Adversity and Justice

Kevin Ball's Adversity and Justice is a fascinating case study of bankruptcy in America through the perfect lens of the Eastern District of Michigan. Ball deftly traces the important, colorful, and sometimes tragic people and cases that make this book a must-read for anyone who toils in or cares about the history, economics, or politics of success and failure.

~Keith M. Lunden

[. . .] a feel-good conclusion for a story of failures and successes [. . .]

~Laura B. Bartell

Adversity and Justice historically visits the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan from the nascent Bankruptcy Act of 1898, when referees were mere legal assistants to the district court, to the time when the bankruptcy judges became independent and efficiently handled one of the largest and most demanding case dockets in the country. Professor Ball delves into the dark days of the cases assignment scandal, the subsequent redemption of the court, and the success of the largest chapter 9 municipal reorganization in history. This carefully researched and well-written book is not to be missed.

~James D. Gregg

Ball deserves credit for writing a comprehensive and balanced history of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, one that should be on the shelves of lawyers—bankruptcy attorneys or otherwise—who love history, particularly the history of a significant eastern Michigan institution whose story has not previously been told.

~John R. Runyan

Professor Ball has penetrated the complexity and mystery of bankruptcy to produce an outstandingly readable history of the development and practice of bankruptcy law in the United States and in the courts of the Eastern District of Michigan. This seminal history will be valuable to scholars and the general public alike, especially the exhaustive treatment of the recent landmark bankruptcy of the city of Detroit.

~David G. Chardavoyne, Author of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan: People, Law, and Politics (Wayne State University Press, 2012)

Kevin Ball's painstaking historical analysis of what might seem like a sleepy historical backwater of the judiciary is actually a remarkably engrossing tale of the development of the bankruptcy system in this country. Resurrecting forgotten heroes — and scoundrels — is as illuminating as it is interesting.

~John Pottow, John Philip Dawson Collegiate Professor of Law at University of Michigan Law School