Change for the common good? As in . . . A penny here . . . a penny there . . . to pay for making lenders take care of vacant property after foreclosure. In May of ’09, I asked you to watch for change at your State House, based upon a growing number… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Lender Liability
Subscribe to Lender Liability RSS FeedChilling Questions: Will Suits By RBMS Investors – Spill Over to CMBS? Encourage CMBS 2.0 Transparency??
Posted in Lender Liability, Market Trends, Tough Times for LendersI have asked these questions before – with respect to the US Government suing several home lenders: should commercial lenders be concerned? will CMBS 2.0 give investors needed loan level information? In a rough sense, the first bullet is a new form of "lender liability." On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I was in… Continue Reading
US Gov Sues Several Residential Home Loan Lenders: Should Commercial Lenders Be Concerned?
Posted in Lender Liability, Market Trends, Tough Times for LendersYou might have missed this interesting event earlier this week: the Justice Department sued Deutsch Bank and Mortgage IT alleging fraud in the origination of home loans (in a FHA\HUD loan program). If you really want to jump into the case, attached is a copy of the Government’s pleading in the case. Why my interest in… Continue Reading
Lender Liability Returns – As “Lender Responsibility”
Posted in Lender Liability, Market Trends, Tough Times for Lenders, TrainingEarly in this economic down turn, Steve Cocheo with the ABA Banking Journal reported that lender liability had returned but with a focus on the (alleged) failure of the bank to fund or follow though on its contractual obligations. In other words, a simple breach of contract or breach of a duty (such as duty of good… Continue Reading
When a Workout Morphs into Litigation: Everything is Personal
Posted in Lender Liability, Tough Times for Lenders, Training, Workout IssuesRecently, I’ve listened to this comment from several people who handle distressed commercial real estate loans at banks: “Well, we thought that we would avoid being personally named in a law suit on one of these bad loans. But no. We’re starting to be sued. And the suit names me . . . personally.” I’ve ventured over to… Continue Reading
Need a Decision Tree and Short List of Key Topics for Your Next Workout? Try these. (Blogging after ACMA)
Posted in Guaranty Issues, Insurance & Environmental Risks, Lender Liability, Remedies, Tax Issues, Tough Times for Lenders, Training, Workout IssuesThe second day of seminars, at the annual meeting of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, had two key take-aways for me. The first nugget focuses on the Dodd-Frank financial law. The second nugget (below) is much more practical. Inspired by comments made by Jim Allen during a panel presentation (he’s with the Miller Canfield… Continue Reading
The Ox and the Ditch: FAQ – Understand the Borrower; Lender Liability
Posted in FAQs, Lender Liability, Tough Times for Lenders, TrainingThis is a special series of blog entries in which we provide some quick answers to lenders’ frequently asked questions (FAQ). Two things should be kept in mind. First, none of these questions can be answered in a vacuum. Questions should be considered with a thorough review of the file and an interview with appropriate loan… Continue Reading
Lender Liability Returns: Sample Cases and Situations
Posted in Lender Liability, Tough Times for LendersIt has been a long, long time since claims of lender liability received any real attention. Indeed, Mike Baggett co-authored a book in the early ’90s on lender liability. Mike’s book was somewhat of a best seller among the tough time for lender crowd (which is tough for me to admit, since I went to… Continue Reading
Lender Liability: Lender Suing Lender – The “New” Reality?
Posted in Lender Liability, Tough Times for LendersThe Zerohedge Blog [link] reports on a NY state court filing related to the high-profile Extended Stay Motel bankruptcy case. Zerohedge focuses on the hedge fund involvement in the case. I view it as the beginning of the lender liability battles between classes of lenders. Over the past several months, we’ve been giving presentations to our clients… Continue Reading
Watch For Change at the Court House: Impossibility of Performance
Posted in Lender Liability, Market Trends, Tough Times for LendersIn a prior posting, I mentioned the need to watch for local legislative and regulatory\administrative trends or changes. But don’t forget to watch for changes at the court house, too. We’ve been watching, waiting and even researching this one: an assertion that Borrower would pay at maturity of the commercial mortgage loan, except that the credit crisis… Continue Reading
What workout topics interest you? Any inside scoop?
Posted in Guaranty Issues, Lender Liability, Remedies, Tough Times for Lenders, Training, Workout IssuesOnce a month, our regular group of authors discuss topics that we view as being of interest (the "hot" topics) in the commercial loan workout arena. We then hash out a list of what we’ll write on for the next month. Identifying "hot" workout topics can be a dangerous thing for lawyers. Yes, we – are active in… Continue Reading
Lender Liability Returns
Posted in Lender Liability, Tough Times for LendersIn difficult economic environments, judges and lawyers struggle with balancing legal rights and stressful economic conditions. Historically, lending relationships contain contractually agreed duties with minimum statutory requirements. However, the stress of the economic conditions has caused imaginative lawyers and sympathetic judges to apply tort causes of action in contractually agreed relationships – sometimes referred to… Continue Reading