Defending Collections against Spousal Guaranties
- September 23rd, 2010
- W. Jay Brown
- Comments Off on Defending Collections against Spousal Guaranties
It’s becoming an all-too-familiar fact pattern: a former spouse loses his business and is uncollectable/bankrupt leaving the bank to look to the former spouse for collection pursuant to a guaranty taken out during the marriage. In those instances, lawyers need…
Michigan Contract Disputes – Rebirth of the Latent Ambiguity Doctrine
- August 27th, 2010
- W. Jay Brown
- Comments Off on Michigan Contract Disputes – Rebirth of the Latent Ambiguity Doctrine
This week, the Michigan Supreme Court released its opinion in Shay v Aldrich, (# 138908 released August 23, 2010) and held that sometimes, “all” does not mean “all.” The facts in Shay were straight-forward – a plaintiff settled with two…
Treating Limited Liability Companies as Corporations
- April 15th, 2010
- W. Jay Brown
- Comments Off on Treating Limited Liability Companies as Corporations
As Michigan law provides some effective remedies and developed common law to govern disputes involving corporations, it is often desirable to apply corporate law principles to limited liability companies. I’ve never seen any reason to treat the entities differently in…
Deficiency Actions against Guarantors
- January 22nd, 2010
- W. Jay Brown
- Comments Off on Deficiency Actions against Guarantors
Recently, the Michigan Court of Appeals in Dearborn Capital Corporation v Facundo Bravo, (Docket No. 284274 released 9/22/09) issued a decision that serves as a harsh reminder to creditors of the consequences of failing to observe the letter of the…
Bankruptcy Discharge of Litigation Debts
- January 22nd, 2010
- W. Jay Brown
- Comments Off on Bankruptcy Discharge of Litigation Debts
An understanding of whether a debt is dischargeable in bankruptcy is essential to a business and commercial litigator for at least three reasons – – (1) to structure the claims being brought in the complaint; (2) to evaluate the credibility…