When Is a Settlement Binding?
May 27, 2008
On April 5, 2007, the Court of Appeals voided a decade-old court-ordered stipulation that had settled a contested litigation over a rent-stabilized apartment. The landlord in <i>Riverside Syndicate Inc. v. Munroe, et al.</i> 10 N.Y.3d 18, was allowed to renege on a settlement on the theory that the stipulation violated public policy and unlawfully waived the tenant's rights. The ramifications of this ruling are extraordinary. A party to a court ordered settlement can reap the benefits for as long as is opportune (the court ruled that there is no applicable statute of limitations).
Mixed-Use Communities: The Residential Tenant's Perspective
May 27, 2008
Before committing to membership in a mixed-use community, potential tenants should carefully review the terms contained in the community's declaration of protective covenants, conditions, restrictions, and easements. This article enumerates significant considerations that should be examined when reviewing the declarations.
Attorney-Client Privilege
May 27, 2008
This article examines two issues that can arise when a company and its former officer or director are adverse to each other and one seeks access to potentially privileged documents of the other.
Going It Alone
May 27, 2008
U.S. antitrust enforcement, once the impetus for numerous foreign blocking statutes, now epitomizes the type of global cooperation necessary for effective law enforcement. But the past six years offer potent counterexamples that highlight the dangers of unilateralism and disrespect for foreign sovereignty ' some relatively minor, others far more consequential.
Lawyers and Money Laundering
May 27, 2008
While the duty of lawyers representing financial institutions in the U.S. is almost solely toward their clients, in the EU, lawyers have affirmative obligations to report suspected money-laundering activity to government authorities. In other words, lawyers may be involuntarily conscripted as enforcement agents or 'gatekeepers' at the institutions they represent. American lawyers in the European offices of U.S.-based 'international' law firms are not exempt.
On the Move
May 27, 2008
Who's going where; who's doing what.
Bankruptcy Filings in Calendar Year 2007
May 27, 2008
The vast majority of petitions filed during 2007 were non-business cases; in fact 96.7% of all cases filed in 2007 were non-business. In calendar year 2007, there were 822,590 non-business cases filed, a 38% increase from the 597,965 non-business bankruptcy filings in 2006. By contrast, in 2005, non-business filings totaled 2,039,214.Here's the breakdown.
Rediscovering Chapter 9 As Financial Woes of Municipalities Escalate
May 27, 2008
Last month, the authors discussed the fact that even though Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code has been in effect for over 30 years, fewer than 100 Chapter 9 cases have been filed during that time. Municipal bankruptcy cases ' or, more accurately, proceedings involving the adjustment of a municipality's debts ' are a rarity, compared with reorganization cases under Chapter 11. This, however, may be changing. The authors now continue that discussion.
