The Supreme Judicial Court's ("SJC's") self-imposed limitation on applicability of Eaton v. Federal National Mortgage Association, 462 Mass. 569 (2012) should reduce to a trickle the once-steady stream of foreclosure-related claims asserting that a mortgagee must hold...
Month: August 2012
When the Hague Service Convention Fails: Service by Newspaper?
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has received permission from a federal judge to serve summonses on four former Siemens AG executives by publishing the summonses in the International Herald Tribune and...
Is It Possible To Recover Attorney’s Fees in a Business Dispute?
Your company has been wronged. A vendor failed to deliver as promised causing lost sales. A customer has failed to pay for services rendered. A construction contractor's shoddy workmanship resulted in leaks and damage in your company warehouse. The defendant will not...
Divorce Considerations for Business Owners and their Spouses
Business owners and their spouses involved in a pending divorce should consider various issues specifically related to business ownership. Here are a few of such considerations: 1. The Automatic Restraining Order under Massachusetts Supplemental Probate and Family...
Re-foreclosure as a Remedy: Bevilacqua and Eaton
Last fall, in Bevilacqua v. Rodriguez, 460 Mass. 762 (2011), the Supreme Judicial Court (the "SJC") quashed the hopes of many that a "try title" action available by statute in Massachusetts would provide a mechanism to clear the title of a post-foreclosure owner whose...
In Public Projects, Subcontractors’ Payment Bond Rights Are Not Waive-able
A recent Supreme Judicial Court decision should provide subcontractors who perform work on public projects with welcome assurance that payment bonds provide meaningful protection against non-payment. In Costa v. Brait Builders Corp., 463 Mass. 65 (2012), the SJC held...
Go-Best: An Important Massachusetts Banking Law Decision
On July 30, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC") issued an important decision in a Ponzi scheme captioned Go-Best Assets Limited v. Citizens Bank of Massachusetts, 463 Mass. 50 (2012). The case involved a now-disbarred Massachusetts attorney named Morris...
‘The Cost of Doing Business’ in Developing Economies and the FCPA
According to recent reports, lawyers for Wal-Mart have identified China, Brazil, South Africa, India, and Mexico as potential hotbeds for corruption risk. The findings come in the wake of an April New York Times story alleging that Wal-Mart and its largest foreign...
A Safe Harbor For Banks And Their Employees Who Contact Law Enforcement Authorities
In the course of performing their job duties, bank tellers and their supervisors may occasionally be asked to perform a transaction that appears to be somewhat suspicious. For example, a non-customer of the bank may arrive in the teller line and ask to cash a large...
The “Same Wrongdoer” Defense In Check Fraud Litigation
In "check fraud" litigation, bank customers often sue their banks after learning that someone has made a forged or otherwise unauthorized signature on the front of one or more of the customer's checks. It often turns out that the fraudster has perpetrated the scheme...
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