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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - One woman's ankle injury has become the Achilles' heel of Reeds Spring.
In 1998, a woman slipped on the sidewalk along Missouri 13, the main drag through the Ozarks town of 465 residents. She tore two ligaments in her ankle, sued the city and won $100,000.
It's time to pay up - but Reeds Spring doesn't have the money. So city leaders filed for bankruptcy protection.
"This is a small town," said the mayor, Dan Lade. "Our budget and everything is pretty tight. You get someone forcing you into a lawsuit, you just don't have the money."
Revenues last year were $205,000 - $30,000 less than expenditures. Faced with the injury award, plus about $25,000 in outstanding legal fees, the city last week took the rare step of seeking protection under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code.
The city must file a series of financial...