- Landlord/Tenant: lessor did not breach commercial lease by failing to complete construction by date certain where lease did not provide date by which property was to be ready for occupation – 326-330 St. Armands Circle, LLC v. GEE22, LLC, No. 2D12-2395 (Fla.
The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida recently issued an important decision for administrative creditors in chapter 11 cases and chapter 7 cases alike. In In re National Litho, LLC, 2013 WL 2303786 (Bankr. S.D. Fla.
- Receiver: court’s inherent equitable power to appoint receiver over non-profit condominium association not limited to categories set forth in Florida Statutes – Granada Lakes Villas Condo. Ass’n, Inc. v Metro-Dade Invs. Co., No. SC11-2590 (Fla. Oct.
Fall-out from the subprime and Alt-A mortgage crisis continued recently with court approval of a multi-million dollar settlement of a lawsuit filed against former top officers of what had been one of the country’s leading subprime lenders before its bankruptcy in January 2008.
- FCCPA: lender may offset judgment for violations of FCCPA against amounts owing on pre-petition bankruptcy claim - In re Claudia Acosta-Garriga, No. 8:12-cv-00731-SDM (M.D. Fla.
- Foreclosure: an attorney may file a nonresident cost bond on behalf of a client without violating the prohibition against an attorney's acting as a surety for his client – US Bank, N.A. v. Boyer, No. 2D12-3942 (Fla.
Chapter 11 filings in the Southern District of Florida continue to trend downward. Since 2010, annual chapter 11 filings have declined by about 25%.
Crews v. TD Bank, N.A. (In re Crews), 477 B.R. 835 (Bankr. M.D.Fla. 2012) –
A mortgaged building was destroyed by fire prior to the mortgagor’s bankruptcy filing. In an earlier opinion the bankruptcy court held in that the mortgagee had an equitable lien on the fire insurance proceeds of $350,000. This opinion addresses the debtors’ attempt to avoid the equitable lien using their “strong arm” powers.
Despite having more than its fair share of failed banks, Florida has not been a hotbed of D&O litigation. On November 9th, the FDIC filed only its second lawsuit against former directors of a failed banking institution. The defendants here are former directors of Century Bank, FSB (Sarasota, FL), which was placed into receivership in mid-November 2009. A copy of the FDIC’s complaint is available here.
A decision issued earlier this year by a Florida bankruptcy court1 provides comfort to those who accept payment from a debtor-in-possession in return for goods or services. The court held that to invoke the jurisdiction of a bankruptcy court in a lawsuit to recover an alleged impermissible post-petition transfer by a debtor, the plaintiff must establish that the debtor's estate was diminished as a result of the transfer to the defendant.