Ambac Financial Group Inc. drew first blood in the Chapter 11 reorganization begun Nov. 8 by suing to block the Internal Revenue Service from taking back $700 million in tax refunds already paid.
Ambac said yesterday that the IRS, unless stopped, could scuttle the rehabilitation of Ambac Assurance Corp., the principal insurance subsidiary that was taken over by regulators in Wisconsin earlier this year.
Commercial bankruptcy filings headed upward last month, leaving experts bracing for more fallout from the struggling economy in the second half of 2011.
Bankruptcy filings in June declined for both individuals and businesses. Still, bankruptcies so far this year are 9 percent ahead of last year's monthly average, according to data compiled from court records by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records.
Pace of filings second-highest since 2005
Bankruptcy filings by individuals and business in March totaled almost 146,000, 4 percent fewer on a daily basis than in March. Filings in April still were the second most since bankruptcy law was tightened in late 2005, according to data compiled from court records by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records.
