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| Detroit bankruptcy petition must be withdrawn, judge rules | Detroit bankruptcy petition must be withdrawn, judge rules |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A judge in the US state of Michigan has ordered the withdrawal of a federal bankruptcy petition filed for the city of Detroit on Thursday. | A judge in the US state of Michigan has ordered the withdrawal of a federal bankruptcy petition filed for the city of Detroit on Thursday. |
| Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said the petition violated Michigan law and the state constitution. | |
| Earlier, Governor Rick Snyder said the move towards bankruptcy would reverse decades of decay. | Earlier, Governor Rick Snyder said the move towards bankruptcy would reverse decades of decay. |
| Detroit, the birthplace of the US car industry, has racked up debts of $18bn (£12bn) over several decades. | Detroit, the birthplace of the US car industry, has racked up debts of $18bn (£12bn) over several decades. |
| Public services are nearing collapse and about 70,000 properties lie abandoned. | |
| Bankruptcy would allow Detroit's state-appointed emergency manager, Kevin Orr, to liquidate the city's assets to satisfy creditors and pensioners. | |
| About $9bn of Detroit's debt is owed to the pension funds and retiree healthcare benefits of the city's 10,000 workers and 20,000 retirees. | |
| Mr Orr proposed a deal in June in which creditors would accept 10 cents for every dollar they were owed. Two pension funds representing retired city workers are resisting the plan, and - with tens of thousands of creditors - Detroit is already facing a number of lawsuits. | |
| As the city went ahead to file for bankruptcy, Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina filed orders relating to three of those lawsuits. | |
| She said the Michigan constitution prohibits actions that will lessen the pension benefits of public employees, the Detroit Free Press reports. | |
| "I have some very serious concerns because there was this rush to bankruptcy court that didn't have to occur and shouldn't have occurred," Judge Aquiline is quoted as saying. | |
| "Plaintiffs shouldn't have been blindsided" and "this process shouldn't have been ignored". | |
| The Detroit Free Press reports that the state's Attorney General Bill Schuette will appeal against Judge Aquilina's rulings and seek emergency consideration by the Michigan Court of Appeals. |