In this article we address a significant change in Portuguese legislation: Decree-Law no. 48/2024 of 25 July, which brought a new dynamic to the prevalence of the right of retention over the mortgage. This topic is crucial to understanding the implications for the current legal framework, especially in cases of insolvency and company rescue.

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.