Weekly Legal Update: November 6, 2026.

Sinmier, LLC held a mortgagee's interest in commercial property in Ohio and sued its insurers and its broker after a loss. Before filing suit, Sinmier had signed a settlement agreement under which it accepted a deed in lieu of foreclosure and released the borrower's mortgage debt. The Sixth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for all defendants, holding that "Sinmier extinguished its insurable interest in the property when it signed the settlement agreement." Because every claim depended on the continued existence of a mortgagee's interest, every claim failed as a matter of law. The court also held that Sinmier forfeited its argument that the policy language was ambiguous.

Title 28 of the United States Code, section 1654, permits a party to proceed personally or through counsel, and it generally bars a person who is not a lawyer from pursuing claims on behalf of another, including an entity or a decedent's estate. The Sixth Circuit rejected the Eighth Circuit's nullity rule and held that a complaint filed in violation of section 1654 "does not lie outside a federal court's ability to adjudicate." A district court may dismiss such a complaint, but it is not required to, and a litigant who cures the defect by retaining counsel within the deadline the court sets does not forfeit the claim on that ground. The court reversed the dismissal and remanded.

The plaintiff was terminated from a probationary position at Ford Motor Company in June 2019 and filed suit in June 2025. The Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal. His claims under 42 U.S.C. 1981 carried a four-year limitations period that began at the termination and expired in June 2023, and no later conduct by Ford extended it. His claim against the union under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act carried a six-month period that had expired in 2022, and his charge before the National Labor Relations Board did not toll it. The court treated his remaining arguments as forfeited because they were not developed in his opening brief. This opinion is unpublished and is not binding precedent.

The IRS released the annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2027 in Revenue Procedure 2026-35 and announced them in IR-2026-133. A business may expense up to $2,640,000 of section 179 property for 2027, up from $2,560,000 for tax year 2026, and the section 179 limit for sport utility vehicles rises to $33,100 from $32,000. The standard deduction rises to $33,200 for married couples filing jointly, $16,600 for single filers and married individuals filing separately, and $24,925 for heads of household. The adjustments generally apply to returns that will be filed in 2028.

Treasury and the IRS announced qualified opportunity zone designations across all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the territories. All 6,576 nominated census tracts were designated, of which 2,594 are in rural areas. The designations become effective on January 1, 2027 and retain that designation for ten years. The release states that the Opportunity Zone tax incentive was permanently renewed under the Working Families Tax Cuts, that enhanced incentives were added for eligible rural communities, and that a process for redesignation every ten years was created.

Revenue Ruling 2026-21 sets the applicable federal rates for November 2026. With annual compounding, the short-term rate is 4.67 percent, the mid-term rate is 5.08 percent, and the long-term rate is 5.52 percent. The section 7520 rate for November 2026 is 6.20 percent, a substantial increase over the 5.60 percent rate that applied in October 2026 under Revenue Ruling 2026-19. The ruling issued shortly before the period covered by this update and is reported here because the rate governs transactions closing during the current month.

Beginning November 12, Michigan Treasury eServices will add or enhance services for city income taxes, the Wholesale Marijuana Tax, the Marijuana Retailers Excise Tax, Motor Fuel Tax, Tobacco Tax and 9-1-1 accounts, and the Michigan Motor Fuel and Tobacco Tax System will merge into the platform. City of Detroit taxpayers and businesses will have full online services, including filing, payment and business registration. Several web platforms began outages at 5 p.m. on October 30. Business tax call centers were closed on November 4 and 5; city income tax, marijuana, motor fuel, tobacco and miscellaneous tax and fee call centers were closed November 4 through 6; and individual income tax call centers were closed on November 5 and 6. All systems resume operation on November 12.

Revenue Administrative Bulletin 2026-11 replaces Revenue Administrative Bulletin 2022-17 and restates when the value of a trade-in is excluded from sales price under the General Sales Tax Act and from purchase price under the Use Tax Act. The exclusion is available only where a qualifying dealer sells the replacement property and the agreed upon value of the trade-in is separately stated on the invoice, bill of sale or similar document given to the purchaser. Only one trade-in qualifies per transaction. For a motor vehicle traded toward a motor vehicle, the excluded amount is capped by the year of the transaction, at $12,000 for 2026 and $13,000 for 2027, with the cap removed for transactions occurring in 2029 and later. Where a dealer pays off a loan that exceeds the value of the trade-in, the exclusion is limited to the agreed upon trade-in value, and the bulletin states that the exclusion does not apply to leases or rentals.

For decedents dying during calendar year 2027, the basic exclusion amount under section 2010(c)(3) is $15,480,000, up from $15,000,000 for 2026. The generation-skipping transfer exemption under section 2631(c) is set by the same section of the revenue procedure. The annual gift tax exclusion rises to the first $20,000 of gifts to any person in 2027, up from $19,000 in 2026, and the annual exclusion for gifts to a spouse who is not a citizen of the United States rises to the first $201,000 under section 2523(i)(2), up from $194,000. These figures apply to calendar year 2027.

Two of the 2027 adjustments bear directly on estates whose principal asset is an operating business or a farm. For decedents dying in calendar year 2027 whose estates elect special use valuation, the aggregate decrease in the value of qualified real property under section 2032A cannot exceed $1,500,000. For decedents dying in the same year, the dollar amount used to determine the "2-percent portion" under section 6601(j), which fixes how much of the estate tax deferred on a closely held business interest carries the reduced interest rate available under section 6166, is $2,010,000.

The proclamation recites that the Secretary of Commerce found robotics, industrial machinery and their parts and components are being imported in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security, pointing to heavy reliance on foreign sources, cybersecurity vulnerabilities in certain foreign-sourced products, and domestic production that falls short of national security needs. The proclamation imposes no tariff and no quota. It instead directs the Secretary of Commerce and the Trade Representative to pursue or continue negotiations with trading partners and to update the President on the status of those negotiations within 180 days of the date of the proclamation. The Secretary is directed to monitor imports and to report circumstances that may warrant further action, and the proclamation expressly preserves the option of imposing or modifying tariffs, duties, quotas and fees in the future.

After trial, the court held that a limited liability company entered into a revolving credit agreement bearing 25 percent interest and an intercompany services agreement with its parent without the member vote that its operating agreement required. A conflicted majority of the company's board breached the duty of loyalty, and the parent aided and abetted that breach by charging an unfair rate of interest and by taking the company's capital-raising opportunities in order to build separate product lines. The court awarded the minority member $43,142.46 for the interest overcharge and $462,000 for the usurped opportunities, each awarded directly and pro rata. The court separately held that the company breached a license agreement by failing to make a $1,000,000 minimum payment and awarded that amount with interest.

The Court of Chancery granted an application to certify an interlocutory appeal from an earlier decision that preliminarily enjoined a recapitalization. Certification covers two issues: whether the Disney standard for good faith remains good law under the safe harbor statute, and whether a court must consider good faith on a director-by-director basis in the transactional justification context. The opinion addresses the controller safe harbor at 8 Del. C. 144(b)(1), which requires a committee to act in good faith and without gross negligence. The court emphasized that certification is only a recommendation and that the Delaware Supreme Court may decline to take the appeal.

Stockholders alleged that directors and officers caused the company to close an acquisition in violation of European merger standstill obligations and section 7 of the Clayton Act. The court granted the motion to dismiss under Court of Chancery Rule 23.1, holding that demand on the board was not excused. It found no violation of European law because the Court of Justice of the European Union annulled the referrals that had triggered the standstill, and no violation of United States law because no court made a final determination that the Clayton Act had been violated. Because the plaintiffs did not plead particularized facts supporting an inference of bad faith, the theory that directors purposely caused the corporation to break the law in pursuit of greater profits failed. The amended complaint was dismissed with prejudice.

The Federal Trade Commission and the State of Washington took action against Riverside Payments Inc., Cascade Equipment Leasing LLC, and owners Brandon Skinner and Jason Reese. The agencies allege that the defendants promised small businesses savings of 40 to 60 percent on payment processing while omitting fees from their sales materials, buried automatic renewal terms, a $695 early termination fee and an equipment lease within a 26-page electronic contract, advertised cancellation as risk free while making cancellation difficult, and made false or unsubstantiated earnings claims to commission-based sales agents. A judgment of $32,083,921 was entered and suspended upon payment of $600,000 based on inability to pay, and the full amount becomes due if the defendants are found to have misrepresented their finances. The press release cites the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. These are allegations resolved by settlement rather than findings made after a trial.