Constitutional Law › Commercial Law & Contracts › Residential Real Estate

Court Explicates Scope of Usury Exemption For Real Estate Brokers

Artistotle didn’t think much of the idea of paying interest: (“As this is so, usury is most reasonably hated, because its gain comes from money itself and not from that for the sake of which money was invented. For...more

Court Holds That Statute Of Limitations Applies To Section 50(a)(6) Constitutional Claims

In Priester v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., homeowners sued for declaratory relief against their lender claiming that the lien on their home was void under the Texas Constitution. No. 12-40032, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 3097 (5th...more

New Floodplain Ordinance Targets Oil and Gas Operations

The County Commission in Doddridge County, West Virginia is currently considering amendments to its Floodplain Ordinance as a result of a December 17, 2012 decision by the Circuit Court of Doddridge County. (Comments to the...more

No Marriage for Mortgage Resolution Partners Yet (But Proposal Still Being Considered)

Last summer, we at Crunched Credit wrote (here, here and here) about Mortgage Resolution Partner’s (“MRP”), a San Francisco-based venture-capital firm, proposal whereby underwater performing residential mortgage loans held in...more

Standing: An Affirmative Defense To Mortgage Foreclosure

To have standing to foreclose, it must be demonstrated that the plaintiff holds the note and mortgage in question. Mazine v. M & I Bank, 67 So. 3d 1129, 1132 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011). The plaintiff must prove that it had standing...more

Appellate Notes: Week of March 18, 2013

In This Issue: - SC18921- Redding Life Care, Inc. v. Redding - SC18846- Bauer v. Bauer - SC18947- State v. Charlotte Hungerford Hospital - AC34075- Carrillo v. Goldberg - AC33764- Alarmax...more

California County Drops Consideration Of Eminent Domain Proposal

On January 24, a Joint Powers Authority established by San Bernardino County decided not to pursue a proposal under which the County would use eminent domain power to seize underwater mortgages from private trusts and provide...more

San Bernardino Not Moving Forward with Proposed Plan to Condemn Underwater Mortgages

For the better part of a year, we've been writing about the controversial proposal to use the power of eminent domain to condemn underwater mortgages, allowing homeowners to have a new loan that better reflects the underlying...more

The Condo Report: Special Edition - All about pets in condominiums

TABLE OF CONTENTS: - 1 Pet Restrictions in Condominiums - 4 Condo Pet Eviction - 5 Another Condo Pet Eviction - 6 Enforcement of Pet Rules – Something New! - 7 Nuisance Pets in Condominiums – It’s not the Dog’s...more

Ohio Supreme Court Holds Standing to Foreclose Cannot Be Established by Assignment of Note After Filing

On October 31, the Ohio Supreme Court held unanimously that a party’s standing to foreclose on a delinquent borrower is determined as of the filing of the complaint, and the party’s receipt of an assignment of a promissory...more

Section 8 Housing: Safety Net or Tangled Web? An Overview of Section 8 Tenancy Termination and Related Due Process Issues

There is no question that the federal government’s Section 8 housing assistance rent subsidy provides an invaluable safety net to impoverished, elderly, and disabled members of our community. The Department of Housing and...more

Condominium Developers Can Require Arbitration for Construction Defect Lawsuits Through Project CC&Rs

The California Supreme Court recently held that the developer of a condominium project may unilaterally impose arbitration on an owners association by recording a declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions that...more

Tenants may get paid when property is ‘taken’

Originally published in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce on September 13, 2012. What rights do tenants have in an eminent domain proceeding? It has been established law in Washington that tenants have the right...more

July 2012: Insurance Litigation Update -- Supreme Court To Address Whether Statutory Injury Creates Article III Standing

In Edwards v. First American Financial Corp., No. 10-708, the United States Supreme Court will decide an important question of Article III standing that will have broad-reaching impact on many industries, including the...more

Are Residential Real Estate Contracts Outside The Bounds of Interstate Commerce?

The Supreme Court of South Carolina just ruled that contracts for the sale of residential property are not interstate commerce, and therefore are outside the reach of the Federal Arbitration Act. Bradley v. Brentwood Homes,...more

California County Considers Using Eminent Domain to Seize Underwater Mortgages

Local authorities from San Bernardino County in California and two of its cities have recently joined together to create a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) with the purpose of seizing and restructuring certain mortgages to help...more

Eviction Of Tenant Without Cause From Low Income Housing Which is Government-Subsidized But Privately Owned Violated Tenant’s...

A court of appeal found that a tenant of a privately owned low income, government-subsidized housing was deprived of a protected property interest when the property manager evicted a tenant at the conclusion of her lease...more

Tenants Win in Supreme Court Ruling on Rent Control

In a victory for tenants, the U.S. Supreme Court has let New York City’s hallowed rent stabilization law stand, refusing to hear an appeal by the landlords of two townhouses on West 76th St. who challenged the...more

For Investors There May Be a Brighter Side to the “Robo Settlement”

Further to Phil Stein’s post on Friday, as we continue to parse through the political rhetoric, the fine print of the settlement agreement, and the hoards of misinformation promulgated by the press, we do not believe that...more

Marzulla Law Legal Report - September 2011

In This Issue: - Court Upholds Landowner's Contract-Based Mineral Rights In the Elmore/Road Rock, Inc. v. Florida Power & Light breach of contract case, Judge Robert A. Rosenberg of the Complex Litigation Unit of...more

Corboy v. Louie

Brief Amicus Curiae Of Pacific Legal Foundation, CATO Institute, et al., In Support Of Petitioners

Hawaii continues to think that it's not quite part of the United States and thus not fully subject to U.S. law. In the 2000 case of Rice v. Cayetano, the Supreme Court struck down race-based voting requirements for certain...more

Sutherland SALT Shaker- Vol. 2 No. 8 September 2011

IN THIS ISSUE: Indiana Jeopardy Assessments (and Taxpayer) Turn Out to be a Dog While the power to issue a jeopardy assessment has been referred to as part of a state’s “power of the purse, not its power of the...more

Suing MERS: Calif Case Reaches Supreme Court and States, Counties Pursue Claims for Lost Fees - But Whose Pockets Would Pay Their...

Last November, we posted about the inevitability of lawsuits being filed against MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems) although last fall discussions surrounded things like what causes of action could be pursued,...more

Sutherland Salt Shaker- Vol. 2 No. 6 June/July 2011

IN THIS ISSUE: Nexus Explosion: California Governor Signs Bill Expanding California Sales Tax Collection Requirements With all the drama and suspense of a Hollywood movie, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB X1 28...more

Stop Foreclosure Automatically Using the Power of Chapter 13

How to Automatically Save Your Home From Foreclosure When the Bank Won't Work with You or Modify Your Loan. ...more