The United States bankruptcy courts are a system of federal courts authorized to hear bankruptcy cases. The courts were established in their current form by the Bankruptcy Amendment Act of 1984.
Under the act, federal district courts have original jurisdiction over bankruptcy cases in their districts and are authorized to refer such cases to a bankruptcy court for their district.
As of May 2023, there were 90 federal bankruptcy courts. The Districts of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands handle bankruptcy cases directly rather than through a bankruptcy court. The Eastern and Western districts of Arkansas share a single bankruptcy court. All other federal district courts have an associated bankruptcy court.
Judges on federal bankruptcy courts are appointed to 14-year terms by judges of the appeals court with jurisdiction over the district.[1]
• Detroit bankruptcy case (2013) Judge(s):Steven W. Rhodes
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In July 2013, Senior Judge Steven W. Rhodes was assigned to the case managing the City of Detroit's Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The city filed bankruptcy on July 18, with a debt of over $18 billion. As a result of the filing, Detroit had the power to avoid paying some debts and petitioned Judge Rhodes to approve canceling contracts, notably those with public employees.[2][3]
In early December 2013, Judge Rhodes agreed that public employee pensions should be treated like the other debt of the municipality. This allowed the City of Detroit to cut benefits to retirees as a course of bankruptcy, though Judge Rhodes said that he would not automatically approve a plan which did so.[4]
Judge Rhodes approved Detroit's bankruptcy plan on November 7, 2014, describing it as a "grand bargain." It was the largest bankruptcy case in the United States as of that date. The plan removed $7 billion of the city's estimated long-term debt.[5][6]
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