The Chapter 11 proceedings of bond insurer FGIC has raised an age-old specter of US bankruptcy events—namely the high legal fees inevitably charged by lawyers involved in such cases and who is responsible for monitoring those fees.

The insurer listed $11.5 million in assets and $391.5 million in debt in its Chapter 11 filings last fall. Since then, the company has been moving forward through the Chapter 11 process.

Ambac Financial Group's bankruptcy filing on Monday is a stark reminder of the ills of the financial meltdown.

The municipal bond insurer was doing just fine in what seemed to be a boring, mundane business, until it decided to branch out and insure the risky mortgages that played a major role in brining on the worst recession since the Great Depression.