Detroit began filing lawsuits this week against dozens of vendors with the aim of recovering about $50 million in city payments made in the months before its historic bankruptcy filing, Reuters reported yesterday. Chuck Raimi, Detroit's deputy corporation counsel, said that 185 lawsuits are being filed in bankruptcy court against vendors that received "preferential" city payments on past-due bills during a 90-day period before Detroit's July 2013 bankruptcy filing. The city exited the biggest-ever U.S. municipal bankruptcy in December 2014, shedding about $7 billion of its $18 billion of debt and other obligations. Raimi said that the money is recoverable under the Code because the pre-bankruptcy payments to vendors resulted in higher recoveries than those obtained by other similarly situated creditors during the bankruptcy. He added that the city hopes to settle the cases, which were filed ahead of a Dec. 5 deadline imposed by the Code.
