On September 6, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a district court’s decision rejecting borrower defendants’ usury defense on grounds of waiver and collateral estoppel. The lender,...more
On September 5, 2023, a New York state court invalidated a loan agreement’s choice of law provision, ruling that the loan agreement was void and depriving the lender of both principal and interest payments. The lender, Samson...more
Every day, attorneys act as advisors to parties negotiating and drafting contracts. Among those terms often left to the lawyers are choice-of-law provisions. Which state’s law governs a dispute, in theory, should not...more
By: Jeffrey M. Haber In our last article (here), we examined a choice-of-law provision that, if applied, would violate New York public policy concerning usurious loans. In that case, Virginia law, which does not prohibit...more
In Soaring Pine Capital Real Estate & Debt Fund II, LLC v. Park Street Group Realty Services, LLC, the Michigan Supreme Court considered whether a court may enforce a usury savings clause in a mortgage agreement. A usury...more
On February 15, 2023, the California Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of a case against a lender, in which the trial court held that a forum selection clause required the claim to be brought in Arizona. The appeals...more
On March 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a district court’s denial of a borrower’s motion to dismiss lender claims. Applying the New York Court of Appeals’ guidance from certified questions,...more
Lenders often include fees in loan transactions in addition to an interest rate. Typically such fees are not considered interest, as they compensate the lender for various services or commitments provided under the loan...more
A group of small businesses and their individual owners have filed a putative class action lawsuit in a New York federal district court against online lender Kabbage, Inc. that alleges Kabbage engaged in a “rent-a-charter”...more
In Davis v. Oasis Legal Fin. Operating Co., LLC, 18-10526, 2019 WL 4051592 (11th Cir. Aug. 28, 2019), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (“Eleventh Circuit”) affirmed a decision in the U.S. District Court for...more
Over the last several weeks, two notable cases in federal court challenging certain aspects of the business model of marketplace lending companies headed down separate paths. ...more
Suppose you’ve entered into a financial arrangement that resembles a lending agreement, but it is not formally designated as such, and you think you’re paying too much....more
Entering into a loan transaction that also has an equity component, such as the issuance of shares or warrants, has previously given rise to some concern that the loan could ultimately run afoul of the 60 percent criminal...more
A careful parsing of state laws should be done if a lender is relying on a choice of law to avoid states that have criminal usury statutes. On February 27, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York...more
In the most recent development in the CFPB’s two-year-old lawsuit alleging unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices by several online lenders, on September 23, 2015, Massachusetts U.S. District Judge George O’Toole, Jr.,...more
Judge Gale's opinion last week in Western Sky in State v. Western Sky Financial, LLC, 2015 NCBC 84 has a little bit of everything in it: choice of law, the U.S. Constitution, claims for usury (excessive interest rates) and...more
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a Florida district court’s denial of Cashcall’s motion to compel arbitration, as the forum selected in the parties’ loan agreement was not available. Appellee Abraham Inetianbor initially...more
In LaBonte v. New England Development R.I., LLC et al., No 12-328, the Rhode Island Supreme Court recently clarified the state’s usury law by holding that a fee could be included in the calculation of interest even though it...more