Mortgage Meltdown

This blawg covers the ever-growing gamut of litigation, legislation and regulatory responses arising out of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Author: This blawg is maintained by members of Milwaukee-based Reinhart, Boerner, Van Deuren's securitized mortgage and loan fraud team, including partners Ellen Brostrom, Laura Gramling-Perez and Chris Ware.

Blawg Related Categories: Banking Law • Legislation & Lobbying • Real Estate & Property Law • Trials & Litigation • Partner

Recent Posts from Mortgage Meltdown

Credit Crisis May Have Rendered Performance Of Contract Impossible Says 7th Circuit In Affirming Temporary Injunction
Last week the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed (opinion here) a district court's decision to issue a temporary injunction preventing John Hancock Life Insurance from enforcing its contractual rights under a complicated sale/lease-back transaction…
So Far Treasury Is Making Money On Investments In Banks
Beginning back in June, some of the larger banks began buying back the Treasury Department's preferred securities the Government purchased as part of the TARP Capital Purchase Program. You remember TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program),…
Connecticut Judge Says UBS Probably Defrauded Hedge Fund In Sale Of CDO's
After a one-week hearing on a hedge fund's claim that UBS violated state securities laws when it sold mortgage-backed CDO's to it in 2007 and early 2008, a Connecticut trial court judge required UBS to…
FDIC Gearing Up for Dead Bank Litigation?
So far this year, the FDIC has closed 57 banks (list here) at a cost of about $12.7 billion to the deposit insurance fund. That is a lot of dead banks, and even more former…
Despite Efforts, Tide of Foreclosures Continues
Despite efforts by States, the Federal Government, and private initiatives to reduce foreclosures, they appear to continue unabated (article here). Foreclosures in the second quarter of 2009 increased 20% over last year to a record…
DOJ Antitrust Division Looks Into CDS Pricing Issues
As reported by the Wall Street Journal (here), the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice is investigating potential violations in the Credit Default Swap market, asking for information from Markit Group Holdings Ltd. Markit…
Treasury Issues New Rules on Executive Compensation for TARP Participants
Late last week, the Treasury department issued an interim final rule (somewhat of an oxymoron, but that is what it is called) entitled "TARP Standards for Compensation and Corporate Governance." The Treasury Department was given…
Catching Up
Well, it's good to be back writing this blog again. Sorry to my readers for the long, unexplained absence. I just returned from an almost month-long trial in Baltimore, Maryland (I am based in Reinhart's…
New SEC Chair Weighs In On Ratings Agencies
The credit rating agencies that provided securities packaging subprime mortgages with investment grade ratings have been in the cross-hairs of regulators and plaintiffs since the mortgage meltdown first began in the spring and summer of…
New Century Financial Creditors Seek Over Billion Dollars From KPMG
In a what big four auditing firm KPMG would hope was just an April fools day prank, on April 1st a liquidating trust formed for the benefit of creditors in the New Century Financial bankruptcy…