Andrew W. Noble will present at the March 15, 2018, meeting of the California Bar Association’s Consumer Financial Services Committee on recent changes to California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR). The HBOR statutes in effect since 2012 sunset on January 1, 2018, but were immediately replaced by a parallel set of statutes that, in some key ways, alter a mortgage… Read More
View the SW Winter 2018 Newsletter Since its founding over 70 years ago, Severson & Werson has gained a reputation for providing specialized advice, legal services and expertise to financial institution clients. The services we provide run the gamut, from litigation to regulatory matters, legislative affairs and formulating and implementing national strategies for such things as defending consumer class action… Read More
The Ninth Circuit recently determined, in Pinnacle Rest. at Big Sky, LLC v. CH SP Acquisitions, LLC (In re Spanish Peaks Holdings II, LLC), 862 F.3d 1148 (9th Cir. 2017), that a sale of real property free and clear of liens and interests under Section 363(f) of the United States Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 363(f) (“Section 363(f)”), can terminate… Read More
In what should end a long-simmering legal brushfire, the Ninth Circuit held that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (“FHFA”) so-called “Federal Foreclosure Bar” preempts Nevada’s homeowners' association lien super-priority statute, thereby protecting Fannie/Freddie mortgage liens from being extinguished through foreclosure of later-recorded homeowners association liens. Berezovsky v. Moniz, et al., 869 F.3d 923 (9th Cir. 2017). Berezovsky purchased a home… Read More
On July 5, 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to Provident Savings Bank, FSB (“Provident”) in a class action suit brought against Provident by mortgage underwriters who sued for overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq. The Ninth Circuit agreed with plaintiffs that they had been misclassified by… Read More
With the recently alleged data breach of Equifax, the data security of financial institutions’ customer information is once again in the news. And once again, as with every data breach, a flurry of lawsuits has followed. The purpose of this article is to highlight one area of legal exposure with data breaches that applies only to financial institutions. Section 6285… Read More
“Resistance” is now the battle cry of the self-anointed defenders of consumer rights. But this is nothing new for the California Supreme Court, which for over 20 years has resisted the mandate in the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to enforce arbitration agreements despite their collateral effect on class actions. Beginning with Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1 (1984), and reaching… Read More
Automobile Finance Law in the Emerging Autonomous and Mobility Ecosystem, (S&W Financial Services Law White Paper) Read More
Joel L. Halverson will be presenting "Leveling the Playing Field - Contract Negotiation Strategies for Design Professionals" on Thursday, February 15, 2018. We are currently experiencing a “seller’s market” in which owners and developers are finding it to be a challenge to find good help. Construction professionals can take advantage of this economic climate to secure important contractual protections we… Read More
David A. Ericksen will present a National webinar for American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) on Thursday, February 8, 2018. In the context of design and construction, coordination is a frequently cited concept and obligation, but it's seldom reduced to a clear and strategic definition or process. In reality, coordination is a complex sequence of communication via multiple stakeholders, with… Read More
