Prof. Larry E. Ribstein from the University of Illinois School of Law, a leading scholar on business entities, has given considerable thought to the concept of fiduciary duties. When this author thinks of fiduciary duties, he thinks of three broad obligations – care, confidentiality, and impartiality. Prof. Ribstein, in a recent article, seeks a unified [...]
Professor Thomas Schoenbaum from George Washington University has written a paper discussing the worldwide financial crisis. His paper entitled “Saving the Global Financial System: International Financial Reforms and United States Financial Reform, Will They Do the Job?”, identifies 12 factors as triggering the financial crisis. The second six are as follows (the first six are [...]
Professor Thomas Schoenbaum from George Washington University has written a paper discussing the worldwide financial crisis. His paper entitled “Saving the Global Financial System: International Financial Reforms and United States Financial Reform, Will They Do the Job?”, identifies 12 factors as triggering the financial crisis. The first six are as follows (the second six are [...]
Wading hip deep into the debate over the standard of conduct applicable to investment advisors, author Kristina A. Fausti brings helpful insight in A Fiduciary Duty for All? Ms. Fausti is the Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs for Fiduciary360, and is knowledgeable about the investment world. What she demonstrates is that the investment world [...]
Professor Brent T. White from The University of Arizona Law School has followed up his report issued last fall regarding troubled loans. Prof. White personally communicated with more than 350 individuals regarding their mortgage problems. His new report raises a number of troubling issues, but none more so than the dissembling tactics of lenders. Writes [...]
This is an updated report on the status the foreclosure crisis in Fresno County as of June 2010, based on anecdotal evidence. In a word, it’s brutal for troubled borrowers. Foreclosures Are Continuing: There does not seem to be any slowdown in foreclosures. Lenders buy in for the amount of the unpaid debt, then sell [...]
It may be time for average persons to stop investing in the stock market. I’ve been a big believer in the market over the years, and am familiar with the statistics showing how stock market investments have grown over the years. But the evidence is mounting – and may now be overwhelming – that shows [...]
Prof. Seana Shiffrin of UCLA Law School tackles the issue of “contract law’s strong traditional bar on punitive damages for intentional, gratuitous breach of contract.” She jumps right into the fray: “Morality, I claimed, correctly regards some breaches of promise as morally wrong and as warranting not only compensation but the administration of morality’s punitive [...]
Prof. Stefan Grundmann argues that strict liability is essential to contract law because it enforces an important societal norm – freedom of choice. According to Prof. Grundmann, “The majority of civil law scholars endorse the idea that the fault principle is ethically well-founded, and some scholars clearly see it as ethically superior to strict liability. [...]
Prof. Roy Kreitner of Tel Aviv University shows great insight into the dichotomy between tort and contract law. He first discusses how tort law shifted toward a fault-based system during the nineteenth century. States Prof Kreitner, “the early [tort] law asked simply, ‘Did the defendant do the physical act which damaged the plaintiff?’ T[ort] law [...]