In this issue of Community Banker, we discuss digital marketing and the federal anti-spam laws which regulate it.

An excerpt:

We weren’t going to mention the pandemic, but it’s a fact that personal sales pitches and bank events are impossible or undesirable during lockdown, quarantine, and social distancing. For many businesses, email advertising is stepping into the breach. Email is a great way to contact your existing customers or to reach out to prospective customers. It’s inexpensive! It’s fast! You can track its effectiveness as a marketing tool! It can also get you in legal trouble! If you use email marketing, you need to be aware of the CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets the rules for commercial email.

Click here to continue reading the November/December 2020 issue of Community Banker!

In this issue of Community Banker, we discuss purchases of money security interest “superpriority” in livestock.

An excerpt:

Under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, the first-in-time perfected security party is ordinarily King of the Priority Hill; with few exceptions, the secured creditor that perfects its interest first will prevail over all other claimants to the same property of the debtor. This priority system rewards the prudent creditor who wins the computerized race to the Secretary of State’s filing office and is first to give notice to the world of its security interest. One of the few exceptions to the “first in time, first in right” rule is the superpriority provided to the lender with a perfected purcahse money security interest (PMSI) in livestock.

Click here to continue reading the September/October issue of Community Banker!

Loni Bryantt, left, and Nici Meyer, right

Olson & Burns P.C., a leading commercial law and banking law firm, is pleased to announce the addition of two attorneys to its statewide practice representing banks, and both large and small businesses.

Attorney Nici Meyer is a lifelong resident of North Dakota who grew up farming and ranching throughout western and central North Dakota. Ms. Meyer graduated from Rugby High School and obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Moorhead State University in 1998, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 2001. Her law career began in southwest North Dakota where Ms. Meyer served as the elected state’s attorney for both Bowman and Slope Counties, in addition to working as a sole practitioner with a general practice focused on real estate transactions and title, probate law, collections, and civil litigation. Ms. Meyer also has extensive experience in contract drafting, review, and negotiations, as well as risk management.

Prior to joining Olson and Burns P.C., Ms. Meyer served as an Assistant Attorney General in the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office within the Civil Litigation and Natural Resources Division where she worked on the regulation of oil and gas production, civil litigation, and various administrative law cases.

In addition to her law career, Ms. Meyer has continued her passion for ranching alongside her husband and partnering with her parents in a cow/calf operation. In her spare time, Ms. Meyer enjoys training and working with her horses and rodeoing with her family; she also enjoys hunting and a friendly game of golf.

Ms. Meyer is licensed in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota.

Attorney Loni Bryantt is a Minot native and is pleased to return to practice law in her hometown. Ms. Bryantt obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2017. In May 2020, she received her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Dakota School of Law and earned an Indian Law Certificate, which recognizes those students who take at least 15 credits in Indian Law and Tribal Law.

Ms. Bryantt has broad experience in legal research, legal writing, and courtroom procedure and protocol. While in law school, she participated in Moot Court, was the Ou tside Articles Editor for the North Dakota Law Review, worked as a legal intern on the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs with Senator John Hoeven, worked as a law clerk for a Grand Forks law firm, and served as a judicial law clerk for the Northeast Central Judicial District Court.

Ms. Bryantt will be writing the North Dakota Bar Exam on July 28th and 29th.

Can a bank accept a check that is missing the amount written in words?

Should statements for a UTMA account be mailed to the custodian or the minor/beneficiary?

Answers to these questions and more in our July/August 2020 Community Banker update.

Also, some news about two talented new attorneys joining the Olson & Burns team.

Click here to continue reading.

Recently Olson & Burns P.C. attorney Jessica Merchant shared her insights on the role of technology in practicing the law, particularly during the pandemic.

An excerpt:

Jessica Merchant, 39, an attorney with Olson & Burns in Minot, N.D., said much the same thing – but with a caveat. Yes, she said, firms often are slow to change but, at least when it comes to things like technology, there is a reason.

“I think that, especially in the legal profession, it's hard because we want to make sure that all of our client information is protected. … I tend to think change is slow to a certain extent because before we switch everything lock, stock and barrel, we want to make sure that we have proper cyber security, that all the metadata and everything like that is protected.”

Continue reading!

In this issue of Community Banker we discuss the final rule change for Reg. C HMDA thresholds changes. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released the final rule changing the threshold of mortgage originations for both closed-end and open-end credit, which will tell you whether or not your financial institution is an HMDA reporter.

Also, what’s a “dwelling” for HMDA purposes? A loan is not a closed-end mortgage “loan” and a line of credit is not an open-end “line of credit” unless it is secured by a lien on a “dwelling.” A dwelling is a residential structure. There is no requirement that the structure be attached to real property or that it be the applicant’s or borrower’s residence.

Click here to read this May/June 2020 issue of Community Banker and learn more about these issues!

The COVID-19 epidemic is impacting our government, our businesses, and our lives. As we all adapt to this situation, the professionals at Olson & Burns stand ready to meet your legal needs even as we comply with the necessities of social distancing and restricted commerce.

Although our office has restricted access, the professionals at Olson & Burns have all the resources needed to provide uninterrupted client services. We remain available to you by telephone or email.  If you prefer, we can also schedule consults by way of video conference services. In situations where documents may need to be delivered or signed, we can make arrangements to accommodate that need safely.

We find that many of our clients who come to us for services such as estate planning, business succession, and real estate matters say they've been making plans to meet those needs for months, before finding time to meet with one of our attorneys. As we all spend more time at home to help prevent the spread of this virus, you may find you have time to take up this business, or other legal needs.

The spread of the coronavirus, along with some of the fast-moving policy decisions being made at all levels of government, may be leaving you with questions in both your personal and professional life.

We can help. Nothing can help bring certainty to an uncertain situation like planning, and sound legal advice.

Do not hesitate to contact us, whatever your needs. As always, Olson & Burns is on call for you.

Our phone number is 701-839-1740. Our email is olsonpc@minotlaw.com.

Or you can use the form below to reach us.

In this issue of Community Banker, we discuss the Small Business Reorganization Act and how it changes bankruptcy law.

An excerpt:

Effective February 20, 2020, an amendment to the Bankruptcy Code aims to make small business bankruptcies faster and less expensive. The “Small Business Reorganization Act” (SBRA) is designed to help small businesses to reorganize in bankruptcy by choosing (“opting-in”) to be treated as a subchapter V debtor under the SBRA. The SBRA is an effort to create a workable compromise for small-business debtors between having to file a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, when neither chapter is a good fit.

To continue reading this issue, click here.

If you’d like to read past issues of Community Banker, check out our newsletter archive.

The Community Banker is prepared by attorneys at Olson & Burns P.C. to provide information pertaining to legal developments affecting the field of banking. In order to accomplish this objective, we welcome any comments our readers have regarding the content and format of this publication. Please address your comments to olsonpc@minotlaw.com.

Recently Olson & Burns attorneys Richard Olson, Jessica Merchant, and Ryan Quarne won a ruling before the North Dakota Supreme Court relating to damages caused by an eminent domain taking.

The case is Northern States Power v. Mikkelson, et al.

From the opinion:

The parties do not agree on the amount of damages NSP owes the Mikkelsons. The Mikkelsons claim the easement totally devalues the acreage it burdens. NSP claims the easement devalues the acreage by a lesser amount. The parties’ dispute creates a factual issue as to the amount the easement devalued the Mikkelson’s property. “The determination of damages in an eminent domain action is a question of fact to be decided by the trier of fact.” Davis, 480 N.W.2d at 725. “Deciding an issue by summary judgment is not appropriate if the court must draw inferences and make findings on disputed facts.” Desert Partners IV, L.P. v. Benson, 2016 ND 37, ¶ 10, 875 N.W.2d 510.

The justices ruled that the lower court erred when it granted summary judgment on the issue of damages.

You can read the full opinion here.

Joshua Wolfe, a graduate of the UND School of Law, was part of a pilot program to get young attorneys into rural communities.

When Josh Wolfe was a teenager living on his family’s farm in a rural North Dakota community, he picked up a book that pointed him to his career.

By the time he finished reading “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the modern classic by Harper Lee, he knew he wanted to become a lawyer. Not just any lawyer, however, but one who exemplified the values of the book’s protagonist, Atticus Finch.

“I learned from reading that book that there are lawyers with moral character,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe knew that even though Finch was a fictional character, he could take lessons from the book and apply them to his own life and career. He said lawyers often get a bad rap as being sleazy, money-hungry fakes, but he wanted to honor the profession by being a hard worker with a deep concern for his clients and the justice system.

There was something else about the book that resonated with Wolfe: lawyering in a small town.

Continue reading at InForum.com