BlackRock Inc.’s request with other bondholders for a court order to block a plan by Richmond, Calif., to take over underwater mortgages through eminent domain is “not ripe,” a federal judge said while declining for now to issue an injunction against the city, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said during a hearing yesterday that the bank trustees for the bondholders could renew their request for an injunction if Richmond’s city council votes to begin seizing the loans. While lawyers for the trustees argued that such a vote is just “ministerial” and the city is “committed” to implement the plan, Judge Breyer said that courts shouldn’t “jump in” before other steps are completed to allow seizure of the loans.
