Also known as: separates · separated · separating
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A quality or status indicating that an item, person, or entity is distinct from another and not merged or commingled with it.
After Samuel Soto and Stella Shapiro agreed to commit arson and then carried out the burning of a warehouse, the prosecutor sought convictions for both the completed arson and conspiracy. The court permitted only the arson conviction because the completed offense absorbed the agreement under the merger rule.
Stonehaven Properties executed a deed of trust on its building to secure a loan from Sterling Dynamics. When the underlying promissory note was later discharged in bankruptcy, the court held the mortgage unenforceable because no independent obligation remained to support it.
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Sydney Santos and dozens of other employees filed individual wage claims against Synergy Systems. The court denied class certification after finding that many class members had strong interests in controlling the prosecution of their own separate actions rather than proceeding collectively.
Attorney Sasha Stone received a $50,000 settlement check belonging to client Stephen Shaw. Stone deposited the funds into his personal operating account rather than a dedicated client trust account, violating the requirement that client property remain separate from the lawyer's own property.
Samantha Stone formed Skyline Construction as a corporation but commingled its funds with her personal accounts and failed to observe corporate formalities. When a creditor sued, the court disregarded the corporation's separate personality and held Stone personally liable under the alter-ego theory.
Synergy Systems, a corporation with contacts sufficient for personal jurisdiction in only one judicial district of a multi-district state, was sued in a second district. The court transferred the case, ruling that the corporation is deemed to reside only in the district where its contacts would support jurisdiction if that district were a separate state.
Under the traditional common law merger rule, once conspirators complete the substantive offense that was the object of their agreement, the conspiracy merges into the completed crime. Participants may be convicted of the substantive offense but not of a separate conspiracy based on the same agreement.
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A mortgage or other security device is valid only when it secures an obligation, typically a debt. If that obligation is void or discharged, the mortgage itself may be extinguished or rendered unenforceable because the security interest lacks an independent basis.
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A lawyer must hold client or third-party property in a separate account maintained in the state where the lawyer's office is located. Commingling is prohibited, and complete records must be preserved for five years after the representation ends.
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…The acts of appointing and commissioning can scarcely be considered identical since the power to perform them is given in separate sections of the Constitution and Congress may provide that appointment of inferior officers be vested in others, in which case issuing a commission might be a distinct duty. In this case…