A federal court was asked yesterday to suspend seven pending appeals over Detroit's eligibility for bankruptcy until the city concludes a confirmation process for its plan to adjust $18 billion of debt, Reuters reported yesterday. Attorneys for the city, Michigan, Detroit pension funds, unions and others that filed five of the appeals said that moving forward with the cases now would "significantly undermine" settlements and mediation and could delay the city's exit from the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. But they also declined to dismiss their cases at this point. "Holding the appeals in abeyance also ensures that this court will not unnecessarily decide important state and federal constitutional issues," the attorneys said in a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. They added that the federal appeals court would retain jurisdiction after the plan confirmation process to review a December ruling by Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes that found Detroit was broke and eligible for chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy.
