Posts Tagged ‘mortgages’

Wall Street protests roundup

With some help from Cato colleagues:

As bailouts go, Fannie/Freddie’s is on track to cost more than TARP [Mark Calabria; related, Arnold Kling] “Engineering the Financial Crisis: Systemic Risk and the Failure of Regulation” [Cato forum this past Thursday]
Just like Valley Forge out there in the snow? Are you sure? [Ann Althouse]
Student loans have become more burdensome, especially given inability to discharge in bankruptcy. Who if anyone deserves blame? [Kenneth Anderson, Kling, Mystal/Above the Law] President’s proposed student loan revamp “won’t cost taxpayers” (and if you believe that one…) [Neal McCluskey]
NY police union rep: we’ll sue protesters if they hurt us [USA Today]
No new graphic ideas since, what, 1893? New Yorker envisions top-hatted capitalists in whiskers [David Boaz] Some demographics behind income inequality [Mark Perry, more, yet more, Will Wilkinson (PDF), Reihan Salam, Political Calculations]
Unions rally some protesters to intimidate businesspeople at their homes; nothing new about that except the label [CNN, Business Insider, earlier]

Filed under: colleges and universities, mortgages, NYC, police unions, Wall Street

September 9 roundup

Not a parody: economics professor sets off debate on “ugly rights” with suggestion of making unattractiveness of appearance a protected discrimination-law category [Daniel Hamermesh/NYT, PoL, Eric Crampton, Jon Hyman] Apparently Niall Ferguson needn’t worry [Telegraph]
Feds sue banks and more than 130 executives, demanding billions over their role in the mortgage crisis; new “tobacco/asbestos” predicted [Biz Insider, more, yet more] Takes some cheek to cast Fannie and Freddie as victims [John Berlau, CEI]
Also on mortgages: Rahm Emanuel’s unsound new “lender must cut the grass” ordinance [Funnell] California AG sues lawyers, telemarketers over class action loan modification scheme; lawyer fires back with civil rights suit [AP, ABA Journal] New York chief judge wants state to fund more lawyers to resist enforcement of mortgages [PoL]
Related to last, on Civil Gideon’s “‘impossible dream’ of giving every civil litigant a lawyer” [Benjamin Barton & Stephanos Bibos, SSRN via Instapundit]
Fallen tree damage from all these storms? Think twice before taking your neighbor to court [Ilya Somin]
Stories you read here first: wider coverage for EEOC suit against trucking company for not letting alcoholic drive [Fox, earlier]
Illinois advocates plan push for punitive civil suits against johns, strip club owners, sex-ad websites [NYT]

Filed under: banks, civil gideon, discrimination law, mortgages, strippers and exotic dancers, trees

“Foreclosure relief” and its temptations

The St. Petersburg Times explores the ethical issues raised by the practice of a Florida lawyer who “flies his six-seat Piper Malibu around Florida championing the cause of the little guy. His target: the big, bad banks.” The plan: charging upfront fees of up to $5,000, plus a contingency, for the privilege of enrolling in “mass joinder” suits demanding foreclosure relief.

Filed under: ethics, Florida, mortgages

July 18 roundup

Per New Jersey court, overly sedentary home office job can result in valid worker’s comp claim [Courier-Post, NJLRA]
Trial bar’s AAJ denies it played “direct” role in backing “Hot Coffee” [WaPo, some background]
“Cop repeatedly harasses waitresses, never disciplined. Feds defend their civil rights by . . . suing the restaurant.” [Palm Beach Post via Radley Balko]
On “unauthorized practice of law” as protective moat around profession’s interests, Britain does things differently [Gillian Hadfield via Andrew Sullivan; related, Larry Ribstein] Forthcoming book by Robert Crandall et al urges lawyer deregulation [Brookings]
“The Treaty Clause Doesn’t Give Congress Unlimited Power” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato on Golan v. Holder case headed to Supreme Court]
The small bank regulatory shakedown blues [Kevin Funnell] Why is the Department of Justice including gag orders as part of its enforcement decrees against banks on race and lending? [Investors Business Daily via PoL] “Emigrant fights back against mortgage-discrimination suits” [Fisher, Forbes] Dodd-Frank squeezing out community banks [Funnell]
“North Carolina to Seize Speeding Cars That Fail to Pull Over” [The Newspaper] “With what, a tractor beam?” [James Taranto]

Filed under: AAJ, banks, constitutional law, harassment law, hot coffee, international law, mortgages, New Jersey, North Carolina, traffic laws, workers' compensation

Great moments in housing finance law

“Wells Fargo & Co. decided to exit reverse mortgages after federal officials insisted it foreclose on elderly customers who were behind on property tax and insurance payments, a Wells executive wrote in an email to business contacts Friday.” [American Banker]

Filed under: mortgages

July 8 roundup

New movie “InJustice: A Film About Greed and Corruption in America’s Lawsuit Industry” premieres on Reelz Channel July 11 [film website; Bryan Quigley, U.S. Chamber]
“Failure to Warn Suit Filed Against Tanning Salon” [AboutLawsuits via TortsProf; melanoma, Pennsylvania]
NYC: “Politically Tied Lawyers Win Jobs Handling Foreclosures in the City” [NYT]
Beldar tells a war story about the nature of de novo review, in the Prop 8 context;
“Viacom’s Sumner Redstone: The Mogul Named ‘Sue!'” [Johnnie L. Roberts, The Wrap]
Chairman of Dallas Fed salutes litigation reform’s role in Texas economic strength [CJAC; Rick Wartzman, L.A. Times]
“Righthaven cheerleader wanted by irony police” [Kurt Opsahl, EFF, Citizen Media Law] “Righthaven pressing for right to seize defendants’ websites, computers” [Vegas Inc. via @PogoWasRight]

Filed under: mortgages, movies film and videos, NYC, RightHaven, Texas, tort reform

June 20 roundup

Politics edition:

Mother ship? White House staffers depart for Harvard Law School [Politico]
New York: “Lawmakers consider lawyer-friendly med-mal bills,” even as many key legislators moonlight at personal injury firms [Reuters]
David Brooks on explosive political potential of Fannie Mae scandal [NYTimes] After Kentucky bar panel’s vote to disbar Chesley, Ohio AG pulls him off Fannie Mae suit [Adler, Frank, Beth Musgrave/Lexington Herald-Leader]
Alabama legislature removes Jim Crow language from state constitution — but black lawmakers oppose the idea [Constitutional Daily]
AAJ lobbyist Andy Cochran works GOP turf, has convinced trial lawyers to sponsor Christian radio program [Mokhiber, “Seventh Amendment Advocate“]
Centers for Disease Control funnels grants to allies for political advocacy on favored public-health causes [Jeff Stier, Daily Caller]
Must have mistaken her for a jury: “John Edwards Sought Millions From Heiress” [ABC News] “One thing [worse than Edwards’s] conduct is the government’s effort to put him in jail for it.” [Steve Chapman]

Filed under: Alabama, Barack Obama, Harvard, John Edwards, litigation lobby, mortgages, New York, politics, public health, wrong right

Update: Foreclosing his options

California authorities have revoked the license to practice of attorney Michael T. Pines, who advised clients to break into their foreclosed homes [Funnell, earlier]

Filed under: California, discipline, mortgages

April 26 roundup

Study of how class action lawyers interact with their named clients [Stephen Meili via Trask]
California releases numbers on how bounty-hunting lawyers did in 2010 under Prop 65 environmental-warning law [Cal Biz Lit]
According to the tale, lender errors in foreclosure gave Florida borrower home free and clear. Actual story may be more complicated than that [Funnell]
The very long discovery arm of the Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, courts [Drug & Device Law, more]
UK law firm “could face big bill” after sending thousands of file-sharing demand letters [ABA Journal]
Goodbye to men’s track at U. of Delaware, and the women’s team is suffering too, as often happens with Title IX [Saving Sports]
OSHA’s proposed “illness and injury prevention program” (I2P2) termed a “Super Rule” with potentially widespread economic impact [Kirsanow, NRO]

Filed under: class actions, discovery, forum shopping, mortgages, OSHA, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Prop 65, RIAA and file sharing, Title IX

Mortgage lenders’ paperwork offenses

Some Florida judges are punishing improperly handled foreclosures by giving homes to borrowers free and clear [Palm Beach Post]

Filed under: Florida, mortgages