In a bankruptcy hearing yesterday in which both San Bernardino, Calif., and its main creditor accused the other of misrepresenting important facts, the judge overseeing the case pushed back against CalPERS on several points, the San Bernardino Sun reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury said that she continued to think much of the information the California Public Employees' Retirement System was asking the city to produce was irrelevant to her upcoming decision on whether the city qualifies for bankruptcy protection. Judge Jury said that she hadn't made up her mind on the issue, but she wanted a specific list of information the CalPERS thinks would help it show the city didn't have a desire to effect a plan to adjust its debts or hadn't filed for bankruptcy in good faith. In a tentative ruling, Judge Jury said she viewed those requirements—the basis of CalPERS' argument that San Bernardino isn't eligible for bankruptcy protection—as unrelated to what individual officials may have thought because the city as a body has declared that it does have that desire and did act in good faith.
