America’s fascination with zombies infiltrated the West Virginia Legislature during the 2014 Regular Session, resulting in the introduction of a “zombie debt” bill, House Bill 4360. The bill, as introduced, was designed to thwart all debt collection efforts after a debt’s statute of limitations has passed ...
Despite the highly publicized announcement that enforcement of the “Pay-or-Play” mandate (which requires businesses to provide health insurance to all full-time employees or face yearly penalties of up to $3,000 per employee) has been delayed until 2015, important considerations remain for businesses and consumers about how they will ultimately be affected by the Affordable Care Act ...
Good news! The murkiness surrounding declarant rights in North Carolina became a little clearer this summer. On July 7, 2014, Governor McCrory signed an amendment to the Planned Community Act addressing the transfer of declarant rights. This article only addresses lender’s rights or liability surrounding declarant rights if that lender were in acquiring ownership of that collateral in the context of foreclosure or “deed in lieu ...
It is undeniable that technology and globalization are changing the way lawyers practice law. Technology has not just made people, places, and things much more accessible to us – it has impacted the way we store information and documents, the way we communicate with and advise clients, how we conduct investigations, and how we participate in discovery ...
Late yesterday afternoon, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) published on its website what it characterizes as a “rough draft” of its forthcoming emergency[1] rule (the “Draft Rule”), which is 79 pages in length. This Draft Rule comes nine days after the agency’s release of an Interpretive Rule implementing, in part, the new Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), a summary of which is available here ...
On February 3, 2015, House Bill 2574 (“HB 2574”) was introduced in the West Virginia Legislature. HB 2574 proposes to remedy the unintended consequences to businesses created by the passage of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”) during the 2014 regular session of the Legislature immediately following the contamination of the Elk River from Freedom Industries, Inc ...
By the time you are reading this, the October 1 deadline to register all aboveground storage tanks (“ASTs”) in West Virginia has passed, and the world is still turning. If you have not yet registered your ASTs, it is still a good idea to register any tanks that qualify as ASTs as soon as you can. However, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) is proceeding with implementation of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, W. Va ...
A debtor files for bankruptcy protection, and his or her creditors are sent notice of the filing. Despite having received the notice, due to a breakdown in internal procedures one of the creditors, a bank, accidentally takes action to collect on the debt after the filing of the bankruptcy case – thus violating the automatic stay. Since the violation was unintentional, surely the bank cannot be sanctioned, right? Wrong ...
by Eric E. Kinder President Bush signed the ADA Amendments Act into law. The ADAAA significantly increases the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as it has been interpreted by federal courts by overturning several United States Supreme Court decisions regarding the Act. According to the Congressional Committees that oversaw the passage of the ADAAA, these amendments will restore the original Congressional intent behind the ADA ...
In a dramatic reversal, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) today ruled that employers may not restrict employees from using the employer’s email to communicate with fellow employees about union matters, or other matters protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”). In doing so, the Board ruled that a 2007 decision that allowed such a restriction was “clearly incorrect ...
Originally published in the West Virginia Law Review ...
At the time of this interview, Adam O'Daniel was the Finance Editor at the Charlotte Business Journal. Mr. O'Daniel served in this role for more than four years affording him a front row seat in the country’s second largest financial city to cover banking, finance, small business, and economic development. We asked Adam about his thoughts on the state of community banks now, and in the future. His responses were honest and quite intuitive ...
Q: What do you think sets a community bank apart from other banks? A: I think you know you’re in a community bank when you walk through the door. The people working in a community bank greet you with a smile and say hello. That’s because the people working there have usually been there for a while. They are your friends, your neighbors and your family ...
Larry Mazza is Chief Executive Officer of MVB Financial Corp., the parent of West Virginia-based MVB Bank, Inc. Mr. Mazza also serves on the MVB Financial Corp. Board of Directors. He is a recognized name in West Virginia banking with over 25 years of experience in both large banks and community banks. Mr. Mazza is a member of the West Virginia Board of Banking and Financial Institutions, part of the State’s banking regulatory and oversight agency ...
We interviewed Lyn Hayth, President and CEO of the Bank of Botetourt, for Community Banking Excellence this issue. Lyn has been a banker for more than 30 years. His bank, with about $312 million in assets and $248 million in loans, operates primarily in the Virginia counties of Botetourt, Roanoke, Franklin and Rockbridge ...
Timothy R. Moore, Member, Spilman Thomas & Battle interviews Robert T. Braswell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Carolina Bank Q: What is the most personally rewarding part of being a community banker? A: Being a banker for 40 years, working for both larger regional and national banks as well as Carolina Bank for the last 18+ years, I find the community bank gives an individual more recognition for the value of their contribution ...
In today’s economy, banks all too commonly find themselves foreclosing on real property collateral. As a result, banks are regularly in the position of having to determine the starting bid in foreclosure proceedings. This determination can be complicated by North Carolina General Statute § 45-21 ...
Unfortunately, as we all know, foreclosures are necessary. But foreclosures, by their nature, involve a certain degree of unpleasantness and challenges. A particularly thorny set of challenges arises when the foreclosure involves income producing property, especially residential rental property. The Problem. Imagine this all too familiar real world scenario: as security for a loan, the borrower grants the bank a deed of trust lien against the borrower’s apartment building ...
The morning news reports flashes a report that your customer was actually a Ponzi scheme and defrauded numerous people. Of course, this is terrible news for the innocent victims, but, you ask yourself, could my bank be somehow liable…why would anyone want to sue us… we did not defraud anyone, did we? To paraphrase the infamous bank robber Willie Sutton on why they would sue your bank: “Ms. Plaintiff’s Lawyer, why do you sue banks?.. ...
As consumer bankruptcy filings remain an all-too-common occurrence, many lenders continue to find themselves in the often murky world of bankruptcy. As a result, on top of ensuring adherence to the numerous confusing regulations applicable to commercial loan transactions, lenders must navigate the federal bankruptcy laws. This article sheds some light on one bankruptcy process lenders are often faced with: reaffirmation agreements ...
Many community bankers have looked surprised at the “internationalization” of our banking rules. Standards coming out of the Basel Committee, particularly the Basel III Capital Rules, do not seem to fit community banks. The Basel Committee focuses primarily on the European banking system, which is dominated by very large banks. The rules have seemed to be a bad match for the U.S. economy, in which small community banks play such a large role ...
Dispute is heating up over IRS’s attempts to get personal information about users of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Last November, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. It sought the court’s permission to serve a “John Doe” summons on Coinbase, Inc., a virtual currency exchanger in San Francisco ...
The 2017 South African Budget Review, published on 22 February 2017, contained several statements (summarised below) that may be of interest to pension funds, their investment managers and administrators. Tax Preservation of benefits after reaching normal retirement dates: In 2014, amendments were made to the Income Tax Act, 1962 to allow individuals to elect to retire ...
We are pleased to inform you that Ellen McGinnis and Erin England have co-authored a chapter in a book recently published in connection with the Fund Finance Association’s 2017 Global Fund Finance Symposium. Their chapter in the Global Legal Insights publication is titled “Historical Perspective and Evolution of Investor Issues in Subscription Financing – From Credit Analysis to Enforcement ...
On March 2, 2017, the California Supreme Court issued its much anticipated decision in the City of San Jose v. Superior Court of Santa Clara County case. In short, the Court determined that when a public official or employee uses a personal account to communicate about the conduct of public business, the writings are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act, if those writings are not otherwise exempt from the disclosure requirements ...
