lender liability

Bankruptcy Courts Rules Bank May Not Seek Cost Recovery for Contaminated Site Purchased in Auction Sale

Pete Seeger’s popular song from the 1960s “Where have all the Flowers Gone?” has the haunting recurring lyrics “When will they ever learn”. This song came to mind when we came across another case of a bank taking title to contaminated property without doing any environmental due diligence. In this case, Suburban Bank and Trust […]

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More Prominent Role for Environmental Risk Management in Revised OCC Handbook

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has been updating its Comptroller’s Handbook to reflect changes to supervisory policy as well as to implement the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The Comptroller’s Handbook is a collection of booklets divided into five handbook series that contain OCC procedures for

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Bank Agrees To Reimburse EPA for Post-Foreclosure Removal Action Costs

We have frequently written on the heightened risks that lenders face when foreclosing or taking control of the property of defaulted borrowers. See Ohio Bank to Reimburse EPA. Despite several high-profile enforcement cases such as the HSBC case in New York that illustrate the potential exposure that lenders face when they take control over a borrower’s

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Ohio Bank to Partially Reimburse EPA For Removal Costs Related To Defunct Borrower Facility

An Ohio bank agreed to pay the United States EPA $8K in past response costs incurred by EPA to remove hazardous waste drums at a facility that had been owned by a defunct borrower. The amount the bank agreed to pay represented approximately 10% of the EPA’s response costs. The notice of the proposed Agreement

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Trustee Bank Agrees to Removal Action Settlement with EPA

JP Morgan Chase Bank entered into a Settlement Agreement For Recovery of Past Response Costs (Settlement Agreement)  for a matter captioned In In The Matter Of Browning Lumber Company Superfund Site, Docket No. CERC-03-2007-0028D where the bank agreed to reimburse EPA for $1.28 million in removal costs incurred at a former wood processing facility rural Bald Knob,

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Bank Enters Into Settlement With EPA For Contaminated NY Site

EPA entered into a settlement agreement with the Bank of India (Bank) as part of an innovative settlement to facilitate the sale and reuse of an abandoned facility in Cortland, NY. The settlement was published in the today’s Federal Register .The proposed settlement is subject to a 30-day comment period. The settlement involves the Buckbee-Mears

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Foreclosing Lender RCRA Action May Proceed

A federal district court  declined to dismiss a RCRA 7002 action brought by a foreclosing lender against the owner of an adjacent dry cleaner in Forest Park National Bank & Trust  v Ditchfield,  2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103007(N.D. Ill. 7/24/12).  The court also granted summary judgment on the bank’s CERCLA cost recovery claim. One reason

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Foreclosing Banks Increasingly Using Environmental Insurance For Sales Risks

As the nation slowly lifts itself out of the effects of the Great Recession, lenders are beginning to increase the pace of foreclosures on commercial properties. The volume of foreclosures is likely to significantly increase during the next few years as the loans that were originated during the height of the credit bubble become due.

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CMBS Lender Kept In Case Over Questions About Environmental Disclosure

The federal district court for the Southern District of New York denied a motion to dismiss filed by Morgan Stanley Mortgage Capital, Inc (MSMC)that it failed to adequately disclose environmental conditions at a shopping center and should not be required to buy back the $81MM loan. This case has some yummy nuggets. In this case,

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State Appeals Court Affirms Damage Award Against Bank for Sale of Contaminated Property

A New Jersey Appeals Court refused to disturb a $248,928 damage award against a bank involving a sale of contaminated property. The plaintiff had argued that the trial court had erred in calculating the damages flowing from the bank’s breach of contract. In Ritschel v. Spencer Savings Bank,SLA, 2011 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1257 (May 16, 2011),

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