Residential Real Estate › Conflict of Laws

Florida to Government: Your Lien Doesn't Foreclose This Old Mortgage

The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that cities cannot create ordinances that subject prior recorded mortgages to their subsequently recorded county or governmental liens, because it conflicts with Florida's state statutes on...more

Divided Supreme Court Upholds Chicago Condo Association Ordinance

Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court filed its long-awaited opinion in Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore Drive Condominium Association. Although on its face, Palm relates only to the enforceability of a Chicago city ordinance on...more

Illinois Supreme Court to Decide Condominium Dispute on Thursday

The Illinois Supreme Court just announced that on Thursday morning, it will file its opinion in Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore Drive Condominium Association, a dispute over an owner’s right to compel the production of documents by...more

Sherzer v. Homestar Mortgage Services: The Third Circuit Takes Sides in a Circuit Split Over How a Borrower Exercises Rescission...

In a recent decision, the Third Circuit took sides in a split between U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal over what action borrowers must take to exercise their right to rescind a loan under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). It...more

Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Unfair Competition Claims Over Teaser Rates

On January 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a putative class action against a national bank over its adjustable rate mortgage disclosure and payment application....more

Valuation of Common Areas for Property Tax Purposes

Originally published in the September/October 2012 30th Anniversary Issue of The Journal of State Taxation. James M. Susa focuses on the tax valuation of common areas within a planned community, noting that, while most...more

Federal District Court Holds Federal Law Preempts Massachusetts’ Statutory Limits On Mortgage Insurance

On September 21, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that the Federal Homeowners Loan Act preempted a Massachusetts law that forbids lenders from requiring borrowers to purchase insurance greater...more

The Tenth Circuit holds that ability to repay is not a pleading requirement for a TILA rescission claim

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a TILA rescission claim is not subject to dismissal on an initial motion to dismiss for failure to expressly plead the ability to repay loan proceeds. The U.S....more

State Claims Related to Renewal of FEMA "Write Your Own" Floor Insurance Programs are Federally Preempted

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit last week held that any state claim related to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) “Write Your Own” (WYO) flood insurance program is preempted by federal law if it...more

Financial Services Report -- Spring 2012

In this issue Beltway Report; Bureau Report; Mortgage Report; Operations Report; Privacy Report; Plastics Report; and Preemption Report. Excerpt from Beltway Report Bend Over, Cough On January 23,...more

Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency

SCOTUS Opinion in Sackett v. EPA

Full text copy of the Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Sackett v. EPA, allowing landowners judicial review when faced with compliance orders from EPA regarding violations of the Clean Water Act....more

Got Pot? The Feds Try to Make Mortgagee Banks Liable Under the Crack House Statute

Banks holding mortgages now have one more thing to worry about: potential criminal and civil liability and forfeiture under the federal “crack-house” statute. Sound crazy? Read on, because late last year the four U.S....more

Arbitration in California Construction Defect Cases - After AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (2011) (Concepcion) has engendered considerable controversy for upholding arbitration provisions in consumer contracts...more

OCC and OTS: Policy Integration

On December 8, 2011, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a bulletin that outlines the process which the OCC intends to follow to fully integrate the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) policy guidance...more

Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Narrows Federal Preemption of Mortgage Lending Laws

Among the many changes made by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) were changes to the Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act (“AMTPA”). AMTPA, a federal law that has been in...more

Partial “Dirt-for-Debt” Plans in Chapter 11: the “Indubitable Equivalence” Debate

One consequence of the depressed real estate market has been numerous Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases wherein the debtor seeks confirmation of a “dirt-for-debt” plan. In such a plan, instead of paying the secured creditor the...more

Financial Services Report - Volume 11, No. 1 - Summer 2011

In this issue: Arbitration Report; Beltway Report; Operations Report; Mortgage Report; Privacy Report; and Preemption Report. Weird things happened this quarter that read like plot devices that couldn’t get past the...more

Financial Services Report - Volume 9, No 1. Winter 2010

In this issue: 2 Beltway Report 5 Operations Report 5 Plastic (a/k/a Card Report) 6 Mortgage Report 7 Privacy Report 10 Arbitration Report 10 Preemption Report Editor’s Note Tis the season to be thankful, and...more

From The Capital to the Courthouse

This paper analyzes the land administration policies in Ghana to determine what the impact on the real estate sector has been. Additionally, this paper will briefly analyze title insurance in the United States market and...more

Financial Services Report: Staying Ahead of the Summons - Volume 7, No 1. Summer 2010

In This Issue: 2 Beltway Report 5 Operations Report 6 Plastic (a/k/a Card Report) 7 Mortgage Report 8 Privacy Report 9 Arbitration Report 10 Preemption Report Please see full report below for more information....more

Portions of Providence Municipal Foreclosure Ordinance Overturned By Charles A. Lovell, Esq.

On May 17, 2010, Judge Lanphear of the Providence Superior Court found portions of Providence’s local foreclosure ordinance to have been preempted by state law. The court found that Providence’s attempt to bar foreclosure...more

Use of Credit-Scoring Factors in the Pricing of Homeowner's Insurance Under the FHA and the McCarran-Ferguson Act

In a putative class action, Ojo v. Farmers Group, Inc., et al., Case No. 06-55522 (9th Cir. April 9, 2010), an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided a case where the Plaintiff alleged that the use of...more

Ninth Circuit Rules That The National Bank Act Preempts California's Unfair Competition Law

On March 9, 2010, the Ninth Circuit held that the National Bank Act ("NBA") preempts claims of "unfair" and "fraudulent" conduct in violation of state law. See Martinez v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., No. 07-17277 (9th...more

Ninth Circuit Holds That Allegedly Excessive Underwriting Fees Cannot Be the Basis for a RESPA Section 8(b) Claim and the National...

On March 8, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the National Bank Act preempts unfair and fraudulent conduct claims under California's unfair competition statute and that allegedly excessive underwriting fees cannot...more

Financial Services Report: Staying Ahead of the Summons: Volume 6, No. 1. Spring 2010

In this issue: 2 Arbitration Report 2 Beltway Report 3 Preemption Report 5 Operations Report 7 Mortgage Report 8 Privacy Report Please see full newsletter below for more information....more