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On Friday, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed Horizon Bank, headquartered in Bradenton, Florida, and appointed the FDIC as receiver for the bank. As receiver, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Bank of the Ozarks, headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, to assume all of the deposits of Horizon Bank.

On Tuesday, the FDIC held the first in a series of proposed roundtable discussions on the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which is intended to bring transparency to the rulemaking process. Government officials, industry executives, academics and investors were invited to participate in the discussion.

On July 26, 2010, the Indiana Court of Appeals, in the published decision of Green Tree Servicing, LLC., v. Brian D. Brough, No. 88A01-0911-CV-550, addressed the issue raised by Appellant Green Tree as to whether the trial court erred by vacating its prior Order directing the parties to arbitrate their dispute, which involved a prior bankruptcy filing and a claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

On Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Community National Bank at Bartow [http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/release/2010-101.htm], headquartered in Bartow, Florida, and Independent National Bank, headquartered in Ocala, Florida, and appointed the FDIC as receiver.

On Friday, the California Department of Financial Institutions closedButte Community Bank, headquartered in Chico, California, and Pacific State Bank, headquartered in Stockton, California, and appointed the FDIC as receiver for the two banks.

Chapter 7 Trustees can and sometimes do successfully avoid creditor’s perfected liens. Typically, the avoidance opportunity arises because the lien was not perfected on a timely basis. The Bankruptcy Code provides that the avoided liens may be “preserved” for the benefit of the bankruptcy estate; this prevents a windfall to a junior lienor who would become the first lienholder courtesy of the Trustee’s success.

Yesterday, a federal judge preliminary approved a $125 million cash settlement for former shareholders of New Century Financial Corp. (“New Century”). New Century was the second largest subprime mortgage originator before it filed for bankruptcy in April 2007. In February 2008, Michael J.