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Community Banks Will Benefit from HR 2226
Community banks stand to benefit if HR 2226 continues to progress toward passage. This bill – the Portfolio Lending and Mortgage Access Act – amends the federal Truth...
Texas Home Equity Reform Passes
As was anticipated, on Tuesday November 7th, Texas voters approved Proposition 2, an amendment to the Texas Constitution that allows Texas equity loans to be...
J. Allen Smith Recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer
J. Allen Smith, President of SettlePou, has been recognized in Texas Super Lawyers, published by Thompson Reuters, for the 11th year in a row. Texas Super Lawyers are...
First Tuesday can be “First Wednesday”: Legislative Update on Foreclosure Laws
The recently concluded Regular Session of the Texas Legislature resulted in two seemingly minor but important changes to Texas foreclosure law. First in House Bill...
Texas to Vote on Major Amendment to Home Equity Law
The Texas Legislature in the recently concluded regular session approved SJR 60, proposing the first major regulatory overhaul of home equity lending in nearly a...
Potential Relief from HVCRE Regulations
Construction lending was widely viewed as a strong contributing factor to the 2008 financial crisis and many banking failures. In the aftermath, regulators imposed new...
Houston Court addresses Non-Subscribers’ Duty to Provide Necessary Instrumentalities
On April 14, 2017, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Austin v. Kroger, following direction from the related Texas Supreme Court’s 2015 opinion in Austin v. Kroger,...
Supreme Court Continues To Limit Liability Under Debt Collection Act
In the second of two Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) cases this term, the United States Supreme Court continued a recent trend of limiting liability...
U.S. Supreme Court Limits Liability Under The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
A recent United States Supreme court decision – Midland Funding v. Johnson – continues a trend to limit the scope of liability under the federal Fair Debt Collection...
Study Supports Benefits of Non-Subscribing to Workers’ Compensation in Texas
In Texas, employers are not required to subscribe to the state-run workers’ compensation system and instead have the option to provide their employees an injury benefit...