Wall Street is taking America’s biggest pension fund to court this week, for a long-awaited battle over who takes the losses when a city goes bust — workers and retirees, municipal bondholders, or both.
California is being closely watched as battles in San Bernardino and Stockton look to reshape how pensions are treated in municipal bankruptcies. Bondholders may be emboldened by Rhode Island’s successful attempt to prioritize bondholders over other creditors, thus placing risk more squarely on cities, their employees and retirees, and taxpayers throughout the state.
Read: Court to Decide on Pensions in Stockton, Calif., Bankruptcy – NYTimes.com.