Receivers have recently been in the Sacramento news concerning the status of the Senator Hotel, a situation where the loan was in default and the lender had a receiver appointed.. With distressed properties at record levels, an increasing number of Lenders are turning to receivership to help salvage troubled properties. The appointed receiver is an [...]
California adverse possession and prescriptive easement law has undergone some evolution in California since its rural beginnings. Now commonly claimed in urban areas, the courts had modified the available remedies.Adverse possession is the process in which someone acquires ownership of another’s land. The claimant must prove: (1) possession under claim of right or color of [...]
Lenders on commercial properties usually require a Deed of Trust that gives them an assignment of rents and profits. The idea is that, if the borrower defaults, the lender is entitled to all rents and profits which have accrued and are collected after the default. Profit is short for” profit-à-prendre”, middle French for right of [...]
A recent decision granted a judgment to a neighbor for a fire in Santa Clara County. The plaintiff owned several original documents written by Albert Einstein; the plaintiff’s father & Einstein were friends. To go through the papers, the plaintiff had brought them to his get-away trailer parked on rural land near Henry Coe State [...]
An illusory contract, or illusory promise, is one where the person making the promise has a free pass not to perform. For example, if the duty of a party to performed is subject to his own approval, without conditions, then there is no legal detriment, and no contract at all. If you promise to sell [...]
The average length of unemployment is now nine months, according to the Treasury Department, but Federal foreclosure help for the unemployed only lasts for three months. The Treasury Department was given $46 billion to spend on keeping homeowners in their houses; to date, the agency. Big Deal.Meanwhile, the Keep Your Home California program, using $2 [...]
The California Limited Liability Company (“LLC’) is often used as an entity to limit personal liability in operating a business or holding assets such as real estate. An LLC’s members do not have personal liability for the debts of the LLC, as long as they respect the separateness of the LLC entity. An LCC is [...]
The California Civil Code has an extensive pre-lawsuit set of procedures for a homeowner to follow to have their homebuilder make repairs. The builder can opt-out and provide his own pre-suit procedures; a recent court decision shows how risky that can be.First the procedures- starting at Civil Code section 910, they provide that the owner [...]
The California legislature last year passed senate bill 931, which became Code of Civil Procedure section 580e, effective January 2011. It provides that when a residential lender in the first position (i.e., the deed of trust recorded first in time) approves in writing a short sale, the lender cannot later seek payment for the unpaid [...]
A California mortgage lender does not owe fiduciary duty to a borrower; a mortgage broker does. The difference is substantial, and a loan officer in Ventura County learned the hard way. A fiduciary duty is a duty of both loyalty and good faith. Borrower Tonya contacted loan officer Anthony in response to an advertisement. She [...]