RECENT BLOG POSTS
Case law reflects a tension in the interpretation of fiduciary duties. One camp favors a “I know it when I see it" approach, while the more rigorous jurists seek to discern the basis for imposition of such liability.This tension is on full display in the recent en banc decision in U.S. v. Milovan...
05/08/2012
A study of the ancient English common law begins, for many points, with the law that developed after 1066. The history of inheritances of land is certainly curious, as we inevitably find it tied to the duties owed in a feudal, agricultural society.Here is an excellent analysis from Oxford Prof. ...
04/22/2012
A recent case illustrates the need for a beneficiary to exercise care when making a bid at a trustee sale. In Biancalana v. TD Service Company (Oct. 31, 2011) 2011 DJDAR 15972, the secured debt was $219,105. However, due to error by the beneficiary, the trustee was instructed to make an opening b...
11/12/2011
A recent case reinforces the necessity to comply with the technical requirements for prosecuting an unlawful detainer complaint in California. [Commonly known as an eviction.] Specifically, the issue at trial was whether the three-day notice had been served properly. The trial court held that ser...
11/06/2011
I am reading a series of lectures delivered in 1972 by S.F.C. Milsom and collected in The Legal Framework of English Feudalism (Cambridge University Press 1976). The text is difficult, as it frequently refers to rights, remedies, and procedures that long ago ceased to be relevant in the law of En...
10/31/2011
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This author has often complained that the trust laws have not kept pace with modern practice as it relates to estate planning. Estate planning trusts (a.k.a. “living trust”) are used as will substitutes. The rules pertaining to wills are well known, and are established by case and by code. In con...
10/04/2011
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This writer has commented regularly that the modern estate planning trust is a legal fiction. A convenient legal fiction, mind you, but still a legal fiction. The estate planning trust (also known by the unfortunate term, “living trust”) is a merely a will substitute. It takes effect – meaning, i...
09/18/2011
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The trend in the courts has been to reduce the legal theories available to persons who suffered losses during the mortgage meltdown. Traditional theories based on breach of contract, fraud, and promissory estoppel, remain viable causes of action. Yet the more exotic theories seeking to impose lia...
08/30/2011
Here is the clearest explanation I have found to date regarding the rise of trusts in English law. Bear in mind that England was still a feudal system in the year 1350. Also bear in mind that a court of law could not enforce a trust – such jurisdiction lay within the court of equity, which was st...
08/21/2011
The Delaware Supreme Court recently decided William Penn Partnership v. Saliba, a case in which there are no winners. In the case, one of the members breached his fiduciary obligations, but his conduct caused no damage. Nonetheless, the court awarded attorneys’ fees as an “equitable remedy.” In t...
05/30/2011