The simple fact is that most cases settle. There are a number reasons that this is true, but at least one study suggests that settling is often the smart move. On August 7, 2008, the New York Times published an article entitled Study Finds Settling Is Better Than Going to Trial.  The findings are consistent with the observations of many litigators who advise their clients that eliminating the risks and costs of trial can frequently be a smart move.

Although it is not a frequent occurrence, sometimes an employee is surprised when his or her employer fails to pay them wages earned. There are a variety of statutes and laws pertaining to the payment of wages, most of which are set forth at A.R.S. §§ 23-350 - 23-392, that require payment of wages within a specific period of time and also allow for certain penalties when wages are not paid in a timely manner.

If you're facing the foreclosure of your Arizona home and you want to stop the foreclosure sale, please act now. We meet with far too many people who have a trustee's sale coming up within days (or sometimes hours) and they want to do something to stop the sale. Even if there are legal grounds to challenge the sale, it can be very difficult - and much more expensive - without the benefit of time.

The real lesson from this article is how easy it can be for a lawsuit to get out of hand. Even more than the money spent by both sides, this dispute over roughly $2,000 dragged on for over a decade, likely inflicting untold and uncompensible emotional damage on all involved - not to mention the time lost that could have been spent on more productive endeavors.

Arizona lenders, in some but not all cases, may maintain legal actions to recover a balance left owing after the sale or foreclosure of real estate pursuant to a trust deed, which is addressed in A.R.S. § 33-807. Section 33-814 addresses the ninety-day time limitation for bringing such actions, the procedure for establishing the fair market value to determine the amount of a deficiency judgment, and the obligations of guarantors.

Unfortunately, there is no way to accurately predict how long it will take an individual lender to initiate and complete a Trustee's Sale on any individual home. Technically, as soon as the loan is in default due to the failure to make timely payments the lender may start the process, but usually it takes much longer.

The Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act is codified in the Arizona Revised Statutes at A.R.S. Sections 33-1301 through 33-1381. Landlords and tenants should be aware, however, that other statutes and laws may also be pertinent to their case, particularly those governing forcible detainer actions and, in the case of mobile homes, the separate Arizona Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.

In Arizona, absent some agreement, rule or statute to the contrary, a lender can generally seek a deficiency judgment after foreclosing on a property securing a loan, if the property does not sell for enough money to satisfy the debt in full. Fortunately for most typical Arizona homeowners, the Arizona legislature has adopted anti-deficiency statutes that preclude such recourse in many typical fact scenarios.

The Arizona Court of Appeals, in the case of Amtrust Bank v. Fosset, recently addressed the question of whether a lender who has issued federal tax Form 1099-C indicating a debt was cancelled may thenn sue the borrowers on the obligation. This is an issue of significant importance in Arizona due to the economic conditions that have resulted in a flood of foreclosures, following which many borrowers will receive Form 1099-C.

The anti-deficiency statutes currently on the books, in particular A.R.S. § 33-814(G), apply only to instances where the property is "sold pursuant to the trustee's power of sale," not in the case of a short sale. Although there have been discussions of enacting legislation addressing short sales, and in particular the issue of deficiency liability in a short sale, no such legislation has been enacted.