Case Updates

FIC ebulletin prepared by Mike Slattery, Tom Kelch and Barry Glaser, Bankruptcy Practice Group at Lamb & Kawakami LLP On February 19, a new bankruptcy law became effective. The new law makes it easier for borrowers to change the terms of secured loans. Keep reading. The end of this article summarizes those changes. It’s ironic, but it costs a lot of money for a business to go through a Chapter 11 reorganization. There is a lot of paperwork and court… Read more

A rundown of recent Family Law cases. Read more

The Supreme Court of Kentucky, relying on provisions in the Kentucky version of the Uniform Commercial Code, ruled that a promissory note was a “negotiable instrument” even though it referenced the possibility of another agreement when defining indebtedness and default. Read more

In a case of first impression, the Texas Supreme Court upheld the right of parties to contract for conditions precedent to preclude the unintentional formation of a partnership without an explicit waiver of the conditions. Read more

A District Court vacated and remanded a Bankruptcy Court order authorizing the assumption and assignment of a lease between Sears and Mall of America, because the District Court found that the Bankruptcy Court had improperly allowed a provision in the lease to override the statutory mandate of Bankruptcy Code section 365(b)(3)(A) requiring similar financial condition. Read more

The following is an update regarding two decisions issued February 27, 2020 by the California Supreme Court involving hearsay testimony and expert witnesses. Read more

A California bankruptcy court has held that a state court judgment previously entered against the Chapter 7 debtor, for secretly selling real property in which creditor had an unrecorded beneficial interest and diverting sales proceeds to her own use, is preclusive in creditor’s adversary proceeding to determine his debt nondischargeable. Read more

In a case of first impression, the Texas Supreme Court upheld the right of parties to contract for conditions precedent to preclude the unintentional formation of a partnership without an explicit waiver of the conditions. Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. v. Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., 2020 WL 622763 (Tex. 1/31/20). Read more

On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). As an emergency act, the CARES Act takes immediate effect. Read more

The Supreme Court of Connecticut, addressing a matter of first impression, held that a record of an assignee of a lender regarding payment history was admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule despite the fact the assignee’s record began with a starting balance it obtained from the lender rather than a full debit/credit calculation from the inception of the note. In an equally significant matter of first impression, the court also ruled that the lender’s assignment of the promissory note also operated as assignment of a limited guarantee which was secured by residential property, giving the assignee standing to foreclose on the residential mortgage. Jenzack Partners, LLC v. Stoneridge Associates, LLC, 334 Conn. 374, 2020 WL 246428 (Conn. 2020). Read more