June 18, 2020
September 2018 When a commercial lender declared that its borrower was in default of a promissory note – only a month after the loan closed, it sent a demand seeking more than $1M in interest, late fees, and penalties from its borrower, including charging interest on sums that it had not even disbursed to the borrower. RDR LAW’s Ronald Roach drafted a motion for summary judgment arguing that the late fee was an improper and unlawful penalty and that the lender was trying to collect usurious interest – interest that exceeds the amount to which the lender was entitled – in violation of Arizona usury law. The Court agreed and entered summary judgment against the lender, prohibiting its effort to collect a windfall of more than $900,000 in improper interest.