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Subprime Mortgages and D&O Coverage: Will Insurers Pay and for What?
Part One of a Two-Part Article
The specter of a subprime mortgage crisis has gone from a background murmur in the recently quieted real estate boom to attain official 'meltdown' status in the media, and the reverberations are being felt in all corners of the corporate and financial world. Recently, the city of Cleveland, OH, brought an action against 21 banks and other financial institutions, alleging that predatory lending practices related to subprime mortgages have led to more than 14,000 foreclosures in the city in the last two years, resulting in pandemic urban blight. See Christopher Maag, Cleveland Sues 21 Lenders over Subprime Mortgages, N.Y. Times, Jan. 12, 2008, available at www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/us/12cleveland.html?_r=1&emc=eta1&oref=slogin. The Cleveland action was actually brought under public nuisance laws, and it names as defendants the financial institutions that securitized and sold the loans in the financial markets. Id.
In 2007, four Norwegian towns near the arctic circle were plunged into financial gloom when their substantial investments in mortgage-backed securities created by Citigroup lost more than half of their value as a result of the troubles in the United States mortgage and housing markets. See Julia Werdigier, Subprime Woes Hit Norwegian Brokerage, N.Y. Times, Nov. 29, 2007, available at www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/business/worldbusiness/29bank.html?emc=eta1. Indeed, the crisis in the housing and mortgage markets is not confined to obscure villages and downtrodden cities. See Michael Jackson Late on Family's House Payments, cnn.com (Feb. 29, 2008), at www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/29/michael.jackson.ap/.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions
UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?