Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 146: Listen and Learn -- Mortgages and Priority
A recent opinion out of the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal makes clear that the failure of a lender or its successor in interest to introduce and authenticate original promissory notes at trial may result in the...more
Obligations reduced to a promissory note are often accompanied by a written guaranty. The law treats the guaranty as an independent obligation. A case recently decided by California’s First District Court of Appeal —...more
The scenario is fairly common. A bank makes a loan to a business. The owners of the business guarantee the loan. The business defaults. The owners blame each other for the failure of the business. When the bank demands...more
On August 24, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rendered its decision in Marc S. Kirschner v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., et al. At issue in the case was whether promissory notes issued in connection with...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of October 31, 2022 – November 4, 2022....more
A sometimes-overlooked factor in unjust enrichment claims is that the claimant must directly confer a benefit on the defendant—not indirectly, not effectively, not practically, but directly. The Florida Supreme Court made...more
Statute of Repose- Wilson v. Durrani, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-6827 In this appeal, the Supreme Court of Ohio reversed the lower court’s decision, determining that the plaintiffs’ claims were time-barred because Ohio’s...more
On November 9, 2020, the California Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division 3) decided Semprini vs Wedbush Securities, Inc., holding that a certified class of employees paid on a commission-only basis did not...more
A recently issued opinion by the Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District tells a cautionary tale regarding a lender’s failure to name a junior lienholder in its initial judicial foreclosure action. In Cathleen Robin v....more
The Supreme Court of Texas held that a limited partner had standing to sue for alleged loss in the value of its interest in the partnership, but reversed a damages award in favor of that limited partner for insufficient...more
Shareholder Derivative Lawsuit Aungst v. Light, 9th Dist. Summit No. 29349, 2020-Ohio-3347 In this appeal, the Ninth Appellate District affirmed the trial court’s decision, finding that when a shareholder’s derivative...more
A recent decision from the Maryland Court of Appeals provided somewhat surprising new guidance on the permissibility of confessed judgment clauses in consumer contracts. In Goshen Run Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Cisneros,...more
Alabama’s materialman’s lien statute (specifically, Ala. Code § 35-11-211) was drafted with the intent of providing construction lenders priority over materialmen as to debts relating to construction projects. This intent was...more
Late last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held in Regions Bank v. Legal Outsource PA, No. 17-11736, 2019 WL 4051703 (11th Cir. Aug 28, 2019), that a loan guarantor does not qualify as an “applicant”...more
In an opinion issued recently, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal joined other Florida appellate courts in holding that the five-year statute of limitations to bring an action to enforce a promissory note and/or...more
Does an arbitration clause in a one but not the other of two contracts executed by the same parties at the same time apply to a dispute regarding the contract that does not contain the arbitration clause? The Eleventh Circuit...more
On October 31, 2018, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal recently distinguished two of its prior opinions and held that a foreclosure plaintiff does not lose its standing as a holder of a negotiable instrument if it...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini examined further developments in a case involving a former UBS investment advisor’s attempt to prevent the company from collecting on promissory notes the advisor owed to UBS upon...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini analyzed a case in which a former investment advisor at UBS sought to prevent the company from collecting on promissory notes the advisor owed to UBS upon his departure. After the...more
Lenders routinely accelerate notes after a default occurs, calling the entire loan due immediately. Less regularly, a lender may change its mind and unilaterally revoke the acceleration. Rarely, however, does a lender fail to...more
Appellate Court Advance Release Opinions: AC39520 - Stratek Plastics, Ltd. v. Ibar - Remember the case that held you could not recover your attorney fees in a mechanic lien foreclosure as the plaintiff unless there had...more
Arizona’s trustee’s sale statutory scheme provides for the waiver of all defenses and objections to a trustee’s sale that: (i) are not raised prior to the sale, and (ii) do not result in an injunction against the sale going...more
Sometimes, the law is just weird. The case of PGA West Residential Ass’n, Inc. v. Hulven Int’l, Inc., Cal. Ct. App. Case No. E064270 (Aug. 9, 2017) is weirder than most. The lawsuit alleged that the defendant had tried to...more
What law governs a deficiency action if the choice-of-law provisions in the note and deed of trust conflict? The Arizona Court of Appeals answered that very question in ZB, N.A. v. Hoeller, No. 1 CA-CV 16-0071 (Ct. App. April...more
Last year the Wisconsin Court of Appeals threw businesses a curveball when it held that a contractual waiver of the right to a jury trial was unenforceable. The holding of the case, Parsons v. Associated Banc-Corp., 2016...more