Residential developers should be aware that agreeing to enter a Land Registry restriction on the title to a property may inhibit their ability to manage it. A positive obligation relating to land will not, as a matter of law, bind future owners of the land. To ensure that it will, the original parties to that land obligation will often agree that any future owner enters into an identical obligation on its purchase of the land ...
When startup founders get together to form a new company, one of the first steps after actually incorporating the entity is to issue the founders their initial equity in the company. This is commonly referred to as “founders stock.” Most initial cap tables target the issuance to founders of around 8 million shares, so that combined with a 2 million share option pool, the initial “fully diluted” capitalization is 10 million shares ...
Have you ever fought in a war? Chances are, you have. Participated in a proxy war that is. Harassing and coercing are some common tactics used in the attempt to obtain as many proxies as possible to wrest majority control. There has even been a situation where an individual held 250 proxies – effectively being able to make every decision solely ...
Since the inception of the IRS determination letter program, many sponsors and administrators of qualified retirement plans have come to rely on IRS determination letters to document their plan's tax-qualified status ...
On February 23, 2017, the IRS issued a memorandum to its employee plan auditors to provide guidelines for substantiating 401(k) plan safe harbor hardship distributions. Although directed to employee plan auditors for audit purposes, the memorandum provides guidance on the steps that plan administrators should take to substantiate safe harbor hardship distributions ...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) (the Philippine Central Bank) has issued two new circulars that will be of interest to companies engaged in remittance services, e-money, digital currency, and other fintech businesses. Both circulars amend portions of the BSP Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions. BSP Circular No ...
On Wednesday, March 1, 2017, the Department of Labor ("DOL") proposed a 60-day extension of the applicability date of the ERISA Fiduciary Rule. President Trump's administration has openly criticized the Fiduciary Rule, and on February 3, 2017, directed the DOL to further analyze the legal and economic impact of the rule before its implementation ...
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 ...
The American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) recently revised its Construction Industry Arbitration Rules and Mediation Procedures. The revised rules became effective on July 1, 2015 and include a host of changes, large and small. Here is what you need to know: Increased Thresholds for Regular and Fast Track Proceedings (Rules R-1 and F-1) AAA provides different procedures for “regular track” and “fast track” proceedings ...
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 ...
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 ...
After months of phone calls, loan modifications and discussions with borrowers, one finally receives the dreaded bankruptcy notice in the mail. A chapter 7, no-asset case, with the loan listed on the bankruptcy schedules as a secured claim. After a few short months, one is notified that the debtors have received their discharge in the bankruptcy case. Since the bank hasn’t been paid in months, one discusses internally and decides to initiate foreclosure proceedings ...
Imagine you are a materialman, selling indoor carpet to the contractors. You are approached by a West Virginia developer that wants you to supply carpet and flooring for several houses in a new development. The contract represents $50,000 in new business for your company – and you hope it marks the establishment of a productive relationship with the developer ...
What is a Mechanic’s Lien? In South Carolina, construction liens, called mechanic’s liens, are automatically created by statute to protect anyone “to whom a debt is due for labor performed or furnished or for materials furnished and actually used in the erection, alteration, or repair of a building or structure upon real estate or the boring and equipping of wells.” S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-10 ...
Few areas of law have proven more dynamic over the last few years than the interplay between state tort laws and the federal regulation of pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices. During its last two terms, the United States Supreme Court has issued three separate opinions addressing federal preemption of state law claims under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ...
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 ...
Everyone likes pie of some sort, especially around the holidays. For those working in the construction industry, the rapidly developing energy sector appears to be an ever-expanding “Job Pie” for contractors designing, managing, supplying, engineering, clearing and erecting projects for participants in the energy sector. For clues on how to follow the pie crumbs to real construction jobs, I turned to Melvin Stroble of Black & Veatch. Here is a slice of the information Mr ...
In January of this year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (“Fourth Circuit”) decided the case of Clark v. Absolute Collection Service, Inc. (741 F.3d 487, 4th Cir. 2014). The question of first impression before the Court was whether Section 1692g(a)(3) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) requires a consumer to dispute a debt in writing to gain the protections afforded by the FDCPA ...
Recently, R. Scott Adams authored the following article for DRI's Commercial Litigation Committee. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) was signed into law in 2003, greatly expanding prior legislation in order to better assist servicemembers in avoiding default and foreclosure while they are on active duty ...
