Real Estate

  • February 29, 2024

    9th Circ. Sends COVID-19 Coverage Row Back To Tribal Court

    A Ninth Circuit panel unanimously affirmed the Suquamish Tribal Court's jurisdiction over a COVID-19 coverage dispute, finding in a published opinion Thursday that although the tribe's insurers weren't present on its land, a consensual business relationship means tribal law applies.

  • February 29, 2024

    Real Estate Tech Co. Opendoor Beats Investor Suit, For Now

    Real estate marketplace giant Opendoor Technologies Inc. has beaten, for now, a suit accusing it of misleading investors about its artificial-intelligence-powered algorithm and ability to remain profitable, with an Arizona federal judge ruling that many of the challenged statements in the suit are not actually false or misleading.

  • February 29, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Flood Suit Over Cherokee Casino

    A Federal Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Thursday denied an Oklahoma landowner's bid to overturn a lower court's ruling that the federal government isn't liable for flooding damage to her property due to activity at a nearby Cherokee Nation casino, saying that the claim requires proof that the matter is a "direct, natural or probable result" of its actions.

  • February 29, 2024

    Veil Shouldn't Be Pierced To Decode Contracts, Panel Says

    The doctrine of piercing the corporate veil shouldn't be used to interpret disputed contract terms, a split Colorado appellate panel ruled Thursday, reversing a trial court's award of more than $600,000 in a real estate fight between two longtime friends.

  • February 29, 2024

    Mass. High Court Revises 'Complex' Anti-SLAPP Guidance

    The Massachusetts anti-SLAPP statute can't shield a company from being sued over years of litigation allegedly aimed solely at thwarting a potential competitor, the state's highest court said Thursday as it issued new guidance intended to make it easier for judges to resolve such disputes.

  • February 29, 2024

    Sofia Vergara, Contractor Near Arbitrating Most Of $1.7M Suit

    Attorneys for Sofia Vergara and a construction company told a Los Angeles judge on Thursday that they have agreed to arbitrate all but one of the company's claims that the actress and her partner owe $1.7 million for property renovations at a $26 million California mansion.

  • February 29, 2024

    STB, CSX Tell Justices To Reject Norfolk Southern Appeal

    Norfolk Southern Railway Co. has taken its contentious battle to have itself declared immune to a rival's antitrust suit to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the competitor that's suing it and the regulator who declared it not exempt are both asking the justices to leave well enough alone.

  • February 29, 2024

    Pot Co. Says Neighbor Let Transient Grow Pot And Cause Fire

    A Los Angeles County cannabis entrepreneur is suing owners of a neighboring property whose building caught fire, allegedly due to an illicit grow operation run by "the local transient," sending smoke and soot into the legal cultivation facility, causing the total loss of his inventory and some $10 million worth of damages.

  • February 29, 2024

    Biz Owner's $2.4M FBAR Dispute Paused For Mediation

    The U.S. government and a retired plumbing business owner mutually agreed to a 90-day stay of their $2.4 million tax dispute over foreign bank account reporting while they try to mediate a solution, a Georgia federal judge said Thursday.

  • February 29, 2024

    Yellow Corp. Gets Ch. 11 Control Extended To End Of July

    Bankrupt Yellow Freight Corp. has secured an extra 90 days to hold onto the wheel of its Chapter 11 case in Delaware, after citing both the complexity of its case and the "tremendous" progress in selling off its assets.

  • February 29, 2024

    GE Denies Ties To La. Environmental Contamination Suit

    General Electric has told a Louisiana federal judge it should be freed from a lawsuit seeking to hold it liable for widespread environmental contamination caused by a since-closed pressure valve manufacturing facility in Rapides Parish, saying the property owners behind the suit are relying on a misguided theory of liability.

  • February 29, 2024

    Contractors Join Chorus Against Digital Discrimination Rule

    A group of wireless contractor trade groups are joining the slew of industry interests challenging the Federal Communications Commission's new digital discrimination order in the Eighth Circuit.

  • February 29, 2024

    Munck Wilson Adds IP Lawyer From Wood Smith

    A former Wood Smith Henning & Berman LLP attorney has made the move to Munck Wilson Mandala LLP in Los Angeles, bringing with her a history of working on intellectual property litigation and other commercial matters.

  • February 29, 2024

    Real Estate Group Of The Year: Kasowitz

    Recent legal victories by the real estate practice at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, such as confirming SL Green Realty Corp.'s $185 million arbitral award against Chinese conglomerate HNA Group and keeping the Hotel Chelsea's suit over a revoked building permit alive, earned the team a spot among Law360's 2023 Real Estate Groups of the Year.

  • March 01, 2024

    Inside BigLaw's 'Tremendous' Hunger For Restructuring Attys

    Even as the economy appears poised to pick up steam in 2024, BigLaw firms are still aggressively adding restructuring capabilities, with a number of recent lateral hires reflecting the glut of work still to be found in the practice area.

  • February 29, 2024

    Wis. Tribe, Homeowners Hit Cranberry Farms With CWA Suit

    A homeowner association and the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa claim two cranberry farms are unlawfully discharging excess phosphorus into a northwest Wisconsin lake and contributing to pollution harming its popular sport fishery and other natural resources.

  • February 28, 2024

    Brothers' 20-Year Calif. Real Estate Battle Ends In $7B Verdict

    A Los Angeles jury has awarded four brothers an estimated $7 billion verdict, finding that a fifth brother breached their contracts and his fiduciary duty to them by wrongly pushing them out of various business partnerships that included thousands of units of apartment buildings and a diamond venture. 

  • February 28, 2024

    Ariz. AG Says RealPage, Landlords Use Algo To Fix Rent Prices

    Arizona's attorney general on Wednesday filed an antitrust suit in state court against RealPage and several landlords over an alleged conspiracy to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of renters by using the software company's algorithms to quell competition.

  • February 28, 2024

    Judge Asks When Feds Will Consider Climate In Oil Leases

    A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday voiced frustration at the Bureau of Land Management's inability to account for the total impact of carbon emissions from six western oil and gas leases, but cautioned that previous circuit courts have upheld federal agencies' reluctance to block projects based on climate change predictions.

  • February 28, 2024

    Fla. Judge OKs $43.5M Deutsche Bank Deal In Ch. 15 Case

    A Florida bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a $43.5 million settlement between Deutsche Bank AG and liquidators for a group of Caribbean-based companies to resolve claims against the bank for its alleged role in a real estate Ponzi scheme targeting rich South Americans.

  • February 28, 2024

    Court Will Hear Arguments In Camp Operator's Bond Dispute

    A Montana federal judge will hear arguments next month to determine whether a campground operator can pay a bond in cash as opposed to a third-party surety that will allow it to stay the case over a lease dispute with the Blackfeet Nation pending an appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

  • February 28, 2024

    Win For DC's NFL Stadium Bid As House Approves Bill

    A bill that would clear a path for the Washington, D.C., city government to build a new stadium for the NFL's Commanders on the site of the team's former stadium was passed by the full House on Wednesday and sent to the Senate, possibly paving the way for the team to return to the city.

  • February 28, 2024

    Insurer Wins New Trial Due To Paralegal's Surprise Testimony

    An insurer will receive a new trial in its coverage dispute with two homeowners over damage caused by a water supply line failure, a Florida state appeals court ruled, finding the insurer was prejudiced by the trial court allowing a paralegal to testify as a surprise witness.

  • February 28, 2024

    CFPB, FTC Urge 11th Circ. To Rule Against 'Pay-To-Pay' Fees

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission have backed consumers battling mortgage servicer Ocwen over the legality of so-called convenience fees, urging the Eleventh Circuit to affirm that federal prohibitions apply to the charges.

  • February 28, 2024

    NY Bar Assoc. Building Owner Hits Ch. 11 Amid Lender Tiff

    The company that controls the historic New York County Lawyers Association Building in Manhattan petitioned a New Jersey bankruptcy court for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday, estimating between $50 million and $100 million in debt, as it faces in New York a roughly $28 million lawsuit leveled by a mortgage lender.

Expert Analysis

  • Looking Behind The Curtain Of Residential Transition Loans

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    As residential transition loans and securitizations of such loans grow increasingly popular, real estate stakeholders should take care to understand both the unique features and potential challenges offered by this novel asset class, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Timeliness, Evidence, Fact-Finding

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    Edward Arnold and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth Shaw look at three recent opinions from three stages of government contract claims litigation about avoiding untimeliness by ticking procedural boxes, supporting factual positions at the summary judgment stage and how the appellate boards review default terminations.

  • When Investment Banks Can Sell Real Estate In Calif.

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    When investment banks sell businesses that own property in California, they may run into trouble if they are not licensed real estate brokers, unless the property is merely incidental to the deal at hand, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Hedging Variable Interest Rates In A Volatile Market

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    Variable rate loans, which were an advantageous borrowing method prior to the recent Federal Reserve rate hikes and subsequent volatility, are now the difference between borrowers remaining current on their obligations and defaulting due to the sharply increasing debt service requirements of their loans, say attorneys at Cassin & Cassin.

  • Parsing FTC's Intercontinental-Black Knight Merger Challenge

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent Article III case challenging a merger between Intercontinental Exchange and Black Knight suggests the agency is using a structuralist approach to evaluate the merger's potential anti-competitive harm, says David Evans at Kelley Drye.

  • Perspectives

    Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice

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    Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.

  • CRA Plays Role In DOJ Fight Against Redlining

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent consent order with ESSA Bank & Trust is a reminder that although the Community Reinvestment Act lacks a civil enforcement provision, financial institutions' CRA compliance efforts may have ramifications under various anti-discrimination statutes, say Collin Grier and Levi Swank at Goodwin.

  • Effectual Relief Questions Linger After Section 363 Ruling

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    In the months since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in MOAC Mall Holdings, courts and practitioners must grapple with the issue of what effectual relief courts may grant upon an appeal of an unstayed sale order, says Monique Jewett-Brewster at Hopkins Carley.

  • Colo. Eviction Case Could Transform Tenant Rights

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    The Colorado Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in a case that could open the door for tenants to assert allegations of discrimination and retaliation during eviction proceedings, and dramatically prolong the state's process, says Jacob Hollars at Spencer Fane.

  • Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too

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    While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.

  • Opinion

    Harsh 11th Circ. Rebuke Should Inspire Changes At CFPB

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Brown decision, which found the CFPB's conduct had been egregious in a debt collection enforcement action, should encourage some reflection at the bureau regarding its level of attention to the reasonable due process concerns of regulated institutions, says Eric Mogilnicki at Covington.

  • Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions

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    As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.

  • 3 Alternatives To CRE Collateralized Loan Obligations

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    With current commercial real estate market conditions pushing issuers away from collateralized loan obligations, several Freddie Mac offerings should be considered as alternative exit strategies for mortgage loans secured by multifamily properties, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Series

    Ga. Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q2

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    Legislation signed into law in the second quarter of the year in Georgia tackled a broad range of issues that will affect financial institutions, from money laundering and consumer protection to commercial financing disclosures and a lengthy cleanup of the banking and finance code, says Elizabeth Garner at Parker Hudson.

  • The Importance Of Sustainable, Resilient Construction Design

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    Due to the significant role that the construction industry plays in climate change, industry participants must understand the concepts of sustainable and resilient design practices, as well as the risks associated with implementing or foregoing these practices, say Daniel Brennan and Marissa Downs at Laurie & Brennan.

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