Standards of Review

An appellate attorney's take on news and legal topics.

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Articles Matter

No, not news articles.  Those short words that precede nouns.   Don’t take my word for it;  here’s Judge Emas:

The appellate court determined that the use of the word “the” before the words “proper venue” reflected an agreement by the parties that Broward County was the only proper venue, to the exclusion of all others. ...  The forum selection clause in the instant case fails to contain the necessary language of exclusivity found in Golf Scoring, instead referring to the Courts of Malta in non-exclusive terms, compelling a conclusion that Malta is a proper jurisdiction, rather than the only proper jurisdiction. 

Michaluk v.  Credorax (USA), Inc., Case No.  3D14-985, *12-13 (Fla. 3d DCA May 13, 2015).  

Because the contract’s forum selection clause used the article “a” instead of “the” before “proper venue,” the parties can continue to litigate in Florida.  Although, Malta sounds fun.  

Think twice about what articles you use.  They matter.

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Eurozone crisis explained

In case anyone was wondering why Greece is having a crisis in the first place:

Why is Greece in trouble?

Greece was living beyond its means even before it joined the euro. After it adopted the single currency, public spending soared.

Public sector wages, for example, rose 50% between 1999 and 2007 - far faster than in most other eurozone countries. The government also ran up big debts paying for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

And while money flowed out of the government's coffers, its income was hit by widespread tax evasion. So, after years of overspending, its budget deficit - the difference between spending and income - spiraled out of control.

Moreover, much of the borrowing was concealed, as successive Greek governments sought to meet the 3%-of-GDP cap on borrowing that is required of members of the euro.

When the global financial downturn hit - and Greece's hidden borrowings came to light - the country was ill-prepared to cope.

Debt levels reached the point where the country was no longer able to repay its loans, and was forced to ask for help from its European partners and the IMF in the form of massive loans.

In the short term, however, the conditions attached to these loans have compounded Greece's woes.

And for a more in-depth look, read Michael Lewis’s book Boomerang.  Or just his article in Vanity Fair that provided the backbone of that book.  His bottom line:

As it turned out, what the Greeks wanted to do, once the lights went out and they were alone in the dark with a pile of borrowed money, was turn their government into a piñata stuffed with fantastic sums and give as many citizens as possible a whack at it.

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By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD, nytimes.com

Federal regulators on Tuesday proposed rules, more than four years in the making, to provide greater consumer protection for retirement savings, requiring a broader group of investment professionals to act in their customers’ best interests when…

Labor department plans to impose fiduciary duties on brokers and investment professionals managing retirement funds. Sounds costly.

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Listeners of Adam Carolla's podcast will have heard of this particular podcast patent troll.

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(via Banking is dead, long live banking)

A swiss investment banker argues that our current financial system is an unstable relic of the industrial age that must evolve with the digital age or continue to fail.

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The Statute of Limitations in Foreclosure Actions, its Impact on the Economy, and Why You Should Care. (Or, “OMG, Not Again!”)

Last week the New York Times ran this article, titled “Foreclosure to Home Free, as 5-Year Clock Expires.”  Focusing primarily on the legal system in Florida, it discussed the 5-year statute of limitations on foreclosure cases. And the article profiled one Miami woman for whom the clock had run on her foreclosure action – in effect, nullifying the mortgage on her property.   This happened because the bank lost its foreclosure action and more than five years had passed since the homeowner had defaulted, thus the bank lost its ability, under the statute of limitations, to enforce its mortgage.

The article took the tone of a human interest piece that hinted at broader implications.  Let’s unpack that article and examine those broader implications. (And on the issue of whether “getting a house for free” is fair, I’ll say that no one is blameless in the credit crunch crisis, and leave it at that.  I refer you to Michael Lewis’s book, The Big Short)

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