A Sacramento bankruptcy judge issued a hard hitting judgment against Bank of America for the way it handled a single residential foreclosure in Lincoln, California. Referring to the famous novelist whose works evoke oppressive and nightmarish characteristics, Judge Klein wrote: “Franz Kafka lives… [and] he works at Bank of America.” This ruling has been widely … Continue Reading
Last week, the California Court of Appeal ruled that a property owner was entitled to a jury trial in a dispute with a lender despite the fact that the loan agreement contained a jury waiver provision and a New York choice-of-law provision. The case involved the San Francisco apartment complex known as the Rincon Towers. … Continue Reading
This post was guest authored by Stoel Rives partner Martin Banks. A record number of bills were introduced during the 45-day Utah Legislative Session for 2016. While many of the bills dealt with education and legalizing medical marijuana, a few dealt with the foreclosure and the mortgage lending industry. The bills listed below were all … Continue Reading
In ParkWest Homes, LLC v. Barnson (Feb. 4, 2013) (ParkWest II), the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s ruling that where a property encumbered by a mechanics lien is not brought to foreclosure against an interested party within six months of the filing of the lien, the court cannot enforce the lien against that … Continue Reading
In Pioneer Construction, Inc. v. Global Investment Corp. (Dec. 21, 2011, No. B225685), Cal.App.4th [2011 WL 6382113], the Second District Court of Appeal recently affirmed a timely topic in this depressed construction market: lien claimants must protect their rights, and buyers of property out of bankruptcy must verify the validity of lingering lien claims. In … Continue Reading
Developer insolvencies are unfortunately becoming more and more common in our current economic climate and often result in partially completed projects being stopped. The consequences to contractors can be significant. A number of recent resort projects illustrate what the contractors and subs can typically expect. First, the obvious, immediate problem is nonpayment, which in turn requires the … Continue Reading
