YES! On January 12, 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals breathed new life into the California Credit Reporting Agencies Act when it rendered its decision in Gorman v. Wolpoff & Abramson, LLP, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 585 (9th Cir. Cal. Jan. 12, 2009). Previously, various courts had ruled California Civil Code 1785.25(a) was preempted [...]
January 2009
Chapter 13 bankrupcy reform (explained by Kansas bankruptcy attorney Jill Michaux) will go to the House as a stand alone proposal, being separated from the stimulus bill that our government wants to give us next week. This reform would allow bankruptcy courts to change the terms of mortgages on homes, so that the homeowner could [...]
Barak Obama won the presidency because Republicans showed a lack of economic leadership. However, in his first days in office, President Obama is pushing a retread of the previous administration’s economic policy – the economic stimulus package. Is this Obama’s idea of change? Let’s take a bad idea that didn’t work and do it again. [...]
The provision of the AOL service agreement limiting lawsuits against the internet provider to the state courts of Virginia is invalid in California according to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. California has a strong interest in the availability of class actions and other consumer remedies to its citizens, the court held, and refused to [...]
In In re Johnson, 2008 WL 5265740 (Bky.S.D.Cal. Dec. 8, 2008), a California bankruptcy court ruled that a debtor with a $6,060 monthly mortgage payment was not to be denied a bankruptcy discharge based solely upon the size of the mortgage payment. The court turned aside a challenge under section 707(b) which claimed that the [...]
Mortgage companies took turns with their announcements of billions of dollars allocated to mortgage modification to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. No need for Congress to get involved, we will help people in these hard times. Well, #1 mortgage orignator Countrywide now says those statements were “mere commercial puffery” and “only Countrywide’s vague advertisements.” That is [...]
