Photo of Edward S. Weil

Edward S. Weil serves as a member of Dykema's Executive Board and is a member and immediate past Director of the Firm's Financial Industry Group, which brings together over 140 Dykema lawyers who represent financial services firms in various litigation, transactional, regulatory/compliance and restructuring capacities. He is the co-team leader of the Firm’s Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Special Servicer Group. In his general commercial litigation practice, Mr. Weil represents companies in industries ranging from telecommunications, food technology solutions, airport technology, real estate developers, home security and home furnishing manufacturers, hospitality firms, and business services providers. Mr. Weil litigates a wide variety of commercial matters, including fraud, business tort, breach of fiduciary duty, and trade secrets misappropriation and competition-related claims, as well as partnership disputes and corporate governance claims. In his financial services practice, Mr. Weil represents large and mid-sized banks, large CMBS special servicers, purchasers of non-performing commercial real estate and C&I debt, investors and title insurers in litigation including loan enforcement and foreclosure actions, fraudulent conveyance cases, pursuit of guarantors, defense of lender liability claims, Creditor Committee litigation, mechanic’s lien and land-use claims, and bankruptcy litigation. He has litigated cases all over the U.S. and has had substantial international litigation experience.

2020 was a bad year… okay, it was a really, really bad year. CMBS borrowers, in particular, found themselves in default and often-times upside down on their CMBS loans. While 2021 has started to show signs of life, even showing a gentle decline in special servicing and delinquency rates, a closer look reveals that certain sectors remain in distress.

As forbearance periods expire, state moratoriums on commercial evictions and foreclosures end, and businesses exhaust federal PPP and other stimulus aid, more foreclosures and other loan enforcement solutions are inevitable. (The status of moratoriums on commercial foreclosures/eviction are as follows: Illinois—expired; Michigan—expired; Texas—expired; New York—expired May 1, 2021; California—county-specific; Ohio—expired; and Indiana—expired.) While the world remains hopeful for a more “normal” 2021, the impacts on CMBS borrowers will likely continue in a state of flux for some time.Continue Reading Workouts Never Go Out of Style: What To Expect in the CMBS Market During the Second Half of 2021, and Beyond

This article was originally published on Law360

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused, and continues to cause, massive humanitarian and economic upheaval with no clear end in sight. Borrowers are already scrambling to increase liquidity from their banks. Some will continue to operate openly, honestly, and in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders. Others will not.

Notwithstanding that lenders and governments are attempting to mitigate the crisis’s effects,[1] loan defaults are anticipated to be increasing, and accordingly, so will loan enforcement lawsuits.

In lawsuits stemming from the COVID-19 crisis, where the default was caused by more than just a lack of money—fraud, mismanagement, neglect, waste, misconduct—litigants, and the courts, may increasingly turn to equity receivers to help protect collateral and manage struggling businesses.
Continue Reading Illinois Courts May Increasingly Embrace Equity Receiverships

On April 1, 2020, Ohio’s Governor issued Executive Order 2020-08D, a copy of which is linked here. Issued pursuant to the Governor’s implied police powers to address the economic impact of COVID-19, the Executive Order requests that commercial landlords and their lenders (including their servicers) take certain steps to provide relief to small business commercial tenants and commercial real estate borrowers.

SUMMARY OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 2020-08D

The Executive Order is framed as a “request” that commercial landlords and lenders take certain actions–not an order commanding that they do so. Further, the Executive Order does not suspend any federal or state law.
Continue Reading Ohio Issues Executive Order Requesting Relief for Small Business Tenants and Commercial Real Estate Borrowers