When I learned that Loan Center of California was suing M.L. Implode, I said that I don’t even like that site, but thought the LCC lawsuit was ridiculous. I’m glad to see LCC has dropped it’s case, and the lawsuit has been dismissed. We concentrate on the positive here at lenderama, but that doesn’t mean […]
More: continued here
Exclusive: for immediate release. Bay Area-based pay option ARM lender Loan Center of California (LCC) and Aaron Krowne/Krowne Concepts Inc. ( Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter ) have settled the lawsuit which was filed by LCC on May 7, 2007, in LCC’s home county of Solano, CA. The suit stemmed from a report from a former LCC employee, that was posted anonymously on ml-implode.com for about a day in mid-April, 2007. The report alleged that LCC was suffering from financial difficulties and had engaged in improprieties. LCC disputed the content of the report and sued Krowne and ml-implode for libel, claiming that LCC was damaged by the post itself as well as by the implication that the company had “imploded”. ML-Implode refused to divulge the identity of the former LCC employee who had provided the information on the principle that the anonymity of news information sources is sacrosanct. By the terms of the settlement, LCC has dismissed its claims against ML-Implode, without any admission of liability or any monetary payments. The suit was formally dismissed by the court on December 24, 2007. Supplementary Resources LCC Lawsuit Fundraising page First LCC lawsuit press release Second LCC lawsuit press release Donate right now to support us against similar threats in the future. Epilogue We thank our supporters in the mortgage lending community for rallying forth to keep us running. Without the approximately $25,000 donated by the public, we probably wouldn’t have survived (the total direct costs of the suit were about $40,000—and keep in mind we never entered litigation). We really couldn’t have done it without you, and so it really is your site. Our sincere thanks goes out to the good people of the mortgage lending and banking community for “adopting” us and giving us the opportunity to contribute to greater transparency and public dialog in such an important area. We feel that the outcome of this suit represents only a partial victory for bloggers and internet-based public forums in general. The judge in our suit did agree that the site was indeed fundamentally focused on an important topic of public discourse. However, almost incomprehensibly to us, he did not dismiss the suit in line with the letter and intent of the CDA (section 230) and California’s “anti-SLAPP” law. We strongly believe this was a grave mistake. As is made clear by the costs we faced in the suit, providing a forum for whistleblowing and debate on critical contemporary issues remains a risky and expensive proposition. It is virtually “death upon challenge” for any individual or small-scale operation. It is thus unclear to us why anyone would ever get involved in such an enterprise if they truly understood the peril they were placing themselves in. We certainly would not have, if we knew then what we know now. At a time when the internet’s promise of lower communication barriers for average citizens is becoming a reality, the legal system remains the greatest threat to the public’s receiving the benefit of this gift. Now, more than ever, we need to provide mechanisms which enable regular people to organize and fight back against entrenched corporate and government interests which have deeply corrupted our economy and society. This starts with, and relies centrally upon grassroots communication. So-called anti-SLAPP laws, such as California’s law that we attempted to invoke, seem to be more of a fig leaf put out by these interests rather than a genuine attempt at reform. Sadly, this seems to be the state of affairs across the country, and the entire country is worse-off for it. So we ask for your continued support in fighting this fight—because we cannot accepted that outcome as a permanent one. —apk
More: continued here
South Korea’s consumer confidence declined from a five-year high, signaling spending may slow and crimp growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. via Bloomberg.com - Asia
More: continued here
Please take your seats, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening. Thank you for joining me once again for DealBook’s annual “closing dinner,” where we toast the deals of the past 365 days and the dealmakers behind … via International Herald Tribune
More: continued here
Tony Gallegos of the Mortgage Cicerone released his Top 20 Bloggers for 2007. Mike Mueller and myself made the list, as well as a bevy of other great bloggers worth checking out. Thanks Tony!
More: continued here
‘”Long-term annuities are almost always inappropriate for seniors, as they can tie up retirement savings far beyond one’s life expectancy,”
More: continued here
C / MER It’s the bottomless write-downs! According to William Tanona of Goldman Sachs , the write-downs we’ve already seen at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch aren’t even close to being final. via Seeking Alpha
More: continued here
“We are fully funded with working capital to meet our present and future needs and objectives”
Chrysler says its finances not as dire as WSJ claims; Goldman is buying Cheyne SIV assets; UBS scrutiny by Swiss regulators?; Cisco plans to network entire cities; News Corp sells 8 stations Chrysler says it … via Wall Street Folly
More: continued here
“They would likely choose based on analyst coverage in that area, prior underwriting (history), and performance”
Merrill Lynch has bumped Goldman Sachs from the No. 1 spot on an annual ranking of U.S. IPO bookrunners. via Earth Times
More: continued here
The receivers of troubled structured investment vehicle SIV Portfolio PLC, formerly known as Cheyne Finance, have agreed to sell the $7 billion portfolio of assets Goldman Sachs as part of the SIV’s … via SmartMoney
More: continued here