Jefferson County

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Bennett this week said bankrupt Jefferson County, Alabama, does not have to immediately face a lawsuit over its decision to close the emergency room of its money-losing hospital for the poor. Judge Bennett held that the city of Birmingham cannot proceed with a lawsuit seeking to keep the emergency room open after Dec. 1, the day the county plans to end in-patient care at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital. Last August, the judge had said he was inclined to halt the case. At that Aug. 30th hearing, he told lawyers for the city that, “What I’m looking at is really an action to try to control the operations’’ of the county, which isn’t allowed under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In a hearing this week, Judge Bennett confirmed his decision.  The battle over the hospital is the first time the county’s health-care responsibilities have been part of its bankruptcy case. The county has focused on cutting bond debt tied to the county’s sewer system and replacing a wage tax that brought in more than $60 million a year before it was voided by a state court.