Business Law

Summary: The Fifth Circuit has held that a key condition precedent to a debt buyer’s obligation to perform had not been satisfied, due to the seller’s breach of its representations and warranties; further, the buyer did not have to show that it was materially prejudiced by the seller’s breach. [Conn Credit I, L.P., vs. TF Loanco III, L.L.C., 2018 Westlaw 4292022 (5th Cir.).] Read more

Summary: A California appellate court has held that an award of attorney’s fees in favor of the prevailing defendants against a plaintiff borrower had to be added to the loan balance and should not have been entered as a separate award of damages. [Chacker vs. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 2018 Westlaw 4474732 (Cal. App.).] Read more

This e-bulletin brings to your attention a Notice published on December 28, 2018 by the Office of the Attorney General, Department of Justice. The following is the description of the proposed amendments to sections of the Regulations and changes to the related forms. Read more

Summary: A district court in Hawai’i has held that the payment of a judgment in favor of an unsecured creditor was preferential because neither the filing of a lis pendens nor the creation of a consensual escrow had created a perfected lien in favor of the creditor. [In re Price, 2018 Westlaw 3213603 (D. Hawai’i.).] Read more

The Nonprofit Organizations Committee is excited to announce its presentation of "Background and Rationale for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking." Read more

Plaintiffs seeking nominal statutory damages under the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act may demand a jury trial. Patient Robert Brown owed a debt to his dentist. The dentist referred the debt to a collection agency owned by Stewart Mortenson, which allegedly transmitted confidential medical information to several consumer credit reporting agencies. Brown sued Mortenson for violating the 2013 version of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) (Civ. Code, §§ 56 et seq.). The trial court denied Brown’s request for a jury trial on his CMIA claims for nominal statutory damages and attorney fees. Read more

It is at this time of the year that businesses and their attorneys are interested in California’s so-called 15-Day Rule and how it might apply to them. Under California Law (R&TC Sections 17936, 17946, 17948.2 and 23114) there is conditional relief available to business entities (limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations) from the general requirement to pay the $800 annual/minimum tax. Read more

Summary: A district court in Illinois has held that although the interest rate in a commercial note was tied to the original lender’s internal index, an assignee of that note acquired the failed lender’s power to set the index. [Knezovic vs. Urban Partnership Bank, 2018 Westlaw 3022680 (N.D. Ill.).] Read more

Summary: A district court in New Jersey has held that the transfer of title to real property to a tax sale certificate holder constituted an avoidable preferential transfer, and the Supreme Court's holding in BFP was distinguishable because it dealt with fraudulent transfers, rather than preferences. [In re Hackler, 2018 Westlaw 1440326 (D. N.J.).] Read more

On December 21, 2018, the Court of Appeal of California, Sixth Appellate District, affirmed in Drulias v. 1st Century Bancshares, Inc., 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 1202, a trial court ruling that a forum-selection bylaw adopted by a Delaware corporation headquartered in California without stockholder approval was enforceable in California. Read more