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 ...
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 ...
Attorneys who litigate common law bad faith and Unfair Trade Practices Act claims are well aware that insureds who substantially prevail in an underlying contract action for insurance proceeds are entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees under Hayseeds, Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty, 177 W. Va. 323, 352 S.E.2d 73 (1986) ...
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 ...
2016 Follow-Up Payments on Promissory Notes and Guarantees. If you sold property (for example, real estate, stock, or an interest in a family limited partnership or other closely-held entity) to a family member or a trust for a promissory note in the past, the purchaser should make the proper interest payments. Also, if the transaction involved a guarantee of any part of debt, the guarantor should receive the proper guarantee fees. Gift Tax Returns ...
ALRUD Real Estate practice Specialists, Andrey Zharskiy, ALRUD Partner, Stanislav Veselov, ALRUD Senior Associate, Galina Kulikova and Ksenia Bondarenko, ALRUD Attorneys, prepared an Article for the Newsletter of the Real Estate Section of the International Bar Association Legal Practice Division. The article, “Don’t be Trapped in Lease Agreements” covers main pitfalls that tenants in Russia may face while terminating a commercial real estate lease agreement ...
The February 14 decision in a closely watched Fourth Circuit False Claims Act (FCA) case did not, as initially anticipated, address the issue of the validity of statistical sampling to establish FCA liability. However, it did address another question that has split the circuits—whether the U.S. Department of Justice has the unreviewable right to veto FCA settlements in cases in which it has declined to intervene. See United States ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Community, et al ...
In the context of a dispute between a Turkish agent and a Belgian principal, the Commercial Court of Ghent (Belgium) referred a request to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) concerning the legal protection of a Turkish agent under Belgian/EU law. The agent and principal had expressly agreed that their agency agreement was subject to Belgian law ...
During the Summer of 2013, we interviewed a group of owners who had completed IPD projects. Some owners had many IPD projects under their belts and others only one or two. But all were willing to share their experience and advice to help other owners. The transcripts were summarized in a white paper, still available on the Hanson Bridgett website, Integrated Project Delivery: The Owner’s Perspective ...
'Close of business' is a term many people use in their day to day working life without much thought. But what does it actually mean and should the term be used in contractual documentation? Agreeing to get something done by 'close of business' is a phrase often used when flexibility is required as to the time a task will be completed. It makes it clear the task will be done that day, but not by a particular time ...
In a decision rendered on December 1, 2016, the Superior Court of Québec had to rule on a situation which, until that time, was completely novel, and to determine whether lawyers can act in a court action against former employees of a client whom they still have to work with in connection with another related proceeding. The Court declared that the lawyers were disqualified ...
"The best things in life are free, the second best things are very, very expensive."—Coco Chanel Think of the most expensive cities in the world to live and places like London, New York and Paris come to mind. These cities epitomize the pinnacle of sophisticated and luxurious living, as romanticized all too often on the silver screen ...
The superintending and reforming power of the Superior Court of Québec over the decisions of the Court of Québec is indisputable. It is furthermore confirmed by article 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure1, which grants to the Superior Court powers to judicially review decisions made by the Québec courts, with the exception of the Court of Appeal ...
In its recent judgment of 21 December 2016, the Tournai Commercial Court (‘Court’) declared it did not have jurisdiction to deal with a dispute concerning the termination of an exclusive distributorship that the parties had agreed to submit to arbitration. This judgment was based on the new definition of arbitrability in the Belgian Judicial Code, which entered into force in 2013, and marks a new era for the arbitrability of Belgian distributorship law disputes ...