Excerpt:

Officials in the the Oakland City Attorney's office can take a break from their battle with bankrupt megabank Lehman Brothers now that a judge in southern California has delayed hearings on Lehman's Chapter 11 restructuring plans for twenty stalled real-estate ventures.

The plans, containing language that would prohibit Oakland from enforcing its most basic constitutionally mandated police powers at the 167-acre former Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, were scheduled to go before Santa Ana-based judge Erithe A. Smith of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on November 5. But in an unexpected move, Smith on October 29 stayed the hearing and ordered Lehman and developer SunCal — its former land-use partner — into mediation.