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Previous Posts
- "Costs" In An Attorney Fee Contract
- Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
- Samantha Alana Brown
- Opportunity to Cure in a Services Contract
- Arbitration in Hawaii (Part 2)
- Arbitration in Hawaii
- Civil Discovery in Hawaii
- Truth in Lending Act in Hawaii
- Interference with Hawaii Business
- Hawaii State Court Motions
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Hawaii Attorney Legal Blog
The Law Offices of Philip R. Brown
Friday, June 26, 2009
"Costs" In An Attorney Fee Contract
Costs are typically any expense the attorney incurs while representing you. These expenses vary depending on the type of the case and the location of the witnesses. However, examples of these costs are as follows: photocopying, travel expenses, court reporter expenses, expert witness fees, postage, long distance telephone charges, legal research charges, parking, costs billed by medical provider, insurance company or other entity for copies of medical reports and/or billing statements.
In most contingency fee cases, the attorney agrees to advance payment for these costs, and the client remains responsible for reimbursement of said costs out of client's share of the proceed of any recovery obtained, whether by settlement or jury verdict. Any balance due and owing by client for costs advanced by attorney shall be deducted by attorney out of client's share of the proceeds of said recovery.
In cases where an attorney is retained on an hourly basis, attorneys advance payment of these costs. The client then reimburses attorneys by payment of a monthly billing statement which includes attorneys fees and costs for the monthly billing period.
Labels: Office News, The Legal Profession
posted by PhilBrown at 5:28 PM
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
(1) in more effective advance disclosures to home buyers and sellers of settlement costs;12 U.S.C.A. Section 2601(b).
(2) in the elimination of kickbacks or referral fees that tend to increase unnecessarily the costs of certain settlement services;
(3) in a reduction in the amounts home buyers are required to place in escrow accounts established to insure the payment of real estate taxes and insurance; and
(4) in slight reform and modernization of local recordkeeping of land title information.
A particular RESPA disclosure that must be made by a lender includes the following:
Each person who makes a federally related mortgage loan shall disclose to each person who applies for the loan, at the time of application for the loan, whether the servicing of the loan may be assigned, sold, or transferred to any other person at the time while the loan is outstanding.12 U.S.C.A Section 2605(a)(emphasis added).
The failure of a lender to make the above disclosure establishes a private right of action for the borrower against the lender. Sanborn v American Lending Network, 506 F.Supp.2d 917, 923 (D.Utah, 2007).
Labels: Hawaii Real Estate Litigation
posted by PhilBrown at 8:00 PM
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Friday, May 15, 2009
Samantha Alana Brown
The inactivity on my blog is not the result of being overworked from a trial. My failure to blog is the result of exhaustion caused by a far more happy occasion. I am proud to announce that on March 20, 2009 my wife Sarah and I were blessed with the birth of a daughter, Samantha Alana Brown. Samantha was six pounds ten ounces at birth. Currently her hobbies seem to be eating, sleeping and staring at a picture of hearts painted by her sister, Fiona.

Labels: Office News
posted by PhilBrown at 7:43 PM
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Opportunity to Cure in a Services Contract
Admittedly, the party breaching the contract could argue that (i) there was a mutual rescission of the agreement or (ii) it was orally modified. However, "to establish rescission by mutual consent, the contracting parties' acts and declarations must be inconsistent with the continued existence of the previous contract." AAA Uniform and Linen Supply, Inc. v. Barefoot, Inc., 17 S.W. 3d 627,629 (Mo.App. W.D. 2000) (emphasis added). Moreover, proof of these "acts and declarations" of "rescission must be clear, positive, unequivocal and decisive, and it must manifest the parties' actual intent to abandon contract rights." Id.
The second option, "a written contract can subsequently be orally modified if all of the requisites of a valid or enforceable agreement are met." Honolulu Federal Sav. And Loan Ass'n v. Murphy 7 Haw.App 196, 205 (Haw.App.1988). "A requisite is that the modification must be supported by new consideration." Id.
For a discussion of our Commercial Litigation Practice click
here .
Labels: Commercial Litigation
posted by PhilBrown at 7:20 PM
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Friday, March 06, 2009
Arbitration in Hawaii (Part 2)
That's right, in certain circumstances nonsignatories to an agreement have standing to invoke an agreement's arbitration clause. The Hawaii Supreme Court explained this principle in Luke v Gentry, Ltd., 105 Hawaii 241, 248 (Hawaii, 2004) as follows:
[W]e hold that a nonsignatory agent has standing to invoke an arbitration agreement if one of the following two conditions is met:Id. at 248.
First, when the signatory to a written agreement containing an arbitration clause must rely on the terms of the written agreement in asserting its claims against the nonsignatory. Second, when the signatory to the contract containing a arbitration clause raises allegations of substantially interdependent and concerted misconduct by both the nonsignatory and one or more of the signatories to the contract.
Thus, if you have entered into an arbitration agreement in Hawaii, it appears that it will be enforceable by parties and non parties.
Moreover, if a Hawaii court holds that defendant has standing to invoke an arbitration clause, the court will stay the case pending the outcome of the arbitration. H.R.S. section 658A-7. Admittedly, the stay may be limited to the claim(s) subject to the arbitration that are severable. H.R.S. section 658A-7; Ueoka v Szymanski, 107 Hawaii 386, 396 (Hawaii, 2005). However, in order to promote judicial efficiency, the court will likely the remainder of the action (not just the claims subject to the arbitration) until the arbitrable issues are decided or the parties waive their right to arbitrate. Creative Telecommunications, Inc. v Breeden, 120 F.Supp.2d, 1225, 1242-43 (D.Haw., 1999)("[I]f non-arbitrable issues depend on arbitrable issues, or if resolution of arbitrable issues would render the district court's ruling on the non-arbitrable issues unnecessary, litigation on the non-arbitrable issues should be stayed pending arbitration.").
For a discussion of our Arbitration and Mediation Practice, please click
here.
Labels: Civil Procedure and Trial Practice, Mediation and Arbitration
posted by PhilBrown at 6:42 PM
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Monday, March 02, 2009
Arbitration in Hawaii
If there is an arbitration clause in an agreement, courts are obligated to enforce it so long as the court determines that the dispute is subject to the clause in the agreement. H.R.S. section 658A-6, H.R.S. section 658A-7. Moreover, if (i) a party to the contract files a motion to compel arbitration or (ii) the court orders arbitration, then the court shall stay any proceeding that involves the same claim(s). H.R.S. section 658A-7.
Hawaii Revised Statutes ("H.R.S") section 658A-6 states the following:
(a) An agreement contained in a record to submit to arbitration any existing or subsequent controversy arising between the parties to the agreement is valid, enforceable, and irrevocable except upon a ground that exists at law or in equity for the revocation of a contract.Further, H.R.S. section 658A-7 provides,
(b) The court shall decide whether an agreement to arbitrate exists or a controversy is subject to an agreement to arbitrate.
(c) An arbitrator shall decide whether a condition precedent to arbitrability has been fulfilled and whether a contract containing a valid agreement to arbitrate is enforceable.
(d) If a party to a judicial proceeding challenges the existence of, or claims that a controversy is not subject to, an agreement to arbitrate, the arbitration proceeding may continue pending final resolution of the issue by the court, unless the court otherwise orders.
(a) On motion of a person showing an agreement to arbitrate and alleging another person's refusal to arbitrate pursuant to the agreement:Arbitrations are heavily favored by Hawaii Courts. The Hawaii Supreme Court in Lee v Heftel explained the rationale behind this policy:
(1) If the refusing party does not appear or does not oppose the motion, the court shall order the parties to arbitrate; and
(2) If the refusing party opposes the motion, the court shall proceed summarily to decide the issue and order the parties to arbitrate unless it finds that there is no enforceable agreement to arbitrate.
(b) On motion of a person alleging that an arbitration proceeding has been initiated or threatened but that there is no agreement to arbitrate, the court shall proceed summarily to decide the issue. If the court finds that there is an enforceable agreement to arbitrate, it shall order the parties to arbitrate.
(c) If the court finds that there is no enforceable agreement, it shall not, pursuant to subsection (a) or (b), order the parties to arbitrate.
(d) The court shall not refuse to order arbitration because the claim subject to arbitration lacks merit or grounds for the claim have not been established.
(e) If a proceeding involving a claim referable to arbitration under an alleged agreement to arbitrate is pending in court, a motion under this section shall be made in that court. Otherwise a motion under this section shall be made in any court as provided in section 658A-27.
(f) If a party makes a motion to the court to order arbitration, the court on just terms shall stay any judicial proceeding that involves a claim alleged to be subject to the arbitration until the court renders a final decision under this section.
(g) If the court orders arbitration, the court on just terms shall stay any judicial proceeding that involves a claim subject to the arbitration. If a claim subject to the arbitration is severable, the court may limit the stay to that claim.
. . .[We] emphasize the importance of utilizing alternative methods of dispute resolution in an effort to reduce the growing number of cases that crowd our courts each year. This court has long recognized the strong public policy supporting Hawaii's arbitration statutes as codified in HRS Chapter 658. We have stated that the proclaimed policy . . . is to encourage arbitration as a means of settling differences and thereby avoiding lititgation. Any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration. As with any contract, the parties' intentions control, but those intentions are generously construed as to issues of arbitrability. The preeminent concern of Congress in passing the [Federal Arbitration] Act was to enforce private agreements into which parties had entered, [a concern which] requires that we rigorously enforce agreements to arbitrate.Lee v. Heftel, 81 Hawaii 1,4 (1996)(no citations or brackets included).
For a discussion of our Arbitration and Mediation Practice, please click here.
Labels: Civil Procedure and Trial Practice, Mediation and Arbitration
posted by PhilBrown at 1:43 PM
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Friday, February 20, 2009
Civil Discovery in Hawaii
Moreover, a "failure to serve objections to interrogatories and production of documents within the time period prescribed by the rule is a waiver of such objections." Bohlin v. Brass Rail, 20 F.R.D. 224 (E.D. Pa. 1957); Davis v. Romney, 53 F.R.D. 247 (E.D. Pa. 1971); United States v. Acres of the Land, 66 F.R.D. 570 (E.D. Ill. 1975); Perry v. Golub, 74 F.R.D. 360 (N.D. Ala. 1976); Fretz v. Keltner, 109 F.R.D. 303 (D. Kan. 1986; Brock v. Grace, 110 F.R.D. 58 (D. N.J. 1986). Consequently, a party's failure to respond within the thirty day period as prescribed by Rule 33, H.R.C.P., constitutes a waiver of any objections and all interrogatories must be answered in full and all documents requested must be produced.
posted by PhilBrown at 4:40 PM
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