News Coverage

A West Allis nonprofit that operates nationwide has agreed to pay $1.9 million to the federal government after a whistleblower exposed it for repackaging Chinese products and claiming they had been made by visually impaired Americans.
Such claims helped Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired earn the agency Ability One certification, a major advantage in winning contracts with government agencies like the U.S. Navy and Air Force.
Paul Inzeo, the company's former marketing...

Almost a quarter of hotels were delinquent on their mortgage payments in July, the highest rate on record, according to a new report.
Some 23.4% of commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) loans, which finance many hotels, were more than 30 days late in July, totaling $20.6 billion. Only 1.34% of hotel CMBS loans were in default in July 2019, according to Trepp, a New York City-based data, analytics and technology company.
“If hotels don't get more help, we will start to see...

It’s all too easy for operators to leave the fine print of their brands’ insurance policies to agents. The world of insurance is complex, and often operators take their providers’ recommendations at face value, or simply let their policies roll into a new year with little examination. But as the industry continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, operators need a new, more vigilant approach to their coverage.
As most operators purchase insurance through an...

Three hotel operators indebted to Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) trusts sued in the Southern District of New York federal court because they received no answer from lenders about whether accepting Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) money would violate their loan agreement.
“Borrowers wish to avoid any declaration of default or declaration that a Springing Recourse Event has occurred because they accessed PPP funds to keep their business above water while continuing to...

The coronavirus left Grainger Rickenbaker, a 21-year-old Drexel University student and hockey goalie, without in-person lectures, seminars or labs as the school switched to remote learning.
So he sued.
Rickenbaker is suing the Philadelphia university for the pro-rated price of his tuition, saying he didn’t get what he paid for. His lawsuit is one of at least 100 closure-related suits filed against colleges and universities in federal and state courts.
In total, more than...

The coronavirus left Grainger Rickenbaker, a 21-year-old Drexel University student and hockey goalie, without in-person lectures, seminars or labs as the school switched to remote learning.
So he sued.
Rickenbaker is suing the Philadelphia university for the pro-rated price of his tuition, saying he didn’t get what he paid for. His lawsuit is one of at least 100 closure-related suits filed against colleges and universities in federal and state courts.
In total, more than...

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on America’s elderly population. Nursing home residents have been hit the hardest, with 20,000 dead across the country as of mid-May. Many of those people have died due to negligence from staff and administrators. Naturally, families want to sue the culprits. Meanwhile nursing home operators are demanding immunity, often with success.
Prominent Elder Law attorney Brian Mahany explains, “If you live in Florida and watch the...

At a time when the coronavirus pandemic is derailing the commercial mortgage-backed securities landscape, a whistleblower in Seattle has thrown another wrench into the CMBS market.
But financial services experts said there isn't enough information to draw definitive conclusions about whether the complaint is credible or if it is, whether it would have broad implications for the CMBS market.
On Friday, a report from ProPublica detailed a complaint by John Flynn, a mortgage insider...

Operators of hotels in several states have asked New York and Florida federal courts to rule that they can participate in the Paycheck Protection Program without fear of triggering a default on prior loans whose terms forbid taking on more debt.
In a pair of complaints filed separately Friday against U.S. Bank NA and Wilmington Trust NA, the hotel operators said they're desperate for the aid but are concerned about possible repercussions for their existing loans, which are held in...

In 2016, a New Yorker reporter noted that contractors outnumbered U.S. troops three to one in Afghanistan. Part of the reason for this was that moving around on the ground was so dangerous in Afghanistan that our government basically paid local people to risk their lives, for example, by driving trucks and transporting materials for the U.S. military.
“The jobs were dangerous—more contractors had been killed so far that year than U.S. soldiers—but the payoff was...