From Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider, the story of the Long Island retail developer who was comfortable in a nice $40 million loan, until the lenders began waving their tempting if predatory offers to borrow more than that.
Posts Tagged ‘banks’
April 4 roundup
- The wages of addiction: former basketball star Roy Tarpley settles his $6.5 million ADA lawsuit against NBA and Dallas Mavericks [Randy Galloway, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sports Law Blog]
- One result of litigation-fed “vaccines cause autism” scare: parents turn to dangerous quack treatments [Arthur Allen, Slate; in-depth coverage at Kathleen Seidel’s and Orac’s sites]
- Julie Hilden on First Circuit “true statements can be defamatory” ruling [FindLaw, earlier here and here]
- More coverage of conviction of Kentucky lawyers for grabbing much of fen-phen settlement [Louisville Courier-Journal, earlier]
- Judge dismisses most counts in lawsuit against Richard Laminack of Texas’s O’Quinn law firm [Texas Lawyer, earlier; FLSA overtime claims remain]
- All but three of the outstanding 9/11 airline suits due to settle for $500 million [AP/NorthJersey.com]
- One needn’t make the Community Reinvestment Act a scapegoat for unrelated credit woes to recognize it as an ill-conceived law [Bank Lawyer’s Blog]
- U.K.: Woman who plays classical music to soothe horses told she must pay for public performance license [Telegraph]
Ohio: National City Bank shareholder class settlement
Shareholders get nothing, lawyers $1.2 million, comments accepted until April 20. Writes @Popehat, “found PDF settlement notice online (they made it hard). Truly awful settlement, not even named class reps get a penny. Sole consideration is revised SEC filing. No opt-out for anyone.”
Bailouts, bonuses, and the public mood
Steve Chapman, as usual, keeps a cool head about things. And I’ve got some links at Point of Law on the remarkable House-passed proposal to slap a punitive tax on the compensation of many thousands of financial institution employees who are not even notionally to blame for the current crisis, as well as on the threats of violence to AIG employees, which are being met with complacency if not encouragement in some surprisingly respectable circles. Update: Point of Law post now considerably expanded, and with followups here and here.
Barney Frank and the healthy TARP banks
As Thom Lambert (via Larry Ribstein) makes clear, the Massachusetts Democrat either doesn’t understand the nature of the bank program, or does understand it and has chosen to demagogue the issue anyway (cross-posted from Point of Law).
Lawyer: Citibank should have protected me from advance-check scam
“I’m a capital ‘D’ Dumbass,” Houston lawyer Richard T. Howell Jr. said about the incident. His law firm is however suing on the grounds that the bank should have better explained the check-clearing process. The scam artist posed as a businessman in Japan who wanted to become a client of Howell’s firm. [Texas Lawyer, TechDirt]
Update March 2010: lawsuit still pending [KHOU h/t reader VMS]
December 16 roundup
- “The Boston Public Health Commission has just banned the sale of all tobacco products at colleges. Not high schools. Colleges.” [Saletan, Slate]
- Sometimes the case caption seems to tell a little story all by itself [Lorraine Hodges v. Mt. Zion Temple d/b/a Zero Gravity Skatepark Oakland County, Mich., 12/1/2008 08-096435 NI Chabot (Pontiac), slip-fall on snow and ice]
- Consumer complaint site Ripoff Report is magnet for lawsuits [Citizen Media Law, Eric Goldman and again]
- EEOC hearing on English-in-the-workplace issues [Clegg, NRO “Corner”]
- Wiretapper Anthony Pellicano, helpful gnome behind the scenes for many powerful Hollywood lawyers, sentenced to 15 years behind bars [CNN, Patterico]
- “Hungary’s Constitutional Court says it has annulled a law giving rights to domestic partners because it would diminish the importance of marriage”; now just watch how many folks on both sides flip their opinion of judicial activism [AP/WHEC]
- No teaser rates for you! Harvard’s Elizabeth Warren wants new law empowering federal government to order withdrawal of “too-risky” consumer credit products [Consumer Law & Policy]
- Major new study of defensive medicine, conservatively estimated to waste $1.4 billion in Massachusetts alone [KevinMD, Boston Globe; Massachusetts Medical Society]
“Extraordinary leverage over the national economy”
Did we imagine that it was not going to occur to anyone to have the government start using its big new stakes in banks and other commanding heights of the economy to, as it were, command? (David Frum, Oct. 30).
Microblog 2008-10-20
- Parents press states for autism insurance laws [AP] #
- Steve Chapman on right and wrong ways to legalize gay marriage [Reason] #
- Unsolicited “StoneZone” mailings say they’re from veteran GOP operative Roger Stone — and when you try to unsubscribe? [Greenfield] #
- “Lawyer Called ‘Poster Boy for Capital Litigation Abuse’ Appointed to New Case” [ABA Journal] #
- Before fingering credit default swaps (CDSs) as culprit in the crisis, better read this [Salmon; more, John Carney] #
- Twitter cookbook all recipes 140 chars. or less h/t VBalasubramani #
- Reminder: you can follow Twitter feeds of both Overlawyered and Point of Law #
Microblog 2008-10-17
- Hey, James Surowiecki has started blogging [New Yorker] #
- Why Canada’s bank and mortgage system isn’t broken [John Carney] #
- “Went to my ATM and it asked to borrow a twenty till the weekend”: jokes from the credit crisis [MargRev] #