"Mismarking": Developments in Valuation Fraud
October 01, 2019
As the DOJ expands its mismarking inquiries beyond stocks and bonds and into areas like private equity, recent cases illuminate the increasing need for robust internal controls designed to eliminate the incentives for an employee or manager to overvalue assets.
What Is Your Dashboard Report Telling You? Chances Are, Not Much.
October 01, 2019
Firms are struggling to capture compelling business intelligence about themselves. Until recently, most operated with a cadre of legacy operating systems, financial platforms and reporting technologies from different manufacturers that have no mechanism for connecting with each other. The disparate nature of these technologies has exacerbated the struggle to leverage data and display results in a reporting mechanism that helps direct the firm's decision-making.
A Tenant's Perspective on SNDAs: Non-Disturbance Is Not Enough
October 01, 2019
Part Two of a Two-Part Article
Part One of this article outlined the basic elements of a subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreement (SNDA), which regulates two competing interests in the same property — tenant's right to possess its premises pursuant to its lease and mortgage lender's security interest in that same premises. Part Two explains the differences between the concepts of "non-disturbance" and "recognition," while contending that lease recognition is more important to the tenant than not having its possession disturbed.
Marriott Moves to Dismiss Data Breach Lawsuit, Says Passport Numbers Useless to Hackers
October 01, 2019
In Its Motion To Dismiss, Marriott Insisted the Breach Caused No Harm to Its Guests and Attached a Declaration By a Former Government Official Who Wrote: "A U.S. Passport Is Virtually Impossible to Forge Successfully."
Marriott is insisting that last year's cyberattack did no harm to its hotel guests, not least of which because hackers cannot use stolen passport numbers.
8th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Lawsuit Attacking Approved Bankruptcy Sale
October 01, 2019
Sales of substantially all of a debtor's assets are commonplace in corporate Chapter 11 bankruptcies. The sale is supervised and approved by the Bankruptcy Court. Purchasers desire to know that if the sale is consummated, they will be protected from subsequent attacks on the sale and the sale process and presumably more bidders will participate, resulting in greater returns for the estates and creditors. Issues surrounding the finality of a bankruptcy sale were recently reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Producing Breakthroughs in Client Development
October 01, 2019
It is easy to understand why many lawyers feel that only certain special individuals are blessed with the qualities necessary to be rainmakers. But almost anyone willing to develop the qualities necessary can become a rainmaker.
Something to Remember: The Flexibility of Chapter 11 in Retail Situations
October 01, 2019
In the face of increasing pressure from online retailers, and declining foot-traffic in malls and other brick-and-mortar locations, distressed retailers like Things Remembered need to act expeditiously to execute going-concern transactions if they are going to survive the market disruption.
In the Courts
October 01, 2019
New Developments In Och-Ziff FCPA Settlement As Brooklyn Judge Grants Victim Status to Former Investors In Restitution Claim over Lost African Mining Venture
Legal Tech: New Cases Provide Insights on the FRCP 37(e) 'Reasonable Steps to Preserve' Requirement
October 01, 2019
The Franklin and Culhane Cases Demonstrate the Importance of Both Implementing and Then Following Corporate Litigation Readiness Measures for Purposes of FRCP 37(E)
An evaluation of FRCP 37(e) necessarily entails examining key motion practice flash points that have arisen since the implementation of the rule. One of the most significant of these flash points is what constitutes "reasonable steps to preserve" relevant ESI.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
October 01, 2019
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.
