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Real Estate
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June 19, 2013
Hyatt Forms $270M JV To Develop Brazilian Hotels
Continuing its push into Latin America, Hyatt Hotels Corp. has struck a $270 million partnership with FSA Group SA to develop up to nine hotels in Brazil that the hospitality giant plans on managing, Hyatt announced Tuesday.
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June 19, 2013
Dalian Wanda Offers $1.6B For Hotel, James Bond Yacht Co.
Chinese property developer Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled plans for £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in U.K. investments, including a luxury hotel property and the company that makes yachts used in James Bond movies, as it pushes an international expansion effort.
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June 19, 2013
Banks Not Yet Compliant With Mortgage Deal, Report Says
The five largest U.S. mortgage servicers still have work to do before they’re fully compliant with the terms of last year’s $25 billion national mortgage settlement deal, the federal monitor overseeing the settlement said in a report released Wednesday.
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June 18, 2013
NY AG Fights For Credit Suisse Mortgage Suit
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Monday defended his case alleging Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC's misrepresentations of its residential mortgage-backed securities caused investors to lose $11.2 billion, saying his case was timely filed and doesn’t conflict with the banks’ previous settlement with securities regulators.
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June 18, 2013
Paul Hastings Snags Top Securities Atty From Fried Frank
Paul Hastings LLP on Tuesday said it has nabbed a former head of Fried Frank’s securities and shareholder litigation practice — who also comes with real estate litigation, antitrust and white collar expertise — to join the firm as a partner in its New York office.
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June 18, 2013
AIG Need Not Cover Developer's $14M Blunder, 9th Circ. Says
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday freed an American International Group Inc. excess insurer from covering the bulk of a $14 million arbitration award against a real estate developer over botched construction of a bar in downtown Los Angeles.
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June 18, 2013
Chinese Developer Landsea Buys $111M Majority Stake In Rival
Chinese green real estate company Landsea Group Co. Ltd. on Tuesday said it has agreed to buy a majority stake in fellow developer Shenzhen High-Tech Holdings Ltd. for HK$863.1 million ($111.2 million) through a share purchase agreement with Shenzhen High-Tech’s controlling shareholder.
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June 18, 2013
CapitaLand Takes $315M Ownership Stake In Shanghai Project
Bolstering its presence in China, Singaporean real estate giant CapitaLand Group has snagged ownership of a massive, transit-oriented development proposed for Shanghai through a 397.5 Singaporean dollar ($315.45 million) stake deal, it announced Tuesday.
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June 18, 2013
Steiner Must Turn Over Docs In Navy Yard Development Row
A New York state judge has ordered Steiner Digital Studios LLC and its partners to hand over documents related to their Brooklyn Navy Yard studio development venture but tossed claims against former Steiner director Lou Madigan in a $1 million dispute over unpaid legal fees.
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June 18, 2013
Commerce Bank Founder Wants New Trial On $17M Severance
Commerce Bancorp LLC founder Vernon Hill II asked a New Jersey federal judge Monday for a new trial over a $17.2 million severance payment he sought after an investigation into real estate dealings led to his resignation, saying a jury instruction made jurors believe the payment was legally prohibited.
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June 18, 2013
Design For $1B Atlanta Falcons Stadium Wins Approval
The Georgia World Congress Center Authority on Tuesday approved an open octagonal design for the Atlanta Falcons' new $1 billion stadium project and a contracting group led by Atlanta-based Holder Construction Co., moving the project into the schematic design phase.
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June 18, 2013
Polsinelli Lures 10 Attys From Husch Blackwell
Polsinelli PC recently scooped up 10 attorneys from Husch Blackwell LLP, additions that expand its government contracts practice in Washington, D.C., grow its toxic tort practice in St. Louis and create a Tennessee office that includes attorneys focused on real estate law and intellectual property issues in large transactions.
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June 18, 2013
Holland & Knight Names NY Real Estate, Hospitality Chair
Betting on a relatively recent firm arrival, Holland & Knight LLP has promoted a partner — who has struck several high-profile deals in the year he's been with the firm — to chair its New York real estate practice and co-chair its global hospitality group, the firm said Tuesday.
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June 18, 2013
San Jose Says MLB Conspired Against Oakland A's Relocation
San Jose, Calif., officials sued Major League Baseball in California federal court Tuesday, claiming MLB harmed it to the tune of millions of dollars by stalling on an owners' vote on moving the Oakland Athletics to their city and challenging baseball's exemption to federal antitrust laws.
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June 18, 2013
Fed. Circ. Ruling Invalidates Zillow Patent, Rival Says
Real estate website operator Trulia Inc. asked a Washington federal judge on Monday to nix a lawsuit accusing it of infringing the patent for competitor Zillow Inc.'s home valuation service, arguing that a recent Federal Circuit ruling renders Zillow's abstract idea patent-ineligible.
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June 18, 2013
Morgans Hotel Board Learns SandRidge 'Proxy Put' Lesson
Morgans Hotel Group Co. said Tuesday its board's ouster last week won't force the company to buy back its debt because it had already approved the dissident directors for the purposes of its covenants, heeding a recent lesson from Delaware court.
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June 18, 2013
NYC Council OKs Controversial Brooklyn Development
The New York City Council on Monday approved a plan to build an apartment tower with public cultural space in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood after staunch criticism from a local council member who previously supported the plan nearly derailed the vote.
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June 18, 2013
Insurer Tells 2nd Circ. To Fix Choice-Of-Law Confusion
Continental Casualty Co. asked the Second Circuit on Friday to clear up a "misunderstanding" of a New York precedent on identifying which state law governs coverage disputes, as it battled Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London over a construction accident at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. headquarters that led to at least $20 million in settlements.
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June 18, 2013
Tousa's Liquidation Plan Needs Redo, US Trustee Says
The U.S. Trustee's Office carped on homebuilder Tousa Inc.'s liquidation plans in Florida bankruptcy court Monday, saying that it's too vague about a number of issues, such as the payment of professional fees, including for the trustee himself.
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June 18, 2013
Bankers Urge Approval Of CFPB Mortgage Rule Changes
Representatives of the mortgage lending industry on Tuesday urged Congress to support several amendments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's qualified mortgage rule, emphasizing the current version's potential detrimental impact on smaller lenders.
Expert Analysis
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Alternative Investments: What Regulators Are After
Alternative investments, while attractive for their potentially higher returns, may incorporate complex strategies that are hard to understand. Increasingly, regulators have raised issues where registered representatives cannot explain how a product works in a way a customer can appreciate, say attorneys with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.
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Another Usury Exemption For California Lenders
When Californians first passed an initiative precluding the charging of “usurious” interest in 1918, they could hardly have imagined the ever-more sophisticated schemes and exceptions allowing lenders to charge interest exponentially higher than the stated maximum rate of 10 percent. In Bock v. California Capital Loan Inc., a California Court of Appeal recently introduced yet another exception to a seemingly simple prohibition, say Brian Lauter and Mark Madnick of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP.
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Wrap Your Head Around ISO's Additional Insured Revisions
Presumably in response to developing law on the scope of additional insured coverage, the Insurance Services Office has recently revised its standard commercial general liability forms and endorsements. Although the true scope of their effect is unclear, the revisions can further complicate an already complex area and negatively impact both additional and named insureds, says Roberta Anderson of K&L Gates LLP.
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Is TAR Right For Your Discovery Project?
There are several critical decision factors to weigh to assess whether Technology Assisted Review is right for a discovery project — for example, the nature of the case, internal capabilities, production considerations and overall comfort with this technology, say Michele Lange and Joseph White of Kroll Ontrack Inc.
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Appraisal Process Is Ripe For Revision
In recent years, the once-amicable and prompt appraisal process has devolved into nonjudicial dispute resolution devoid of procedural rules — how do we rein in the appraisal process? The best answer may be to revise the standard appraisal provision, which would eliminate most of the commonly occurring disputes, say attorneys with Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason LLP.
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Make Your Florida Real Property Descriptions Certain
As the Florida real estate market continues to face an uncertain future, the purchase and sale of distressed properties and mortgage loans encumbering such properties present some challenges — making it a prudent time to review what constitutes a valid property description in an agreement for the sale of real property, says Sean O'Toole of Lowndes Drosdick Doster Kantor & Reed PA.
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FHFA's New Aim At Lender-Placed Insurance
Recently, the Federal Housing Finance Agency proposed consideration of new regulations for lender-placed insurance, specifically over sales commissions and reinsurance activities. Lender-placed insurance has long-raised regulatory and litigation concerns, and the prospect of new FHFA regulations is an important issue for lenders, say attorneys with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
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IRS Doesn't Waver When Interpreting REIT ‘Real Estate’
Notwithstanding recent press stories to the contrary, the IRS has not expanded the definition of “real estate” to make the REIT structure more widely available than Congress originally intended. Rather, the IRS has interpreted the definition with remarkable consistency — which we believe will continue with Iron Mountain's planned conversion to a real estate investment trust, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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How To Fight For Coverage In Solar Panel Defect Claims
A wave of large lawsuits could be coming against solar panel manufacturers, panel distributors and dealers and contractors — what can businesses expect when they turn to their insurance companies for help with these claims? Unfortunately, history shows that insurance companies will refuse to honor coverage and aggressively fight when policyholders are forced to sue, says Scott Turner of Anderson Kill & Olick PC.
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Inverse Condemnation: A Primer And Reminder For Insurers
Insurers may not normally be concerned with governmental takings or ways to allocate the cost of public improvements, but they should not overlook an inverse condemnation cause of action in California because that claim allows the recovery of damages when property is damaged because of a public use, says James Koelzer of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP.