On this website, a few years ago, we wrote… for over 33 years the Law Firm of William A. Miller has ‘seen it all’. Well, that was until last week. Litigation in Arizona for Fraud, Contract Breach and various business torts will explode, not unlike the days of the RTC. As most of you know, the Federal Reserve showed it would do virtually anything—lowering rates to zero, extending loans to businesses (looks like socialism), backstopping funds to municipalities and purchasing hundreds of billions of dollars of government debt—to help bolster the U.S. economy. This will lead to a nightmare scenario of the US Government picking favorites. I read the association who lobbies for movie theaters want a bailout. Musk and Bezo ‘need’ billons for their space missions. In my opinion TARP in the late 2000s, simply benefited the rich.
Let’s applaud congress and the President for starting with payments to the ‘worker’. If you have or anticipate business problems on the horizon, give Bill Miller a call at 602-319-6899. We are a small law firm that remembers well not only the great recession, but also the market meltdown of 1987, RTC of 1990 & the tech crash of 2001. If we cannot handle your case (unlikely), we will get you to a firm that can.

Late this summer, the Arizona Court of Appeals in Bank of America, N.A. v. Felco Business Services, Inc. ruled that a claim of senior priority under the doctrine of equitable subrogation is not waived for failure to object to a trustee’s sale.

Two owners took out a loan and deed of trust from Countrywide. Months later, they took out another loan and deed of trust from a different lender. Then they refinanced the first loan and deed of trust with a new bank. The owners used the refinanced loan (secured with a third deed of trust) to pay off and release the original loan from Countrywide.

Then they defaulted on their loan to the second lender. The second lender noticed a trustee’s sale and notified Countrywide. Countrywide, a poster child for fraud and incompetence, did nothing. After the sale, Bank of America acquired all Countrywide assets in a bailout. Bank of America sued saying the third deed of trust for the refinanced loan had priority over the second lender’s deed of trust under the doctrine of equitable subrogation, which allows a deed of trust to assume the priority position of an earlier deed. The trial court held that A.R.S. § 33-811(C) required that a senior lien be asserted as a defense or objection to the trustee’s sale, such that the failure to object to the sale waived Plaintiffs’ claim of senior priority under the doctrine of equitable subrogation.

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that equitable subrogation is not a defense to a trustee’s sale and does not constitute a waiver under A.R.S. § 33-811(C) because lien priority is a separate matter from the validity of a trustee’s sale. Defendants could have conducted the sale even if Plaintiffs had asserted that it had a senior lien before the sale. A.R.S. § 33-811(C)’s express language does not preclude assertions of equitable subrogation. This law remained available to Bank of America after the trustee’s sale. Because equitable subrogation is an equitable remedy and its application depends on the particular facts of each case, the Arizona Court of Appeals remanded the matter back to determine whether applying the doctrine is applicable.

The card deck is very stacked in Arizona for the lender/bank/note holder. You must be very careful when borrowing and twice as careful when a default occurs under a loan. Feel free to give Arizona attorney Bill Miller a call (602-319-6899) if you are in a situation with a bank or lender that requires a second set of eyes.

We also handle, Breach of contract, Non-compete agreements, Non-disclosure agreements, Employee theft and embezzlement, Insurance purchases and enforcement of policy coverage, Negotiation and/or enforcement of commercial leases, Negligence and gross negligence resulting in losses, Intentional acts causing a company to suffer damages, Tortious interference with contractual relationships, Unjust enrichment, Real Estate fraud, Consumer fraud, Conversion/Theft, Intentional and/or negligent misrepresentation, Business torts and Real estate title and escrow.

Prosecutors are in trouble after lawyers representing a doctor accused of fraud alleged the U.S. attorney’s office has been stealing documents. In court papers filed May 26, lawyers wrote prosecutors had gained access to discovery of the defense. According to the defense, an informant said an FBI agent had received CDs containing duplicates of discovery…

Home Builder be Aware! On April 22nd, 2014, HB 2018 was signed into law by Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer. The bill will amend two key anti-deficiency statutes, A.R.S. §§ 33-729 and 33-814, the former relating to judicial foreclosures and the latter to non-judicial foreclosures. Borrowers have relied upon both of these statutes in order to…

In the last few years, whistleblower claims are on the rise.  These claims now comprise 41% of the more than 93,000 discrimination charges filed in 2013, according to a February report from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  This is an increase of 28% over 10 years.  At the same time, particularly since the…