Foreclosure: Foreclosure Sale Accounting

     The Code of Virginia requires that the trustee’s accounting be filed with the appropriate commissioner of accounts “within six months after the date of a sale.” The Manual for Commissioners of Accounts states that “although the Commissioner does not have specific statutory authority to extend the six month filing date, some courts allow the Commissioner to extend the deadline for good cause shown in advance of the filing date.”

Real Estate: Statute of Limitations Enforced on Challenge to Bylaws Amendment

     The Virginia Condominium Act, specifically Virginia Code Section 55-79.71(C), provides for a statute of limitations in regard to challenging amendments to governing documents. The section provides, in part:
     “An action to challenge the validity of an amendment adopted by the unit owners’ association pursuant to this section may not be brought more than one year after the amendment is recorded.”
     In the case of Godwin v. Bay Point Association Board of Directors, a Norfolk Circuit Court was faced with a homeowner challenge to bylaw amendments. The homeowner, Godwin, had sued the association alleging that it breached its governing documents by taking actions four years earlier and three years earlier that increased her assessment for insurance premiums. The association filed a motion to dismiss Godwin’s complaint on the ground that it was time-barred pursuant to Virginia Code Section 55-79.71(C).
     Four years earlier the association’s board of directors signed a resolution regarding physical damage and flood insurance. Three years earlier it drafted and signed a bylaw amendment relating to insurance premiums. The association argued that challenging either of these actions was time-barred under the statute of limitations.
     The court ruled that the resolution was not an amendment to the condominium governing documents within the meaning of the act. The court found that, at most, the resolution represented a statement of the board’s opinion that the bylaws should be amended to revise the way insurance premiums were assessed against the unit owners. In the resolution, the board acknowledged the need to amend the bylaws and stated that the amendment process was lengthy and inconsistent with the budget preparation schedule for the upcoming fiscal year. Because the resolution was not an amendment adopted by the unit owners pursuant to the act, the court found that the act’s statute of limitations did not apply. However, the court ruled that the bylaws amendment was an amendment to the governing documents within the definition contemplated by the act. Accordingly, the one-year statute of limitations applied.
     Godwin argued that because the association violated mandatory procedures for amending the bylaws, the amendment was null and void, and thus, the statute of limitations did not apply. The court, however, in examining the statute, noted that nothing in the statute suggested that only valid bylaw amendments are subject to the one-year statute of limitations. The court noted that any amendment, not just valid ones, may be challenged within one year. Accordingly, Godwin’s claim was barred by the statute of limitations.
     Godwin then tried to argue that there was a breach of fiduciary duty (the legal duty of the board to act in the best interests of the residents). Godwin and the association agreed that an action for such breach must be filed within two years from the date of breach. Godwin argued that, although the association initially breached its fiduciary duty four and three years earlier “when in bad faith it knowingly and willfully” adopted the resolution and the bylaws amendment, there were renewed breaches when the annual budgets were adopted in the last two years, which reflected the change made to assessments for insurance premiums. The court disagreed, finding that any breach of fiduciary duty relating to the change in the insurance premium assessment took place when the association acted four and three years ago to adopt the resolution and bylaw amendment. The latest of these actions occurred over two years prior to Godwin’s filing suit. Therefore, the claim was time-barred.

 

 

Bankruptcy: Lien Avoidance Case Review: After-Acquired Property

     In the case of Butler v. Southern O Corp the United States Bankruptcy Court at Roanoke, Virginia ruled that a debtor who received a Chapter 7 discharge could avoid a judicial lien filed in the previous year against the debtor's real estate in which he had no equity because of outstanding deeds of trust and for which he had filed a homestead exemption. In Butler the Court found as fact that the amount of the judicial lien (at least $115,000), plus the amount of other liens ($76,934), plus any exemption to which debtor might be entitled, exceeded the value of the property of $72,000.00.

     The Court held that the lien was entirely avoidable pursuant to Bankruptcy Code §522 (f). The Bankruptcy Court ruled that it was Congress's intention to protect any further equity the debtor may accumulate, by the reduction of the principal amount of the mortgage, from payments hereafter made by the debtors. Accordingly, the Bankruptcy Court ruled that any future increase in value accrued to the benefit of the debtor as after-acquired property was likewise exempt.

 

Collections: Equal Opportunity Credit Act

     In a past blog, we began a review of The Equal Opportunity Credit Act ("the ECOA" or "the Act").
     The City of Richmond Circuit Court denied an ECOA defense pled by a wife who had signed a broad release when the loan was refinanced. The case was Richmond Lotco L.P. v. Perrowville Dev. Corp.
     In Perrowville the lender obtained a guaranty and general release of claims from four directors of a real estate development company and their wives. The release was included in the modification of an existing loan that the lender had purchased from the Resolution Trust Corp. after the original lender, a bank, went into receivership. The release stated that the borrowers and guarantors would release the note holders "from any and all claims, losses, liabilities, causes of action of any kind whatsoever, if any, whether existing or contingent, known or unknown, matured or unmatured, that the borrowers or guarantors may now have or have had in whatever capacity against the noteholder...".
     When the successor lender brought a collection suit under the modification, the wives claimed that they were not involved in the business and that their guaranties had been required solely as a result of their marital status, in violation of the ECOA. The wives argued that the ECOA gave them both a defense to the collection action and a counterclaim against the lender. The lender argued that the release was part of the consideration that the lender received for continuing to finance the development project under the modification. The Court ruled in favor of the lender, stating that the modification agreement did not constitute a violation of the ECOA and that therefore the wives could not pursue either a defense or a counterclaim.
     The litigation that has arisen gives good cause to review lending policies for ECOA compliance. Please call me at 545-6250 if you have any questions.