Tagged: Detroit consent agreement

Judge William Collette of Ingham County Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit by Detroit's top lawyer, Krystal Crittendon, this morning. She was challenging the city's consent agreement with the state. The judge ruled she didn't have standing to bring the case. We've been updating this post today.

Update 5:05 p.m.

Governor Rick Snyder said he’s also happy the judge threw out a legal challenge to the consent agreement the state made with the City of Detroit. The agreement was made to avoid the appointment of an emergency manager and to prevent the city from running out of money.  

"We’ve been continuing to work forward on our projects from the state perceptive while all this has gone on because we want to make sure we’re fulfilling our part of this," said Snyder. "It was a Detroit internal issue. I hope they continue to work hard to resolve their issue so they can continue to work hard to resolve their issues so they can work better between the mayor city council and corporate counsel."

Detroit's top lawyer argued the consent agreement was null and void because the state owes Detroit money. The state treasury denies that.

3:04 p.m.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says he’s happy a “distracting” court case brought by his own city attorney was dismissed Wednesday and the city can now follow through on its consent agreement with the state.

Bing said he was “not happy with” his corporation counsel’s decision to push the legal challenge—but insists that’s all in the past now.

“We need to get on with running the city," Bing said. "The city is still in a crisis. And we can’t have all of these distractions and think we’re going to bring the city back.”

The first steps: convening the city’s nine-member financial advisory board. That’s a key provision of the consent agreement. Bing says they’ll meet for the first time Friday.

11:59 a.m.

MPRN's Rick Pluta spoke with Michael Hodge, the lawyer who argued the case on Mayor Bing's behalf. Hodge said if the case went forward, it could have forced the city into bankruptcy this week.

From Pluta's report:

“The judge understood that financially, the stabilization agreement between the city and the state was an essential agreement to go forward and to continue to address the financial issues involving the city,” said Hodge.

Detroit Corporate Counsel Krystal Crittendon argued the agreement is not valid because the state owes the city millions of dollars. The judge’s decision does not address the question. The state Treasury says Detroit is not owed any money.

10:40 a.m.

Judge William Collette of Ingham County Circuit Court dismissed the lawsuit by Detroit's top lawyer Krystal Crittendon challenging the city's consent agreement with the state of Michigan this morning.

MPRN's Rick Pluta reports Judge William Collette said it was obvious Crittendon could not go forward with her lawsuit without the support of Mayor Bing or city council. He said Crittendon did not have the authority to file the lawsuit on her own.

Collette also said Detroit's consent agreement with the state of Michigan is in place and people will just have to live with it.

Mayor Dave Bing is holding a press conference at 11:15 a.m. Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek will be there.

And Gov. Risk Snyder will meet with members of the media at noon today. Michigan Radio's Lindsey Smith will bring us reaction from Mr. Snyder

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says he’s happy a “distracting” court case brought by his own city attorney was dismissed Wednesday, and the city can now follow through on its consent agreement with the state.

Bing said he was “not happy with” his corporation counsel’s decision to push the legal challenge—but insists that’s all in the past now.

The standoff between Lansing and some Detroit city officials over a lawsuit showed little sign of fizzling out Tuesday.

But it also appears the state might be looking for ways to give the city some leeway if the contentious situation continues much longer.

The standoff began last week when Detroit’s corporation counsel, Krystal Crittendon, went to court asking for a judge’s opinion about whether the consent agreement between the city and state should be voided.

Detroit's top lawyer, Krystal Crittendon, plans to argue in court that the city's consent agreement with the state is not legal.

The Detroit News reports that Crittendon contends the state owes the city "more than $220 million in past-due state revenue sharing payments and millions of other unpaid bills." She says the city can't enter into a consent agreement with the state since the state is in default.

The state has denied they owe Detroit money, and Gov. Rick Snyder and state Treasurer Andy Dillon have said they'll withhold $80 million in revenue sharing payments to the city if the lawsuit goes forward.

Crittendon is expected to appear in Ingham County court tomorrow for an initial hearing.

Crittendon said it is her legal obligation to go forward with her lawsuit. From the Detroit News:

"Those of you who have worked with me should know that I take my legal, moral, ethical, professional and charter-mandated responsibilities very seriously," Crittendon wrote. "They are not for sale and will not be compromised."

Yesterday, Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek reported Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was unsuccessful in persuading city council to back his effort to stop Crittendon from moving forward with the lawsuit.

Today, we here more about council's reaction to the lawsuit and the state's threat of withholding money from the city.

Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh said state officials are "scaring the hell" out of Detroit by threatening to pull funding from the city. More from MLive's Jonathan Oosting:

Council President Charles Pugh today questioned reports that Detroit is poised to run out money this week and called the state "irresponsible" for threatening to withhold expected funding because of concerns over a pending lawsuit by the city's top attorney.

"They can have those concerns," Pugh told reporters this morning. "But you don't put the city at risk of not being able to pay our police officers and firefighters and scaring the hell out of citizens by saying we're going to run out of cash. That's irresponsible, and it makes me angry because we didn't have to get to this point."

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says the city will run out of money this week if a city lawyer doesn’t back off from a lawsuit challenging a consent agreement with the state.

Bing was hoping to unite City Council members behind his efforts to get that lawyer, Krystal Crittendon, to drop her legal action.

But at a contentious appearance before the Council this morning, Bing found little support.

And the mayor says that leaves the city vulnerable to going broke.

Today, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing asked the city Council to pass a resolution asking the city’s top lawyer to back off a legal challenge to Detroit’s consent agreement with the state.

State officials say that litigation compromises a complex bond transaction, and say until the legal challenge is dropped, they’ll withhold about $80-million promised in the consent agreement.

But most City Council members say lawyer Krystal Crittendon is only following the law, and they’d like a judge to rule on the consent agreement’s validity.

Council President Charles Pugh, who voted for the consent agreement, says he hopes Lansing “does the right thing.”

“And that’s not allowing the city to run out of money," said Pugh. "That would be so irresponsible, just because they don’t agree with the court action. Her opinion does not prevent the state from living up to its responsibilities.”

Mayor Bing says he doesn’t think the state is bluffing about letting the city go broke. He left the Council meeting to attend ongoing discussions with state officials.