Financial Services

A trial court cannot deny an unlawful detainer defendant the right to respond to an unlawful detainer complaint by answer or demurrer at the defendant's election. Read More

Later filed state court proceedings warrant Younger v. Harris abstention only when the district court proceedings are at an "embryonic stage." State statute requiring in-state incorporation to obtain license to conduct interstate business violates the dormant Commerce Clause, but First Amendment is not infringed by statutes requiring a disclosure that the existing lender did not sponsor or authorize third-party ads… Read More

When a party to a joint account dies, the surviving accountholder takes the account proceeds in preference to the deceased party’s estate unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the decedent had a different intent. Read More

A defendant in an unlawful detainer action has the right to a jury trial if there is a factual dispute over habitability of the premises. Read More

The Home Owners Loan Act does not preempt a state law breach of contract claim that the bank miscalculated adjusted interest rates on loans, since common law breach of contract claims impose no requirements other than those the bank voluntarily assumed in its own agreements.   Read More

The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”) preempts a Nevada law that limited deficiency judgments on foreclosure to the amount by which the price the owner paid to acquire the loan exceeded the foreclosure sale price.   Read More

If a tenant’s leasehold interest is foreclosed upon, the purchaser at the foreclosure sale succeeds, as assignee, to the tenant's right to occupy the premises and to all covenants of the lease that run with the land, but not to the lease contract itself absent express assumption.   Read More

Any Telephone Consumer Protection Act claim necessarily involves an invasion of privacy, so such a claim fell within the invasion of privacy exclusion to the insured's directors & officers insurance policy.   Read More

A state court complaint’s misstatements of the amount owed and interest rate in a complaint a law firm filed to collect a consumer credit card debt were material and a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.   Read More

Plaintiff who sued under the Fair Credit Reporting Act alleged a sufficiently concrete injury to ensure his Article III standing in case against information aggregation service who posted incorrect information about his age, marital status, wealth, education level, and profession.   Read More

Coverage under a standard California lender’s policy of title insurance terminates once the property is sold, without warranty, at a foreclosure sale.   Read More

A suit to cancel a deed of trust defendant gave his wholly-owned corporation to avoid paying his debts was barred by the California Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act’s a 7-year statute of repose on fraudulent transfer claims.   Read More

An advertiser bears vicarious liability for a telemarketer’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations, if the telemarketer was an agent rather than an independent contractor Read More

A loan servicer owes a borrower no duty of care in handling his home loan modification application; also, unless the borrower documents a change in financial circumstances, dual tracking prohibitions do not apply to second/subsequent loan modification requests, even if the lender accepts, processes, and reviews the later loan applications.   Read More

Lender's alleged failure to (1) provide reinstatement amounts in response to a defaulted borrower's request or (2) respond to plaintiff's claimed tender of arrearages under the deed of trust, were protected activity under the Anti-SLAPP statute, but only because they occurred in the context of the borrower’s bankruptcy proceeding.   Read More

A void default judgment, obtained without proper service on the defendant, cannot be the foundation of a valid claim of title to property, so the secured lender against whom the default judgment was entered prevails over a bona fide purchaser from the plaintiff.   Read More

Normally, a payment is not “made” until the creditor receives it; however, if the creditor directs payment by mail, the payment is “made” when deposited in the mail.   Read More

Given the clear chain of title leading to deed of trust and one defendant’s status as its trustee, foreclosing defendants were justified in their good faith belief in their right to foreclose; so recording of foreclosure-related documents was privileged activity, and no viable cause of action could arise therefrom.  Read More

Senior citizen who held controlling interest in corporate borrower could not state elder abuse claim against lender that foreclosed on borrower; the senior citizen suffered only derivative harm; any damage claim belonged solely to the corporate borrower.  Read More

A borrower lacks standing to challenge foreclosure based on late assignment of the loan to a securitized trust as breach of the trust agreement renders the assignment voidable, not void, the borrower is not a third party beneficiary of that agreement, and the defects do not harm the borrower who would be foreclosed anyway.  Read More