This article covers cases from Southwestern Reporter (Third) volumes 560 through 580 and federal cases during the same period that the authors believe are noteworthy to the jurisprudence on the applicable subject. This...more
It is often the case that parties enter into a lease thinking it is a temporary use of space by the tenant, which frequently amounts to nothing more than an expense line item on the budget. However, if a lease is structured...more
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY) is seeking an injunction to prevent the City of Richmond, California from using eminent domain powers to seize and refinance more than 600 home loans with outstanding balances...more
OK, I'll admit it. A year ago I thought this whole condemnation-of-underwater-mortgages thing would die off pretty quickly. I predicted we'd never see any large-scale condemnation effort. So far, I've missed badly on the...more
On September 12, the City of Richmond caught a small reprieve with respect to its plan to condemn underwater mortgages. As reported by Reuters, the federal district court ruled that the lawsuit filed by lenders Wells Fargo,...more
Despite three major banks filing federal lawsuits against the City of Richmond last month related to its plan to condemn underwater mortgages, the City continues to press on. On Tuesday, the City voted 4-3 to continue its...more
We all knew this was coming (see my post from July 23). If you poke a sleeping giant, it's going to file a lawsuit against you in federal court. Yesterday, in response to the City of Richmond's preliminary actions to...more
It's been a while since we focused on the whole condemnation of underwater mortgages scheme but that doesn't mean the idea has died off. To the contrary, apparently at least four California cities have now signed advisory...more
Early last month, in Borough of Merchantville v. Malik & Son, LLC, 429 N.J. Super. 416 (App. Div. 2013), the New Jersey appellate court held that a condemning authority, under the State’s eminent domain law, was not required...more
Given how much publicity the proposal to condemn underwater mortgages received when it first appeared last summer, I suppose it's not surprising that San Bernardino's decision last week not to move forward has also garnered a...more
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
Originally Published in Daily Journal, January 15, 2013. As we look back on 2012, federal funds continued to make their way to local projects and shovels continued to break ground for infrastructure projects. This led to...more