Tag Archives: Kramer

Kramer Kaslow: Home Mortgage Servicer Sues Lender in Unprecedented Law Suit

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Calabasas, CA (PRWEB) May 31, 2011

Consolidated plaintiff litigation attorney Philip A. Kramer announced recently that One West Bank, a servicer of home mortgages, is suing a lender, HSBC, in order to prevent them from foreclosing on homeowner Pamela Jeter. (One West Bank, FSB vs HSBC Bank Association, as trustee of the Deutsche Alt-A Securities Mortgage Loan Trust, Series 2006-AR5; United States District Court, Southern District of New York; Case 1:10-cv-04855-SHS).

News sites such as Propublica.org are weighing in on the suit. The suit is remarkable not only because it seems unique — close observers said they hadn’t seen another example of a servicer going to court against a trustee — but also because it lays bare a relationship that is usually a mystery to homeowners and investors in securitized mortgages, said Propublica.org representatives.

Philip Kramer, an attorney and senior partner at the law firm of Kramer & Kaslow as well as a past president of the Los Angeles West Inns of Court, a national organization dedicated to bringing professionalism and civility back into the legal profession also weighed in on the suit. In all my years of practicing law, I have never seen anything like this, says Philip Kramer. I have seen lenders deny people before. I have seen paperwork get lost. I have seen all kinds of things, but what happened next was a first even for me. For a servicer to sue the noteholder? That is unheard of!

ABOUT PHILIP KRAMER

PHILIP A. KRAMER is the senior partner of the Law Office of Kramer & Kaslow, in Calabasas, California. Kramer & Kaslow is Martindale Hubbell AV rated. Mr. Kramer is a perennial recipient of the prestigious Southern California Super Lawyer award.

Mr. Kramer received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and his Juris Doctorate from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. His practice emphasizes commercial litigation and trial advocacy, with a concentration on business litigation, and real property matters. He has prosecuted and defended cases for over twenty five years.

Mr. Kramer is a licensed real estate broker and has spent considerable time providing legal services in connection with real estate issues relating to loan modification and loss mitigation, land use and zoning, environmental issues, easements, construction and development, finance, and landlord tenant matters.

Mr. Kramer is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of California, the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Military Appeals. Mr. Kramer has tried in excess of 200 cases. He has appeared on nationally televised programs regarding pre-trial procedure and trial strategy and has appeared as a guest lecturer on topics ranging from constitutional law to trial practice, and Mr. Kramer frequently lectures on a broad spectrum of various legal and business issues.

Mr. Kramer also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court and as a Mediator.

Mr. Kramer is also a past president of the Los Angeles West Inns of Court, a national organization dedicated to bringing professionalism and civility back into the legal profession. He also serves on numerous Boards of Directors and serves as an officer in many companies. For more information call (818) 224-3900 or visit http://kramer-kaslow.com

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Kramer and Kaslow: Utah Lawsuit May Result in Less Foreclosures

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Calabasas, CA (PRWEB) June 13, 2011

Philip Kramer of the Law Offices of Kramer and Kaslow announced that the case of Corey v. Countrywide Bank FSB et al (Case number: 2:2011cv00409) is being heard today in Utah District Court to determine whether or not MERS may be used as a beneficiary in Utah foreclosure cases.

Judge Dee Benson is presiding, and according to court documents, he has told the defendants, Bank of America (BAC) and ReconTrust (Parr Brown), that he believes, the existing federal court rulings (Rodeback, Burnett, etc.) in favor of MERS are bad law won by banks who have big-firm attorneys who are making legally unsound arguments and winning because the Plaintiffs Bar (homeowner-attorneys) have been outmatched by the bank attorneys, and have been making the wrong legal arguments. Benson also went on to state on the record that he believes, MERS and securitization play a big role the foreclosure mess we are in.

According to court documents, an attorney at the law firm representing the plaintiff in this case said that, while there are no guarantees as to Judge Bensons ruling, he has essentially invited us to lay out the proper arguments for why MERS is not the beneficiary of a mortgage and therefore lacks authority to perform the actions that only a beneficiary (the Lender) can do under a mortgage (including substituting Trustee ReconTrust and commencing non-judicial foreclosure proceedings on behalf of Bank of America).”

Consolidated plaintiff litigation attorney Philip Kramer, a senior partner at the firm of Kramer & Kaslow is watching the case closely. If the court rules that MERS is not a legal beneficiary, it strikes at the heart of many foreclosures. This may turn out to be a real turning point in the foreclosure crisis.

More of Philip Kramers comments on the case may be found at the Kramer and Kaslow blog.

ABOUT PHILIP KRAMER

PHILIP A. KRAMER is the senior partner of the Law Office of Kramer & Kaslow, in Calabasas, California. Kramer & Kaslow is Martindale Hubbell AV rated. Mr. Kramer is a perennial recipient of the prestigious Southern California Super Lawyer award.

Mr. Kramer received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and his Juris Doctorate from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. His practice emphasizes commercial litigation and trial advocacy, with a concentration on business litigation, and real property matters. He has prosecuted and defended cases for over twenty five years.

Mr. Kramer is a licensed real estate broker and has spent considerable time providing legal services in connection with real estate issues relating to loan modification and loss mitigation, land use and zoning, environmental issues, easements, construction and development, finance, and landlord tenant matters.

Mr. Kramer is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of California, the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Military Appeals. Mr. Kramer has tried in excess of 200 cases. He has appeared on nationally televised programs regarding pre-trial procedure and trial strategy and has appeared as a guest lecturer on topics ranging from constitutional law to trial practice, and Mr. Kramer frequently lectures on a broad spectrum of various legal and business issues.

Mr. Kramer also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court and as a Mediator.

Mr. Kramer is also a past president of the Los Angeles West Inns of Court, a national organization dedicated to bringing professionalism and civility back into the legal profession. He also serves on numerous Boards of Directors and serves as an officer in many companies. For more information call (818) 224-3900 or visit http://kramer-kaslow.com.

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Law Offices of Kramer and Kaslow: New York Bank Investigation Could Leave Banks Facing Charges

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Calabasas, CA (PRWEB) June 13, 2011

The Law Offices of Kramer and Kaslow is weighing in on a new report from the New York Times that claims that the New York attorney general is investigating large banks for alleged wrongdoing. According to the May 16 New York Times article, The New York attorney general has requested information and documents in recent weeks from three major Wall Street banks about their mortgage securities operations during the credit boom, indicating the existence of a new investigation into practices that contributed to billions in mortgage losses.

Recently elected New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman declined to comment but according to people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly, Eric T. Schneidermans office have also requested meetings with representatives from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

The article also spoke with Daniel C. Richman, a professor of law at Columbia. Part of what prosecutors have the advantage of doing right now, here as elsewhere, is watching the civil suits play out as different parties fight over who bears the loss, said Richman. Thats a very productive source of information.

Noted attorney Philip Kramer, senior partner at the law firm of Kramer & Kaslow whose consolidated litigation plaintiffs have been suing banks for their foreclosure practices agrees with Richman, A lot of wrongdoing has been uncovered in civil cases. What is particularly interesting about the New York Attorney Generals approach is that they seem to have picked up on some of the issues we have used in our suits: fraud and greed in the securitization process being key elements.

More of Philip Kramers comments can be found at the Law Offices of Kramer and Kaslow blog.

ABOUT PHILIP KRAMER

PHILIP A. KRAMER is the senior partner of the Law Office of Kramer & Kaslow, in Calabasas, California. Kramer & Kaslow is Martindale Hubbell AV rated. Mr. Kramer is a perennial recipient of the prestigious Southern California Super Lawyer award.

Mr. Kramer received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and his Juris Doctorate from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. His practice emphasizes commercial litigation and trial advocacy, with a concentration on business litigation, and real property matters. He has prosecuted and defended cases for over twenty five years.

Mr. Kramer is a licensed real estate broker and has spent considerable time providing legal services in connection with real estate issues relating to loan modification and loss mitigation, land use and zoning, environmental issues, easements, construction and development, finance, and landlord tenant matters.

Mr. Kramer is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of California, the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Military Appeals. Mr. Kramer has tried in excess of 200 cases. He has appeared on nationally televised programs regarding pre-trial procedure and trial strategy and has appeared as a guest lecturer on topics ranging from constitutional law to trial practice, and Mr. Kramer frequently lectures on a broad spectrum of various legal and business issues.

Mr. Kramer also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court and as a Mediator.

Mr. Kramer is also a past president of the Los Angeles West Inns of Court, a national organization dedicated to bringing professionalism and civility back into the legal profession. He also serves on numerous Boards of Directors and serves as an officer in many companies. For more information call (818) 224-3900 or visit http://kramer-kaslow.com

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Kramer and Kaslow: Bank Probes Uncover Questionable Practices on Foreclosures

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Calabasas, California (PRWEB) June 14, 2011

Attorney Philip A. Kramer, senior partner of the Kramer & Kaslow law firm which is conducting consolidated plaintiff litigation lawsuits on behalf of hundreds of homeowners, remarked on a recent expose of bank probes by the news site Propublica.

Propublica is really doing a public service with their investigations,” said Philip Kramer. “I represent hundreds of clients who have been wronged by the banks. We have charged fraud, and conspiracy, calumny and deception, from top to bottom. There is a lot of malfeasance going on, and other than our civil suits, there has been little or no judicial action. Something has to be done and I am hopeful that Propublicas investigations may help start that process.

Propublica journalist Marian Wang writes in a recent article, As we and many others have noted, no top banking executives have been successfully prosecuted in connection with the financial crisis: not for making the bad loans that fed the mortgage machine, not for lying about the quality of the mortgages, and not for foreclosing improperly when homeowners struggled to make loan payments. But there have been many investigations. Some are still pending, others seem to have fallen by the wayside. Heres our overview of what the banks have been accused of doing at each stage of the mortgage machine.

Propublica compares the bad foreclosure process to a machine and argues that the first step is risky lending and underwriting. Philip Kramer agrees. “If you look at any of the cases we filed, for example, take a look at: Maxam v. Bank Of America (case No: 30-2011-00450819-CU-MT-CXC), youll see that we already know a great deal about the banks misbehavior. The question is, When will judicial and regulatory bodies catch on?

Propublica breaks down the bank practices foreclosure crisis into five areas:

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Kramer Law: Congressional Oversight Panel Weighs in on Robo-Signing

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Calabasas, California (PRWEB) June 19, 2011

The Law Offices of Kramer and Kaslow released comments from lead attorney Philip Kramer regarding the latest Huffington Post article on the findings of the Congressional Oversight Panel. According to the article, the Congressional Oversight Panel, a federal watchdog created to keep tabs on the bailout, says that the “robo-signing of affidavits served to cover up the fact that loan servicers cannot demonstrate the facts required to conduct a lawful foreclosure. In essence, banks may be unable to prove that they own the mortgage loans they claim to own,” the panel said.

The article also quotes Sheila Bair, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Blair said at a Senate panel last month that “flawed mortgage banking processes have potentially infected millions of foreclosures. The extent of the loss cannot be determined until there is a comprehensive review of the loan files and documentation of the process dealing with problem loans,” she added.

The Huffington Post reports that despite that appraisal, Bair, along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, have said they want a quick settlement.

Philip A. Kramer, a Southern California attorney whose law firm Kramer & Kaslow has launched half a dozen consolidated plaintiff litigation suits against banks for such behavior commented. Of course they want to settle this quickly,” said Kramer. “If the wrongdoing by the banks is looked at closely, if it is looked at systemically, I suspect that it may well turns out there are are hundreds of thousands of loans, perhaps millions and that is not an exaggerated number for which the banks simply do not have the proper paperwork to legally foreclose, much less prove ownership.

According to the Huffington Post article, Kramers views are getting some serious support as the Attorneys General of all 50 states look into the matter. The article says that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been particularly aggressive and has targeted Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, in a new probe that questions the validity of potentially thousands of mortgage securities and their associated foreclosures, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Huffington Post reports that, The inquiry could prove explosive: Wall Street’s great mortgage securitization machine took millions of home loans and bundled them into securities for sale to investors. If the legal steps that guide securitization — like taking mortgage documents from one party to another, a critical step under New York law — were not undertaken, then the investors who bought the bundled loans could force the companies to buy them back, compelling them to eat enormous losses.

Philip Kramer is quick to point out that there is another conclusion to Schneidermans investigations. If the New York Attorney General finds that those securities aren’t valid financial instruments at all they could take action under state law. They may end up awarding the homes to the borrowers because the banks cannot prove ownership.

More of Philip Kramers comments can be found at the Kramer and Kaslow blog.

ABOUT PHILIP KRAMER

PHILIP A. KRAMER is the senior partner of the Law Office of Kramer & Kaslow, in Calabasas, California. Kramer & Kaslow is Martindale Hubbell AV rated. Mr. Kramer is a perennial recipient of the prestigious Southern California Super Lawyer award.

Mr. Kramer received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and his Juris Doctorate from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. His practice emphasizes commercial litigation and trial advocacy, with a concentration on business litigation, and real property matters. He has prosecuted and defended cases for over twenty five years.

Mr. Kramer is a licensed real estate broker and has spent considerable time providing legal services in connection with real estate issues relating to loan modification and loss mitigation, land use and zoning, environmental issues, easements, construction and development, finance, and landlord tenant matters.

Mr. Kramer is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of California, the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Military Appeals. Mr. Kramer has tried in excess of 200 cases. He has appeared on nationally televised programs regarding pre-trial procedure and trial strategy and has appeared as a guest lecturer on topics ranging from constitutional law to trial practice, and Mr. Kramer frequently lectures on a broad spectrum of various legal and business issues.

Mr. Kramer also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court and as a Mediator.

Mr. Kramer is also a past president of the Los Angeles West Inns of Court, a national organization dedicated to bringing professionalism and civility back into the legal profession. He also serves on numerous Boards of Directors and serves as an officer in many companies. For more information call (818) 224-3900 or visit http://kramer-kaslow.com

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Kramer Law: Congressional Oversight Panel Weighs in on Robo-Signing

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Calabasas, California (PRWEB) June 19, 2011

The Law Offices of Kramer and Kaslow released comments from lead attorney Philip Kramer regarding the latest Huffington Post article on the findings of the Congressional Oversight Panel. According to the article, the Congressional Oversight Panel, a federal watchdog created to keep tabs on the bailout, says that the “robo-signing of affidavits served to cover up the fact that loan servicers cannot demonstrate the facts required to conduct a lawful foreclosure. In essence, banks may be unable to prove that they own the mortgage loans they claim to own,” the panel said.

The article also quotes Sheila Bair, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Blair said at a Senate panel last month that “flawed mortgage banking processes have potentially infected millions of foreclosures. The extent of the loss cannot be determined until there is a comprehensive review of the loan files and documentation of the process dealing with problem loans,” she added.

The Huffington Post reports that despite that appraisal, Bair, along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, have said they want a quick settlement.

Philip A. Kramer, a Southern California attorney whose law firm Kramer & Kaslow has launched half a dozen consolidated plaintiff litigation suits against banks for such behavior commented. Of course they want to settle this quickly,” said Kramer. “If the wrongdoing by the banks is looked at closely, if it is looked at systemically, I suspect that it may well turns out there are are hundreds of thousands of loans, perhaps millions and that is not an exaggerated number for which the banks simply do not have the proper paperwork to legally foreclose, much less prove ownership.

According to the Huffington Post article, Kramers views are getting some serious support as the Attorneys General of all 50 states look into the matter. The article says that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been particularly aggressive and has targeted Bank of America, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, in a new probe that questions the validity of potentially thousands of mortgage securities and their associated foreclosures, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Huffington Post reports that, The inquiry could prove explosive: Wall Street’s great mortgage securitization machine took millions of home loans and bundled them into securities for sale to investors. If the legal steps that guide securitization — like taking mortgage documents from one party to another, a critical step under New York law — were not undertaken, then the investors who bought the bundled loans could force the companies to buy them back, compelling them to eat enormous losses.

Philip Kramer is quick to point out that there is another conclusion to Schneidermans investigations. If the New York Attorney General finds that those securities aren’t valid financial instruments at all they could take action under state law. They may end up awarding the homes to the borrowers because the banks cannot prove ownership.

More of Philip Kramers comments can be found at the Kramer and Kaslow blog.

ABOUT PHILIP KRAMER

PHILIP A. KRAMER is the senior partner of the Law Office of Kramer & Kaslow, in Calabasas, California. Kramer & Kaslow is Martindale Hubbell AV rated. Mr. Kramer is a perennial recipient of the prestigious Southern California Super Lawyer award.

Mr. Kramer received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and his Juris Doctorate from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. His practice emphasizes commercial litigation and trial advocacy, with a concentration on business litigation, and real property matters. He has prosecuted and defended cases for over twenty five years.

Mr. Kramer is a licensed real estate broker and has spent considerable time providing legal services in connection with real estate issues relating to loan modification and loss mitigation, land use and zoning, environmental issues, easements, construction and development, finance, and landlord tenant matters.

Mr. Kramer is admitted to practice before all courts in the State of California, the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Military Appeals. Mr. Kramer has tried in excess of 200 cases. He has appeared on nationally televised programs regarding pre-trial procedure and trial strategy and has appeared as a guest lecturer on topics ranging from constitutional law to trial practice, and Mr. Kramer frequently lectures on a broad spectrum of various legal and business issues.

Mr. Kramer also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court and as a Mediator.

Mr. Kramer is also a past president of the Los Angeles West Inns of Court, a national organization dedicated to bringing professionalism and civility back into the legal profession. He also serves on numerous Boards of Directors and serves as an officer in many companies. For more information call (818) 224-3900 or visit http://kramer-kaslow.com

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Kramer Levin Expands Insurance coverage Practice Team in New York

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New York, NY (PRWEB) June 10, 2013

Kramer Levin Naftalis &amp Frankel LLP introduced nowadays that Daniel A. Rabinowitz has joined the firm as a companion in the companies Insurance Exercise Group. Rabinowitz, who will reside in Kramer Levins New York business office, specializes in transactional and regulatory advice in the insurance sector.

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Rabinowitz has comprehensive knowledge in all sorts of transactional exercise and regulatory matters affecting the insurance policy company, like mergers and acquisitions, cash marketplaces, restructurings, securitization and structured finance, reorganizations, reinsurance, corporate governance and all facets of NAIC and condition regulatory oversight. He currently serves as Chair of the Committee on Insurance Legislation at the New York Town Bar Association.

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Dan has a reliable popularity for supplying customers with specialist counsel across a amount of sophisticated concerns, mentioned Paul S. Pearlman, Kramer Levins Handling Companion. His knowledge will complement our nicely-recognized insurance policies, corporate and securitization techniques.

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Amid a extended list of representations, Rabinowitz provided counsel to two leading global monetary establishments in quite a few transactions and regulatory matters arising out of the 2008 financial crisis, which includes product sales of subsidiaries, securities choices and initial-of-type federal government assistance transactions providing money and liquidity help. He also has been concerned in quite a few insurance policies company demutualizations and comparable conversions, reinsurance transactions, insurance policies-connected securities and other types of alternative risk transfer. Rabinowitz is a repeated writer and speaker on insurance-related matters and also served on a operating group at the ask for of the New York Insurance policies Section in its Submitting Modernization Initiative in 2010.

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Kramer Levin is mentioned for providing clients useful authorized tips and company technique in a way that produces results and Im seeking ahead to growing consumer associations and operating alongside a team I respect and admire, said Rabinowitz.

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Rabinowitz gained his J.D. from the University of Chicago and his A.B., magna cum laude, from Brandeis University where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor modern society.

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About Kramer Levins Insurance coverage Apply:

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Kramer Levin delivers transactional and regulatory suggestions and counsel in the insurance policy industry on the point out, federal and global ranges. Our services incorporate corporate and economic transactions involving the insurance policy and reinsurance industries, insurance coverage and reinsurance merchandise, insurance policies-connected structured finance and alternative risk transfer, insurance policy business restructuring and insolvency and insurance coverage litigation.

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About Kramer Levin: Kramer Levin Naftalis &amp Frankel LLP is a leading, total-services legislation firm with workplaces in New York, Silicon Valley and Paris. Organization lawyers are foremost practitioners in their respective fields. The organization represents World-wide one thousand and rising development businesses, establishments and individuals, throughout a wide selection of industries. For much more information, please pay a visit to http://www.kramerlevin.com.

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