We conclude our three-part blog series with a look at the affordable housing crisis. It is an omnipresent challenge facing many communities across the United States. From small towns like Kerrville, Texas, to bustling cities...more
Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) to treat certain basket contracts as listed transactions. Basket contracts were previously identified as transactions of...more
In Mancuso v. MDG USA Inc., the Third Circuit Court of Appeals considered defendant MDG’s appeal of an order denying its motion to compel arbitration of the plaintiff’s lawsuit alleging violations of state and federal fair...more
In a rare application of Section 1234A, the Tax Court has held that extending the settlement dates of a set of variable prepaid forward contracts (“VPFCs”) was an exchange for a second set of VPFCs that terminated the...more
Recently, 93 members of Congress (all Democrats) signed a letter in support of the pending Petition for Rulemaking filed by consumer advocacy groups in September that would prohibit pre-dispute consumer arbitration clauses...more
Recently, Professor Sovern replied to our blog post that commented on the letter that he and 160 other law academicians submitted to the CFPB in support of the pending Petition for Rulemaking that would prohibit pre-dispute...more
As we reported, the CFPB just released its Fall 2023 rulemaking agenda as part of the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions....more
We previously reported and released a podcast episode on comments that we and Professor David Sherwyn of Cornell University submitted in opposition to the Petition for Rulemaking filed by a number of consumer advocacy groups...more
On October 24, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Wisconsin Department of Justice announced a settlement with Wisconsin auto dealer group Rhinelander Auto Center, Inc. (Rhinelander), its current and former owners, and...more
Currently, California trial court proceedings are automatically stayed when a party appeals an order denying a motion to compel arbitration. However, on October 10, 2023, Governor Newsom signed California Senate Bill No. 365...more
Regulators Hit Jackpot: Off-Channel Communications - Several years before announcing the first “off-channel” communications enforcement action, the SEC and FINRA cautioned broker-dealers and investment advisers about...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision in Coinbase Inc. v. Bielski requires that district court litigation in any matter remain in the starting gate while any appeal from a denial of a motion to compel arbitration in...more
On September 21, 2023, the Commission issued separate orders on show cause proceedings finding that the existing tariffs of the California Independent System Operator Corporation (“CAISO”), ISO New England Inc. (“ISO-NE”),...more
The doctrine of sovereign immunity is a foundational element of the interplay between a governmental investor’s contractual obligation to satisfy capital calls and a fund’s or lender’s ability to enforce that obligation...more
Professor Jeff Sovern, who recently joined the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law faculty, has recently blogged about a forthcoming Study by academicians at other institutions that will be published in...more
Last week, Professor Jeff Sovern of St. John’s University School of Law published a blog post discussing a new empirical study by Roseanna Sommers, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, dealing...more
Our response to Professor Sovern’s article about arbitration opt-outs and so-called “dark patterns” prompted a reply in which he poses two “challenges”: (1) “prove that opt outs benefit consumers by telling us how many...more
On May 31, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) requested public comment on a petition for rulemaking it received from six national consumer advocate groups regarding “yo-yo sales,” a term the groups use to refer to...more
Make-whole clauses (also known as prepayment premiums, call premiums or call protection) are provisions in financing transactions that require the borrower to make a specified payment to the lender if a loan is prepaid before...more
For the past decade, Professor Jeff Sovern has criticized companies for including opt out provisions in their consumer arbitration clauses, even though such provisions give consumers freedom of choice by allowing them to...more
Here is the latest regarding the former Silicon Valley Bank of Santa Clara, California (“SVB”) and Signature Bank of New York, NY (“SB”) as of Monday, March 13, 2023 according to the FDIC and other regulators. We expect to...more
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, or CorpFin, has released an updated financial reporting manual (FRM). In keeping with prior convention, updates as of Dec. 31, 2022, are marked with a “Last updated: 12/31/2022”...more
On August 15, 2022, the California governor signed SB 633 into law, expanding the obligations of creditors obtaining the signatures of more than one person on a consumer credit contract, including a motor vehicle lease, who...more
The California Court of Appeal recently ruled that California law treats default interest measured against the unpaid principal balance of a loan as an unenforceable penalty. In Honchariw v. FJM Private Mortgage Fund, LLC...more
On August 15, 2022, the California governor signed SB 633, which expands the obligation of creditors to provide a cosigner notice when obtaining more than one person’s signature on a consumer credit contract. For purposes of...more