As a part of the recently passed Budget Package for the State of California, the State Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger have passed into law an amendment to California Civil Code § 2924 called the “California Foreclosure Prevention Act.” This latest effort to slow the pace of residential foreclosures has been somewhat mis-reported in the news as a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures. This law does not stop foreclosures in the State of California for 90 days . . . **UPDATED - CLICK THROUGH TO FULL ARTICLE BELOW**

Why the whales? After the day I’ve had, I need some serenity!
In the course of my practice, I have the opportunity to correspond with a lot of people. In our bankruptcy practice, most of those people are in dire financial situations. In what appears to be a rapidly growing trend, those in economic distress appear to be the target of more and more deceptive schemes and fraud than ever before. To this, one might respond “this isn’t new,” and of course you would be right. The news is rife with articles about people being ripped of. What I find scary these days, however, is that previously highly-regarded professionals are getting wrapped up in these schemes, and the scope of these schemes is growing exponentially every day . . .
*Image Courtesy of National Geographic – click photo to be taken to the original picture.

As a long-time bankruptcy attorney, I am as big a proponent of the bankruptcy system as anyone else. However, a line in a recent Time® Magazine article, a line comparing bankruptcy to Apple Pie really struck me as funny. The article was a brief “history” of bankruptcy, dating back to the Romans who would dismember debtors and distribute their limbs to the creditors (Yuck!). I’m not sure what one does with the arm of a person who owed you money, but it did illustrate the dramatic change in attitude in resolving debt. Bankruptcy laws are generally seen as a more empathetic, humane means of resolving debt . . .

Back in March I wrote a warning about Loan Modification companies, and how even the State Bar of California had issued an ethics warning for attorneys. That article can be found here. Well, guess what . . . now the office of the California State Attorney General has jumped into the fray in a very big way. If you are a consumer looking for a loan modification, or a company engaged in the business of Loan Modification, beware – Jerry Brown is gunning for you!

From time-to-time, we receive calls from clients and prospective clients about the dreaded “Three Day Notice.” While in theory its very simple, in practice the Three Day Notice tends to throw even the most experienced landlords for a loop. By way of background, the Three Day Notice is used, in the context of a residential tenancy, to get the tenant to perform an action that they are required by the lease to perform, but have failed to do . . .