Features

'Trial of the Century' Takes on Hell or High Water
<b><i>Will a Rising Tide of Managed Solutions Transactions Sink the Most Venerated of Leasing Provisions?</i></b><p>There is change afoot in the equipment leasing marketplace, and it portends a potentially seismic shift in the perception, usefulness and utility of the well-tested HOHW clause.
Features

How 2018 Tax Changes Will Affect Companies Focused on Truck Acquisition
Corporations with private fleets in the U.S., as well as for-hire carriers, have begun ordering faster than before. As the economy continues to strengthen, this trend will continue to grow and so will the need to replace aging equipment.
Features

Surviving the Retail Shift
<b><i>Looking Ahead: Lessons Learned.</i></b><p><i><b>Part Five of a Five-Part Series.</i></b><p>As Mark Twain quipped, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." So too is the reported retail "apocalypse" and "death" of the shopping center. In fact, U.S. retailers opened 1,326 more locations in 2017 than they closed. When restaurants are added to the mix, there were a total of 4,080 new openings in 2017 and another 5,050 openings planned this year.
Features

Recognizing the Signs of Financial Distress
Diagnosing financial distress, and the ability to address the relevant issues, is a necessary role of board members and senior executives.
Features

Shipping Insolvencies and Texas Businesses
Texas businesses and their attorneys should be aware of legal and practical issues that may arise in the event of a shipping insolvency. Two particularly murky areas that have been illuminated by recent case law are maritime liens and reclamation rights.
Features

FATCA Revamp
<b><i>Will Your Company Be Prepared?</b></i><p>FATCA is an effort by the United States to curb tax evasion and incentivize Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) to report the overseas assets of U.S. persons. The U.S. encourages compliance by imposing a 30% withholding penalty on all U.S. source income and sale proceeds of non-compliant foreign financial institutions.
Features

The Consequences of Imperfect Foreclosure Affirmations
Where the borrower's default is not in dispute, the First Department appears to have recognized that there is little reason to delay the inevitable foreclosure. Discussion of a case in point.
Features

Substantive Non-Consolidation Opinion Letters: Advice for Bankruptcy Counsel
Substantive non-consolidation opinion letters have long been a regular "check-the-box" item in large commercial real estate transactions. While substantive consolidation jurisprudence has not changed materially over the past decade, these opinion letters should not be treated lightly by borrowers or their counsel.
Features

Defenses of Impossibility of Performance and Frustration of Purpose
Parties in complex commercial cases that are accused of defaulting on or breaching a contract may invoke the defense of impossibility, arguing that performance of contractual obligations was rendered impossible by an intervening event. But under New York law, those arguments rarely make it past the motion stage.
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