Sharp Thinking

Applicants for the bar exam routinely are taught to distinguish between the creation of a security interest and its perfection, and that the resolution of competing claims will depend upon when perfection occurs.

Client waivers of concurrent conflicts of interest are ineffective if a lawyer cannot reasonably believe that he will be able to provide competent and diligent representation to each affected client, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held.

“A bargain to refrain from disclosing to a third person, to whom a duty of disclosure exists, information of value or interest to him is illegal.”

In newly-enacted legislation that went into effect January 1, 2018, additional protections were added for individuals who purchase their home on an installment sales contract.

First Mortgage Co. v. Dina, 2014 IL App (2d) 130567, holding that the issuance of a home mortgage by an entity that is not registered under the Residential Mortgage License Act (205 ILCS 635) voids the mortgage (see generally Sharp Thinking No. 116 (June 2014)), has been overturned.

The absence of significant common ownership between the alleged predecessor and successor dooms a creditor’s attempt to hold the latter responsible for the debts of the former under the “mere continuation doctrine,” a panel of the Appellate Court in Chicago has held.

Financial institutions subject to citations to discover assets had best not enter into loan agreements
with entities affiliated with the judgment debtor until the citation proceedings have been resolved

The Appellate Court in Chicago last month issued an opinion that sets the stage for widespread
condoning of supplementary proceeding respondents’ ignoring of supplementary proceedings papers.

Believing that “frivolous motions or appeals are more likely to be found in the mortgageforeclosure context” than in other areas of the law, a panel in the Appellate Court’s Third District has
issued a call that “it is incumbent upon the courts, both trial and appellate, to impose sanctions for . . .
frivolous conduct designed to help defendants remain in their home, with little regard for the law.”

No circumstances ever justify an attorney filing a bankruptcy petition, including its related schedules and statement of financial affairs, “without first obtaining a debtor’s actual signature on the documents,” a bankruptcy judge from the Central District of Illinois recently held