A state court in Detroit will participate in the city’s record, $18 billion municipal bankruptcy, saying that it reserved its right to adjudicate “noncore” matters related to the federal case, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Attorney John Gregg filed paperwork in bankruptcy court on behalf of Michigan’s 36th District Court asking for copies of all pleadings filed in the case. Such requests are normally only filed by creditors and other private parties that believe they are affected by a bankruptcy case. The state court handles small-claims lawsuits involving amounts less than $25,000, traffic cases and misdemeanor criminal cases. “The submission and filing of this notice and demand constitutes a ‘special appearance,’” Gregg wrote in the filing. The filing isn’t “a consent to, or a waiver of, the right to challenge jurisdiction of this Court to adjudicate noncore matters, which right the 36th District Court for the State of Michigan expressly reserves without prejudice.”
