Residential
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June 07, 2024
Miami Official Can't Shake Zoning Abuse Claims
A Miami commissioner can't escape allegations that he and other city officials conspired to sabotage local businesses with zoning and safety laws after a pair of business owners backed the commissioner's opponent in a 2017 election, a Florida federal judge ruled.
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June 07, 2024
6th Circ. Finds Ethical Lapses Justify Bar On Firm's Outreach
The Sixth Circuit said Thursday a Michigan federal judge shouldn't have faulted a law firm for attacking a proposed tax foreclosure class-action settlement in solicitation letters, but nevertheless upheld the judge's order barring contact with certain class members because of the firm's actual ethical lapses.
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June 07, 2024
Calif. Developer Seeks $5M Excess Coverage For Defect Suits
A California developer is seeking coverage under a $5 million excess policy for an underlying settlement stemming from construction defect claims, telling a federal court that its excess insurer wrongfully refused to cooperate in the dispute resolution and that the policy expressly provided coverage.
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June 06, 2024
Calif. Justices OK UC Berkeley People's Park Housing Plan
The University of California, Berkeley, can move ahead with its plans to build a housing project in the historic People's Park, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday, saying a new state law wipes out opponents' claims that the university's environmental impact study failed to look at potential student noise pollution.
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June 06, 2024
Insurers' Climate Exposure Poses Risk To US Housing Market
Climate risks to already strained insurance markets could significantly disrupt the U.S. housing market and the broader financial system, according to insurance, banking and housing experts, as well as a growing body of academic research leveraging new risk data.
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June 06, 2024
Fintech Lender Ran 'Bait & Switch' With Borrowers, Suit Says
Fintech company Figure Lending LLC faces a proposed class action alleging its home equity lines of credit are actually intentionally mislabeled home equity loans with higher interest rates and fees.
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June 06, 2024
NYC Passes Economic Opportunity Rezoning, With Tweaks
The New York City Council voted Thursday to approve a slate of zoning reforms intended to promote small business growth and update decades-old regulations, after making several tweaks to the plan in response to community concerns.
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June 06, 2024
Colorado To Study Simplification Of Local Lodging Taxes
Colorado will expand the scope of a task force responsible for simplifying the state's sales and use tax regime to improve the local lodging tax system as part of a bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
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June 06, 2024
Jeffrey Zwick Advises On $147M NYC Portfolio Refinancing
A Namdar Realty Group affiliate has closed on a $147.1 million refinancing of a group of 18 New York City apartment buildings and commercial properties in a transaction advised by Jeffrey Zwick & Associates.
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June 06, 2024
Mass. AG Asks State High Court To Affirm Housing Law
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell told the state's highest court this week that her office has the authority to seek enforcement of what she says is a mandatory state housing initiative requiring more than half the state's communities to allow multifamily housing development.
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June 06, 2024
Hinshaw Adds Financial Services Partner In NY
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP has added a consumer financial services partner in its New York City office from creditors rights firm LOGS Legal Group.
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June 06, 2024
Ex-Real Estate Firm GC Joins Federman Steifman As Partner
Federman Steifman LLP hired the former general counsel of real estate investment and development firm SomeraRoad as a partner for its New York City office, the law firm announced.
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June 06, 2024
Bell Nunnally Adds Ex-Munsch Hardt Real Estate Ace In Dallas
Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP has strengthened its real estate practice with a partner in Dallas who came aboard from Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC.
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June 05, 2024
Property Plays: WP Carey, Tribeca, Tower Capital
W.P. Carey inked $258 million worth of investments, largely in industrials; a total of $21.5 million was loaned for the acquisition and conversion of an eight-story Tribeca building; Tower Capital lined up $47.4 million for a build-to-rent community in Texas.
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June 05, 2024
CohnReznick Scores Quick Exit In Tax Scheme Suit
A New York federal judge agreed to toss a housing partnership's suit accusing accounting firm CohnReznick LLP of professional negligence and fraud, finding that the district court doesn't have jurisdiction over the dispute.
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June 05, 2024
Denver Landlord Sued Over Allegedly Unlawful Late Fees
A Denver landlord and its property manager were accused in a proposed class action of charging tenants with unlawfully excessive late fees for owed rent and launching eviction proceedings against them for not paying the late fees and owed rent.
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June 05, 2024
PennyMac Sued Over 'Release Costs' For Payoff Docs
PennyMac Loan Services LLC violated federal and Florida law by wrongfully charging "release costs" for its mortgage payoff statements that showed how much borrowers still owed, according to a proposed consumer class action filed in Florida federal court.
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June 05, 2024
Colo. To Exempt Modular Homes From Sales Tax
Colorado will exempt new modular home sales from state tax under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.
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June 05, 2024
'Le Penthouse' Owner Files For Ch. 11 With $66M In Debt
The owner of "Le Penthouse," known as one of the most expensive New York City condominiums, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Manhattan bankruptcy court with $66.5 million in debt and a plan to sell off its properties including the penthouse.
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June 04, 2024
Judge Frets Nursing Home Co. LaVie $20M DIP Too Low
A Georgia bankruptcy judge on Tuesday gave interim approval to customary first-day motions and a $20 million debtor-in-possession loan for bankrupt nursing home operator LaVie Care Centers LLC.
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June 04, 2024
Miami Board Opposes Tower Amid Land Use Law Concerns
The design review committee for Miami's Wynwood neighborhood voted Tuesday against a 48-story mixed-use development proposed in the area, pushing back on the application, which makes use of a sweeping new Florida land use law for workforce housing.
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June 04, 2024
HUD Kicks Off Manufactured Housing Financing Program
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a federally insured financing option for buying, revitalizing and refinancing manufactured housing communities in order to provide an alternative that doesn't involve private equity funds purchasing those communities, HUD announced Tuesday.
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June 04, 2024
Meet The Attorneys Guiding Nursing Home Co. LaVie's Ch. 11
A team of attorneys from McDermott Will & Emery LLP is guiding nursing home operator LaVie Care Centers LLC through its Chapter 11 case in Georgia.
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June 04, 2024
Albany Passes Good Cause Eviction, Again
The Albany Common Council has voted to opt New York's capital city in to the state's good cause eviction law, after the city's earlier attempt was struck down by a state judge.
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June 04, 2024
LA Landfill Owner Faces Suits Over Foul Fumes, Runoff
Some 800 people near a waste dump in Los Angeles County sued its operator for damages, alleging the company is liable for a smoldering underground fire at the site — the county's second-largest landfill — that has spewed toxic gas into the air for the last year, as well as geyser-like eruptions of polluted water from the ground.
Miami Developer Maintains Pioneering Touch In Latest Moves
Miami-area developer Masoud Shojaee spoke with Law360 Real Estate Authority about his project strategy and how it has led to longevity for his firm Shoma Group and given him confidence in helping to address a housing crisis and various challenges in the market.
Kirkland Guides Town Lane To $1.25B Debut Real Estate Fund
Kirkland & Ellis LLP advised the close of an inaugural, $1.25 billion fund for Town Lane, a real estate firm founded by a brother-sister duo with decades of combined experience at Blackstone and Sycamore Partners, according to a Friday news release.
Fried Frank, Kirkland Pilot $1.55B Multifamily Portfolio Deal
Brookfield, advised by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, bought a $1.55 billion portfolio of U.S. multifamily properties from Starwood Capital Group, guided by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, in a recently closed deal, a spokesperson for Starwood confirmed this week.
Expert Analysis
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Debate Over CFPB Definition Of Credit Is Just Beginning
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently worked to expand the meaning of credit, so anyone operating on the edges of the credit markets, or even those who assumed they were safely outside the scope of this regulatory perimeter, should pay close attention as legal challenges to broad interpretations of the definition unfold, says John Coleman at Orrick.
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A Closer Look At Feds' Proposed Banker Compensation Rule
A recently proposed rule to limit financial institutions' ability to award incentive-based compensation for risk-taking may progress through the rulemaking process slowly due to the sheer number of regulators collaborating on the rule and the number of issues under consideration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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The FTC And DOJ Should Backtrack On RealPage
The antitrust agencies ought to reverse course on their enforcement actions against RealPage, which are based on a faulty legal premise, risk further property shortages and threaten the use of algorithms that are central to the U.S. economy, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.
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Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief
As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
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In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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What's New In Kentucky's Financial Services Overhaul
Kentucky's H.B. 726 will go into effect in July and brings with it some significant restructuring to the Kentucky Financial Services Code, including changes to mortgage loan license fees and repeals of provisions relating to installment term loans and savings associations, say attorneys at Frost Brown.
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A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches
Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.
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Tax Assessment: Recapping Georgia's Legislative Session
Jonathan Feldman and Alla Raykin at Eversheds Sutherland examine tax-related changes from Georgia’s General Assembly — such as the governor’s successful push to accelerate income tax cuts — and suggest steps to take before certain tax incentives are challenged in the state's next legislative session.
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11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in In re: Talal Qais Abdulmunem Al Zawawi has introduced a split from the Second Circuit regarding whether debtors in foreign proceedings must have a domicile, calling attention to the understudied nature of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs
The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.