Sharp Thinking
Mortgage Loan Acceleration Provisions Require Strict Compliance, Court Rules
Mortgagees and their counsel had better pay close attention to the acceleration terms of their
mortgages before foreclosing as a result of a recent decision of the Appellate Court in Chicago.
Three-Year Statute Applies To Misapplied Deposits
The three-year statute of limitations of Uniform Commercial Code § 4-111 (810 ILCS 5/4-111) applies
to a lawsuit pleaded as a common-law breach-of-contract case if the claim is related to banking transactionsinvolving negotiable instruments, a panel of the Appellate Court in Chicago has reiterated.
Successor Agents Do Not Owe Fiduciary Duties To Principal Until They Take Office
The Appellate Court recently confronted a novel issue over whether a successor agent under apower of attorney owes a fiduciary duty to the principal before he becomes the attorney-in-fact.
Read MoreAppeals Court Reins In CFPB
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dealt a significant blow to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) last month in a 101-page opinion that overturned the bureau’s enforcement action against PHH, a New Jersey mortgage lender,
Read MoreFormer Defendants May Be Respondents In Discovery
Nothing prevents an amended complaint from naming as respondents in discovery persons who had been named as defendants in the original complaint, according to a 2-1 decision of a panel of the Illinois Appellate Court in Chicago.
Read MoreExcess Litigation Results in Holding Fee Award Non-Dischargeable in Bankruptcy
The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that attorney fees ordered to be paid by one spouse to the other spouse’s attorney in a domestic proceeding, as a result of that party’s unreasonable approach to litigation, are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Read MoreCourts Split On Whether Guarantors Are “Applicants” Under Credit Opportunity Act
Rejecting a contrary Federal Reserve Board regulation and cases thereunder, the Eighth Circuit U.S.
Court of Appeals has held that it does not violate the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. § 1691 et seq.)
(ECOA) for a lender to require wives to guarantee debts of their husbands’ businesses.
Intent To Benefit Certain Creditors Sufficient For Fraud
The common intent to benefit friendly creditors by not listing them in one’s bankruptcy papers is sufficient intent to support denial of a bankruptcy discharge, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.
Read MoreRule 277(f) Provides Affirmative Defense In Citation Cases
The Illinois Appellate Court has upheld a trial court’s decision allowing a defendant to use the termination language of Supreme Court Rule 277(f) as an affirmative defense against a judgment creditor in supplementary proceedings.
Read More“In Rem” Deficiency Judgments: Risky Nonsense?
It’s a curious practice: Foreclosure plaintiffs file a complaint seeking a personal deficiency judgment against the mortgagor, but provide in the order confirming sale that the deficiency judgment is “in rem”. In rem, of course, means that the judgment is against the thing – the property which, by the terms of the order of confirmation, is transferred to the purchaser at the foreclosure sale (or its assignee).
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