GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 29, 2019
We recently closed a purchase money commercial mortgage loan for a bank lender. The property was a vacant two family "brownstone" in Brooklyn. The borrower plans to renovate using other money, so it is not a construction loan. The binder arrived, not surprisingly the afternoon before the closing, without a policy. Two of the policy endorsements had the word "Vacant" in the title.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 29, 2019
As part of the 2020 budget, the New York State Senate and Assembly increased New York State's transfer tax and mansion tax on transfers of real property (including, cooperative units). The changes only affect those transfers in New York City and other cities with a population of one million or more.
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GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 22, 2019
If a debtor disputes a loan, the FCRA prohibits a creditor from reporting the loan to a credit bureau without also reporting the dispute. Assume that a creditor assembles a report of outstanding loans on Monday. Wanting to make sure that all the data is accurate, the creditor spends the week verifying the report and files it with the credit bureau on Friday.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 22, 2019
If a contractor knows the use to which the building will be put once it is completed, it may be held liable for any damages resulting from a late completion which delays that use—even if such damages are not spelled out in the contract.
Speaker: Blackberry, OSS Consultants, & Revenera
Software is complex, which makes threats to the software supply chain more real every day. 64% of organizations have been impacted by a software supply chain attack and 60% of data breaches are due to unpatched software vulnerabilities. In the U.S. alone, cyber losses totaled $10.3 billion in 2022. All of these stats beg the question, “Do you know what’s in your software?
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 18, 2019
Many banks have programs to protect elderly customers against financial abuse. SARs are required and being filed - 68,000 from 2012 to 2017. Reporting elder abuse does not violate federal privacy rules. DFS has provided guidance and a list of red flags and recommends reports to Adult Protective Services (APS). However, some banks refuse to complete transactions or completely freeze accounts when elder abuse is suspected.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 15, 2019
The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits misleading consumer debt collection practices by third party debt collectors. New York's similar law also covers creditors who collect their own loans. Federal court decisions under the FDCPA provide an important warning to New York lenders. Whether a communication with a consumer is misleading is measured by a "least sophisticated consumer" standard.
Intellectual Property Pulse brings together the best content for IP professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 15, 2019
?A recent case has caused some concern among boards, managing agents and attorneys about whether the typical attorney's fees clauses in proprietary leases remain enforceable. These clauses commonly provide that a board may recover fees from a shareholder or unit owner if it brings an action to enforce the proprietary lease or condominium by-laws, or defends a counterclaim in such an action.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 15, 2019
An appellate court reminds us that by sitting silently in the face of a contractor's long delay, an owner may have waived its right to terminate the contractor. But all is not lost.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 10, 2019
I get a lot of phone calls from clients about whether to file a suspicious activity report (SAR). My immediate answer is "YES," without even hearing the facts. Yesterday, I tested this with an FDIC representative at a compliance conference where I was presenting on other issues. I asked a simple question, "Has any bank ever been criticized for filing a SAR?
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 10, 2019
Most of the time, a claim for breach of contract prevents a simultaneous claim for unjust enrichment or other equitable remedies. But sometimes, there is a back door.
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Women and diverse employees have the technical skill and knowledge, yet their contributions are not patented at the same rate as those of their male counterparts.This toolkit can help organizations move the needle on achieving gender parity in innovation.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 8, 2019
A loan applicant offers Bitcoin as collateral. You must perfect a security interest in the collateral. Is it a negotiable instrument like a blank endorsed check? Maybe it's an investment security, like IBM stock? Or a foreign currency, like a briefcase of Euros? How about a commodity, like "virtual" gold or pork bellies? Maybe it's a general intangible, the "everything else" category of personal property?
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 8, 2019
When a deceased shareholder of a cooperative apartment has a family member, an administrator or an executor of his or her estate, the disposition of shares (i.e., the ownership of the apartment) is generally pretty straightforward. The shares may be transferred to a qualifying family member, or may be sold on the open market to a third party. But what happens if there is no will?
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 1, 2019
WARNING: I know it's April Fool's Day, but this is not a joke. You know all about statutory and regulatory requirements for financial institutions to protect customer information that go back to Gramm Leach Bliley. However, a federal court recently held that an employer's information confidentiality policy violated the National Labor Relations Act because it could prohibit employees from discussing organizing a union outside the office.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 1, 2019
Under recent legislation all New York City multi-family dwellings consisting of three or more apartments (including coops and condos) must adopt a smoking policy by August 28, 2018 and provide the policy to all current and prospective residents. This requirement has caused many coops and condos to consider making their buildings "smoke-free" by prohibiting smoking in individual apartments as well as the common areas of the building.
GDB Firm Blog
APRIL 1, 2019
An appellate court sided with a contractor which drilled into a building's 60-year old gas line. The contractor had to pay for the repair to the line, but not to replace the original valves which caused it to fail a pressure test required by code.
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