The Oregon Legislature approved Senate Bill 1552 on March 5, 2012, which will require mortgage lenders to meet new requirements to effectuate a non-judicial foreclosure, including mandatory mediation. Additionally, it will end…more
Receiverships have become increasingly popular tools for developing and implementing cost-effective and expeditious workout strategies for troubled loans. Washington’s Receivership Act, one of the best in the country, can be an…more
Community banks face new hurdles each day. One big new skyscraper of a hurdle, the Dodd Frank Act, has over 3,900 pages of proposed and final rules which, laid end-to-end, would stand nearly three times the height of the Empire…more
Property that is subject to being acquired by eminent domain is often encumbered by one or more loans. Lenders are required to be joined as parties in condemnation actions under Washington law. The lender has the right to obtain…more
Directors and officers are the most likely FDIC targets for recovery claims since, in many cases, they are covered by “D&O” insurance. Typically, the FDIC asserts claims for gross negligence, negligence and breach of fiduciary…more
The past three years have been challenging for commercial lenders, particularly small community banks. Massive losses, occasioned by the collapse of the real estate markets for both commercial and residential properties, have…more
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire has signed into law a series of changes to the state Receivership Act that will make it easier (and possibly cheaper) for creditors to utilize the Receivership Act as a tool to resolve…more
Some question the future of community banks, but their local role remains important
Community banks in the Pacific Northwest have spent the past two years working through daunting challenges, from extraordinary regulatory…more
On November 4, the Washington Supreme Court issued a decision holding that federal banking privacy rules will apply to prevent release of documents otherwise disclosable under the Washington Public Records Act ("PRA"). In…more
Less than a week after President Obama signed Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the U.S. Securities and Exhange Commission began soliciting comments from the public on one of the bill's more controversial topics: Whether…more
A new Washington Supreme Court case will affect companies with arbitration agreements. It's time to review your arbitration agreements. A narrowly divided Washington State Supreme Court has held that an arbitration panel cannot…more
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