This Week in FCPA-Episode 80, The Last Jedi Edition
Bill on Bankruptcy: Supreme Court Cases Will Have Wide Impact
Wayward Financial Institutions Facing Increasingly Stricter Punishment
Grassley: HSBC Should Face Criminal Charges
Real Property Update - Quiet Title: Trial court abused discretion by entering final judgment quieting title when jury did not determine (1) whether plaintiffs were entitled to legal or equitable title or (2) which deed was...more
The United States and Mexico appear poised to move past a last-minute snag over new language on Labor Department attaches to posts in Mexico. Mexico feared that the diplomats would “act as labor inspectors,” and for a day or...more
Real Property Update - Ad Valorem Taxes: in a matter of first impression, county's immunity from taxation does not extend extraterritorially to property it owns in another Florida county - Joiner v. Pinellas Cnty., Fla.,...more
Real Property Update - Restrictive Covenants: trial court erred by failing to provide injunctive relief in favor of homeowner as it related to trees planted in common area in violation of restrictive covenants - McIntosh...more
Real Property Update- Deed Restriction / MRTA: Marketable Records Title to Real Property Act extinguished association's restrictions where restrictions were more than thirty years old, predating lot owner's root of title,...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Standing: borrower's standing arguments failed because they were based on notion that note changed hands after it was delivered to World Savings Bank in 2007, when in fact the note...more
Misrepresentation/Concealment: genuine issues of material fact remained in dispute regarding whether board-certified real estate attorney committed fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation or concealment by falsely assuring...more
The Dow closed above 26k yesterday for the first time on what some are dubbing the FOMO rally or the “melt-up” market....more
The Senate Banking Committee has voted out of committee a bipartisan effort to ease Dodd-Frank regulations. The bill in question could “drastically cut” the number of banks subject to heightened Fed oversight and “would ease...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Constructive Notice: a memorandum of agreement that is recorded in the official records of the county in which the property is located and refers to an unrecorded agreement entered into by the...more
Uber’s Board of Directors has officially voted to realign the power balance at the company, reducing the clout of ousted CEO Travis Kalanick, and setting the stage for a stock sale to SoftBank. Oh yeah, and prepping for that...more
Travis is still kicking around at Uber, and he made that quite clear late last week by using his “outsize voting rights” to name two directors to the 8-member board ahead of a vote to reduce Kalanick’s voting power at the...more
There are borrowers out there who believe that the Massachusetts Obsolete Mortgage Statute, M.G.L. c. 260 sec. 33, relieves them of their repayment obligations. This statute, amended back in 2006, provides that five years...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure: final summary judgment in borrower’s favor inappropriate where borrower merely asserted that lender mistakenly filed copy of original note with court, instead of original, and where...more
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation—the company that “serves as the back end for much Wall Street trading”—has announced a big step forward in the embrace of blockchain technology to track and report transactions. IBM...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Deficiency/Subject Matter Jurisdiction: approving the 3d DCA’s opinion that an assignee of a foreclosure judgment can maintain a separate action for deficiency under Florida Statutes, Section...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Standing: foreclosing bank did not establish standing where it failed to submit evidence it was in possession of original note with blank endorsement at time of filing of foreclosure...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE: Foreclosure/Standing: where copy of note attached to foreclosure complaint contained no endorsement and original note presented at trial had endorsement in favor of plaintiff, plaintiff required to...more
Look to Miami for the latest legal troubles for the country’s biggest banks. After most have finally put to bed the remnants of Great Recession RMBS litigation, a new tack by the city is looking to hold them responsible for...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Foreclosure/Standing/Hearsay: copy of a note with undated allonge containing blank endorsement sufficient to establish standing as a matter of law, even though bank did not have formal...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - Foreclosure/Requests for Admission: trial court erred by involuntarily dismissing foreclosure action based solely on lender’s failure to respond to requests for admission because lender’s...more
Last April, we provided an update on the Florida Third District Court of Appeal’s opinion in Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas v. Beauvais. In that decision, the Third District held a dismissal without prejudice does not...more
REAL PROPERTY UPDATE - - Sovereign Immunity: DOT prohibited from using sovereign immunity defense in negligence action resulting from railroad crossing accident where DOT bound by crossing agreement, including indemnity...more
With its recently-issued opinion in Elsman v. HSBC Bank USA as Trustee for MLMI 2006-AF1, slip op. 5D14-1753, 41 Fla. L. Weekly D57b, 2015 WL 9491875 (Dec. 31, 2015), the Fifth DCA has added to a growing body of case law...more
A new decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit poses a serious threat to mortgage companies that service mortgages of chapter 13 debtors. Mortgage servicers should be aware of the case's implications and...more