In 2016, Gibson Dunn successfully challenged a commonwealth of Puerto Rico law in a dispute over the restructuring of more than $20 billion in debt of Puerto Rico's largest utility, PREPA.

In 2014, the commonwealth's legislature enacted the Puerto Rico Public Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act, which created a binding bankruptcy-like debt-restructuring process for Puerto Rico's public entities.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher filed suit on behalf of PREPA bondholder BlueMountain in Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust and Melba Acosta-Febo v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust. The U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico agreed with BlueMountain that the federal Bankruptcy Code pre-empted the Recovery Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously affirmed. Upon petition from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in December 2015.

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