Yesterday, the Minnesota Department of Commerce closed Prosperan Bank, headquartered in Oakdale, Minnesota, and the FDIC was named as receiver.

In a decision to be hailed by buyers of distressed debt and bankruptcy claims on the secondary loan market, on Oct. 15, 2009, the New York Court of Appeals (the “Court”), in a fact-specific ruling, held that an assignment of claim does not violate New York’s champerty statute (forbidding trading in litigation claims) if the purpose of the assignment is to collect damages by means of a lawsuit for losses on a debt instrument in which the assignee holds a pre-existing proprietary interest. Trust for the Certificate Holders of the Merrill Lynch Mortgage Investors, Inc.

Yesterday, the California Department of Financial Institutions closed United Commercial Bank, headquartered in San Francisco, California, and the FDIC was named as receiver.

Yesterday, the Missouri Division of Finance closed Gateway Bank of St. Louis, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, and the FDIC was appointed as receiver.

Yesterday afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee held Part II of its series of hearings entitled “Too Big to Fail – the Role for Bankruptcy and Antitrust Law in Financial Regulation Reform.” Yesterday’s hearing focused on proposed financia

On November 12th, the Third Circuit affirmed both bankruptcy and district court findings that, under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, federal courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction over a claim seeking rescission of a mortgage filed in an adversarial action in federal bankruptcy court after a state court entered a default foreclosure order on that mortgage. The Third Circuit held further that the entry of summary judgment against plaintiff on her Truth in Lending Act claim was proper.

This evening, the OTS closed Century Bank, FSB, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed Orion Bank, headquarte

Yesterday, Daniel K. Tarullo, a governor of the Federal Reserve System, continued his vigorous speaking schedule with a speech at the Institute of International Bankers Conference on Cross-Border Insolvency Issues in New York.

Yesterday, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, the keynote speaker at the Institute of International Bankers Cross-Border Insolvency Issues Conference in New York, stressed the need to end the “too big to fail” mentality by “eliminating the belief that the government will always support large, interconnected financial firms.” Chairman Bair noted that in order to do so, “we need an effective mechanism to close large, financial intermediaries when they get into trouble.”

Today, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida, headquartered in Fort Meyers, Florida, and the FDIC was appointed as receiver. As receiver, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Central Bank, headquartered in Stillwater, Minnesota, to assume all of the deposits of Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida.