked in connection with the island territory's struggles to stay afloat is whether Puerto Rico, as an unincorporated territory of the U.S., could resort to a bankruptcy filing as a means of alleviating its financial problems. 

A few reactions to today’s oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit regarding the validity of Puerto Rico’s Recovery Act:

Last week, the Working Group for the Fiscal and Economic Recovery of Puerto Rico gave the broadest hint yet of the next tactic in Puerto Rico’s ongoing quest to deleverage itself.  Although the details have not yet been articulated, Puerto Rico apparently proposes to blend into a single pot several types of distinct taxes currently earmarked to pay or support different types of bonds issued by a number of its legally separate municipal bond issuers, with the hope that the resulting concoction will meet the tastes of a sufficient number of its differing bond creditors to induce them to

Introduction