Sabatini and Associates, LLC Attorneys at Law :: Newington :: Hartford :: Connecticut » Commercial Litigation

Massachusett’s Highest Court Voids Foreclosures on Two Homes

James Sabatini — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:03:33 +0000

Massachusetts’ highest court voided foreclosures on two homes because the banks that tried to take title failed to show they held the mortgages at the time of foreclosure. The ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court on Friday upheld a lower court ruling against U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. The ruling should have an effect on other foreclosure cases where the banks paperwork specifically with regards to establishing the owner of the mortgage is not legally adequate.

Retained in Corporate Dispute

James Sabatini — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:32:56 +0000

The law firm of Sabatini and Associates, LLC was recently retained in a corporate dispute between a minority member and the Limited Liability Company. The firm represents the minority member who is being forced out.

Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Chase Bank For Credit Card Abuse

James Sabatini — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:55:51 +0000

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Chase Bank USA, N.A. after the credit card issuer more than doubled minimum monthly payments and imposed an “Account Service Charge” on customers who had accepted its fixed-rate balance transfer offers.

The class action complaint alleges that Chase induced preferred customers to take out sizable balance-transfer loans by offering 2.99% to 4.99% promotional rates that would remain fixed for the life of the loan. It is alleged that after soliciting these long term loans – and charging transaction fees of up to 3% of the loan amount – Chase implemented a “forced loan modification program” to coerce consumers to surrender the benefit of their fixed promotional rates.

Chase has recently notified customers that unless they pay off their entire loan balance within 30 days or accept a higher annual rate, Chase will more than double their required minimum monthly payment and charge a $10 fee for each month that the loan remains outstanding.

Satriani Files Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Coldplay

James Sabatini — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:39:20 +0000

Joe Satriani filed a copyright infringement suit in Los Angeles last Thursday (December 4). He is seeking a jury trial, damages and “any and all profits” attributable to the alleged copyright infringement. He is alleging that Coldplay’s Viva La Vida track is a rip off of his song If I Could Fly.

Listen to the two songs and then listen to Satriani’s song played over Coldplay’s song and see if you hear the similarities.

Morgan Keegan Selling Toxic Debt To Seniors

James Sabatini — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:14:20 +0000

The Memphis based broker Morgan Keegan is under fire for allegedly selling toxic debt to seniors. Multiple lawsuits have been filed charging the firm with failing to disclose to investors the risks of seven mutual funds that were stuffed with risky subprime debt. Many of the people that invested in these funds were seniors who were advised that the funds were conservative investments. Instead of being conversative, the funds were extremely risky. In fact, the funds have lost 50 to 86% over the last year. These dramatic losses have decimated the retirement accounts of many seniors. It appears that these investors should have never been sold these funds and it further appears that these funds failed to disclose the risks. While all investments carry risks, they must be properly disclosed. Hopefully through litigation, the investors will be reimbursed their losses. If you have invested in a mutual fund that was labled conservative and have suffered considerable losses due to the funds improper exposure to subprime debt, feel free to contact our lawyers today.

Worst Of Real Estate May Not Be Behind Us

James Sabatini — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:08:18 +0000

There are some so-called experts out there that have announced that the real estate market will bottom later this year or in early 2009. This theory is premised largely on the belief that once the worst of the subprime crisis ends, the market will bottom and slowly tick upwards. This theory may be failing to consider the following. In August 6, 2008 edition of the Wall Street Journal, the paper reported a story of FirstFed Financial a LA based bank that just posted a 70 million first quarter loss. The loss was not due to subprime mortgages which the bank largely and smartly steered away from. Instead, these loses are tied to payment option mortgages made to people with good credit. Certain bank analysts are prediciting that up to 48% of these option ARMS could wind up in default. Firstfed has taken the extraordinary effort of contacting borrowers with these loans that are current in payments and offering modifications so that the loans remain in good standing. I am afraid that the mortgage crisis will continue, simply moving to another group of mortgages turned toxic.

Corrected Medical Record Leads To Credit Life Insurance Payment & Legal Settlement

James Sabatini — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:07:07 +0000

Vincent Sabatini is pleased to announce that he recently obtained a settlement for a client whose husband had past away. Prior to his death, our client and her husband refinanced their home with Wells Fargo Bank. The home equity line was in the amount of $137,000.00. They purchased credit life insurance with Centerioum Life an affilate of Wells Fargo. Part of the application process required each of them to fill out a medical form indicting whether or not they had treatment for cancer or heart disease or conditions related to each. Each said no. Shortly after the loan went into effect, the husband died. The wife made a claim against the life insurance company to pay the off the loan balance of approximately $134,000.00. The company refused relying on a “stray” medical report from a note by a resident from St. Francis Hospital that the husband ”had a history of cornary disease”. The widow denied this. Attorney Vincent Sabatini was hired. The case was investigated the matter. Certain recrods were unable to be obtained without court intervention. So, a Bill of Discovery was filed against Wells Fargo and Centerion. A Bill of Discovery is a procedural tool available in Connecticut satet court. The tool allows a person to obtain a court order requiring another individual or company to disclose certain evidence in order for the person to determine if he or she has a legally viable claim. The bill of discovery was granted and the recrods were obtained. The firm then intervied the decedent’s primary care physicain. This physicain was shown the ” medical note” in question. The physican stated that the note had to be in error as his records indicated the husband did not have the conditions indicated in the report. Attorney Sabatini tracked down the surgeon at St. Francis. Attorney Sabatini got the surgeon to reveiw the records. Upon review, the surgeon concluded that the “note” was in error. The surgeon said that the resident made a mistake. The surgeon agreed to
write a report indicating the error and correcting the note. Upon receipt of the corrected medical recrod, the law firm filed suit in Hartford against Wells Fargo and Centerion. General Counsel from Wells contacted our firm and indicated that the defendants were interesting in settling. After two months of settlement talks, the case was settled for exactly want the client wanted and deserved. Wells Fargo paid off the note in full; reimbursed to the wife overpayments made since her husband died and paid all attorneys’ fees and court costs.

Schwab’s YieldPlus Funds Lose A Bundle For Its Investors

James Sabatini — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:00:25 +0000

Investors in Charles Schwab’s ultra-short bond funds the Schwab YieldPlus Fund Investor Shares (Symbol: SWYPX) and the Schwab YieldPlus Fund – Select Shares (Symbol: SWYSX) may be entitled to recover their investment losses. Charles Schwab marketed its YieldPlus funds as safe investments that would provide “higher potential returns than money market funds, with only marginally higher risk.” Charles Schwab also represented that its YieldPlus funds were designed to provide “high current income with minimal changes in share price,” and that this objective would be accomplished by investing in a “well-diversified” portfolio of bonds with durations of one year or less. But the YieldPlus mutual funds have decreased in value by 25% during the first quarter of 2008. That performance is far worse than the performance of money market funds and other ultra-short bond mutual funds during the same period.�The funds were over-concentrated in risky mortgage-backed securities that contained subprime mortgage loans. The Funds also invested heavily in collateralized debt obligations. If you lost money in a Schwab YieldPlus fund please contact�us for a free case evaluation.

Secret Allstate Documents Reveal Insurance Bad Faith Practices

James Sabatini — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:52:27 +0000

Allstate Insurance has for years kept secret documents�on how to low-ball auto claims to keep profits high. Known as the McKinsey documents, they�are now being highly sought by Florida insurance investigators who�ve launched a full scale look at�the insurance giants�rate-making and claims-paying practices. Florida�s Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has suspended Allstate from doing business in the state after the company failed to turn over information�on its business practices. An appellate court lifted the ban.��A company spokesman tells the Tampa Tribune that Allstate�will turn over the McKinsey documents, but they only concern auto insurance, not homeowners and they contain ideas that never became company policies.�The McKinsey documents get their name from the consulting firm McKinsey & Co that Allstate hired in the early 1990s to help draft its business practices.�A few lawyers who have sued Allstate have seen them. Most have protective orders from the court guarding the��trade secrets� of Allstate and cannot release them to the public. McKinsey and Co. also allegedly created documents about how to handle homeowners insurance, also highly sought by trial attorneys in�property insurance litigation.� The documents have been succesfully used by lawyers in proving bad faith claims against Allstate.� However, the lawyers that have received the documents are under protective orders preventing the disclosure of the documents.

$750,000 Business Litigation Settlement

James Sabatini — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:49:39 +0000

Connecticut business litigation lawyer Vincent Sabatini of Sabatini and Associates, LLC obtained an arbitration award in the amount of $380,000.00. Our client was involved in a business dispute where she was wrongfully terminated from a business where she was also a minority shareholder. Following the arbitration award, the case settled in the amount of $750,000.00. The Connecticut business litigation lawyers at Sabatini and Associates, LLC were not the original lawyers in this case. Prior to the law firm’s involvement, the defendant’s settlement offer was zero. The Hartford based business litigation lawyers at Sabatini and Associates, LLC have a wealth of experience in representing clients involved in business disputes. This case is yet another example of our experience and knowledge achieving results. These past results include an arbitration panel’s award of five million dollars to our client for unpaid commissions. The arbitration award was later confirmed by the Hartford Superior Court.