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Real Estate
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March 27, 2024
Smith Gambrell Sued For Keeping $4.6M In Real Estate Row
Several business entities involved in the failed purchase of a Brooklyn development property contend that Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP is unlawfully refusing to release more than $4.6 million that the firm is holding in escrow, according to a complaint filed in New York state court.
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March 27, 2024
Real Estate Exec Asks To Toss Shareholder's Self-Dealing Suit
The president of a real estate management and investment firm asked a California federal court to toss a derivative shareholder suit accusing him of misusing nearly $35 million of company revenue in various ways, including hiring a business he owned with his mistress.
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March 27, 2024
Jury Convicts Ex-LA Official Chan In City Hall Bribery Scandal
A California federal jury on Wednesday convicted former Los Angeles deputy mayor Raymond Chan of racketeering conspiracy, honest services wire fraud and bribery stemming from his role linking corrupt public officials with wealthy developers in the so-called CD-14 Enterprise.
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March 26, 2024
8th Circ. Urged To Freeze SEC Climate Rules Once More
An energy company suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its recently finalized climate disclosure rules urged the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday to stay the implementation of the rules, after a stay granted by the Fifth Circuit was recently lifted following the consolidation of various related lawsuits.
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March 26, 2024
Meridian Capital Taps Former Top Regulator As New CEO
Meridian Capital Group announced Tuesday that it has appointed top banking executive and former financial regulator Brian Brooks as its CEO and chairman amid a breakdown in the firm's relationship with Freddie Mac.
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March 26, 2024
Pilot HOA Tells Justices Rail Easement Clouds Airstrip Access
An Alaska homeowners association made up largely of pilots has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit ruling granting a railroad full control of an easement jutting into an airstrip used by residents of a surrounding subdivision.
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March 26, 2024
Ski Resort Corp. Says Sheep Used As Pretext To Ruin Project
Ski resort corporation The Vail Corp. told the Colorado Court of Appeals Monday to revive its workforce housing project after the town of Vail allegedly gave into local opposition against the project and used a local bighorn sheep herd as pretext to condemn the 23.3 acres of land that the ski resort corporation planned to use for the project.
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March 26, 2024
Feds Move To Seize Ex-Mongolia PM's NY Apts. Tied To Graft
Brooklyn federal prosecutors say a former prime minister of Mongolia used the proceeds of a corruption scheme to purchase two luxury Manhattan apartments for a combined $14 million, according to a suit seeking to seize the properties.
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March 26, 2024
Deal Holdout HomeServices Can't Undo Sellers' Class Cert.
A Missouri federal judge refused Tuesday to grant class decertification sought by HomeServices of America, the lone holdout still fighting a jury verdict that pushed the National Association of Realtors into a settlement overhauling rules that have effectively restricted how brokers buy and sell homes and how they're paid.
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March 26, 2024
REIT Exec Tells 2nd Circ. To Toss $3.2M Judgment
The co-founder of a real estate investment trust told the Second Circuit to toss the $3.2 million judgment awarded in a former partner's 2014 suit, arguing that related jury instructions were "too confusing and prejudicial."
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March 26, 2024
Locke Lord Gains Real Estate Attorney From Boston Boutique
Locke Lord LLP announced the addition of a partner from the Boston-based real estate and commercial litigation boutique Nathanson & Goldberg PC, touting his combined litigation and transactional experience.
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March 26, 2024
NC Justices Find BofA Mortgage Fraud Suit Filed Too Late
The North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that homeowners accusing Bank of America NA of fraud in a mortgage modification program filed their claims too late, finding they knew or should have known about the alleged fraud when their homes were foreclosed upon — four to seven years before they sued.
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March 25, 2024
LoanDepot Settles Appraisal Bias Suit After Scholar's Death
Mortgage company loanDepot has agreed to make policy changes and pay an undisclosed amount to resolve a Black couple's lawsuit claiming their Baltimore home was undervalued because of their race, just a couple of weeks after plaintiff Shani Mott, a scholar at Johns Hopkins University, died of cancer.
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March 25, 2024
Ex-LA Official Downplayed Role In Huizar Bribes, Jury Told
An FBI agent told California federal jurors in former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan's criminal trial Monday that Chan denied facilitating bribes between then-city councilor Jose Huizar and a developer when initially questioned by investigators, despite evidence showing he helped orchestrate Las Vegas trips and loans to help Huizar.
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March 25, 2024
Conn. Justice Chides Legislature In Landlord Lien Case
Bemoaning what he perceived as an unclear statute and its unilluminating legislative history, Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Steven D. Ecker on Monday lamented having to make a significant policy decision about whether a city or a landlord should be financially liable for tenants displaced after fire damaged a large apartment.
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March 25, 2024
Lender Wins $44M Award In Shanghai Real Estate Feud
A California federal court has enforced a $44 million arbitral award issued to a British Virgin Islands lender as repayment for a loan to a Chinese entity to finance a Shanghai real estate project, rejecting arguments that the arbitration violated the parties' underlying agreement.
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March 25, 2024
Full 10th Circ. Stands By Revival Of Valero Pipeline Leak Suit
The full Tenth Circuit refused to budge from a panel's February decision that partly revived an Oklahoma cattle ranch's lawsuit seeking to hold Valero Energy Corp. liable for a pipeline leak that allegedly contaminated the ranch property.
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March 25, 2024
3rd Circ. Says NJ City Can't Stop Sale Of Failed Project's Sites
The Third Circuit tossed a New Jersey city's challenge of a bankruptcy court ruling that allowed the two local properties of a failed affordable housing project to be sold to a third party, according to an unpublished opinion Monday.
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March 25, 2024
Texas Hotel REIT Says Blackwells Wants Illegal Proxy Contest
A Texas hotel real estate investment trust asked a Texas federal court Sunday to stop a shareholder vote "from being infected with deception and misinformation," saying a New York-based hedge fund wants to run an illegal proxy contest to take control of the company's board of directors while hiding plans to buy it.
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March 25, 2024
Atlanta Wants Ex-Eatery's 'Spurious' Demolition Suit Tossed
The city of Atlanta has asked a Georgia federal judge to dismiss a property owner's suit accusing it, its property review board and its police department of trying to illegally demolish the property, once set to become a Starbucks coffee shop, without proper notification.
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March 25, 2024
Atty Can Drop Alleged Schemer Who Didn't Pay For 2 Years
A man accused of being the mastermind behind a $2 million cannabis crowdfunding scheme must find a new lawyer after stiffing his previous counsel for nearly two years, a Michigan federal judge said Monday.
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March 25, 2024
Jury Hands Mortgage Co. $73K Win In Trade Secrets Fight
An Ohio federal jury has found that Revolution Mortgage owes just over $73,700 to competitor Equity Resources in a case where Equity accused its rival of misappropriation of trade secrets.
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March 25, 2024
'Infested Slum' Suit Warrants Class Cert., Conn. Justices Told
Former tenants of a Hartford apartment complex are urging the Connecticut Supreme Court to let them pursue class claims that the complex turned into a "mold and cockroach infested slum," arguing in a hearing Monday that a lower court focused too heavily on the differences between the conditions of each unit.
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March 25, 2024
BLM Adhered To Law In Granting Oil Lease Sales, Judge Rules
A D.C. federal judge has ruled in favor of the Bureau of Land Management in litigation brought by environmental groups seeking to challenge six oil and gas leases in the western United States, saying the agency did all that it was required to under the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved the lease sales.
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March 25, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, litigants battled as Truth Social went public, Carl Icahn and Tripadvisor hit a roadblock, and more shareholders wailed about "invasive" bylaws. Oil drilling and pharmaceutical mergers sparked new lawsuits, and a sewing machine trademark owner sued to end a contract.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Playing In A Rock Cover Band Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Performing in a classic rock cover band has driven me to hone several skills — including focus, organization and networking — that have benefited my professional development, demonstrating that taking time to follow your muse outside of work can be a boon to your career, says Michael Gambro at Cadwalader.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'
The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.
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Calif. GHG Disclosure Law Will Affect Companies Worldwide
California's Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, which will require comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions disclosures from large companies operating in the state, will mean compliance challenges for a wide range of industries, nationally and globally, as the law's requirements will ultimately trickle out and down, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.
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What Retail Landlords Must Know About Permitted Transfers
As trying economic times require tenants to create options to cease their operations by transferring their lease obligations to other parties, retail landlords must give significant thought to how permitted transfers are drafted, and how parties are to be protected in the present and the future, says Scott Grossfeld at Cox Castle.
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Proactive Measures While NY Foreclosure Law Is In Limbo
While questions about the scope and constitutionality of New York's Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act might not be resolved by courts for years, lenders, borrowers and other interested parties can take action to protect their rights and potentially expedite appellate review, say Allison Schoenthal and Andrew Kim at Goodwin.
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Opinion
Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform
The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.
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EB-5 Investment Period Clarification Raises More Questions
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' recent clarifying guidance for EB-5 investors, specifying that the statutory investment period begins two years from the date of investment, raises as many questions as it answers given related agency requirements and investors' potential contractual obligations, says Daniel Lundy at Klasko Immigration Law Partners.
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How NY Residential Property Condition Disclosure Is Shifting
New York's recent significant amendments to the Property Condition Disclosure Act provide a new focus on the risk and damage from flooding, and the changes will affect the duties and standard of practice for real estate brokers, as well as liability and compliance for sellers and landlords, says Steven Ebert at Cassin & Cassin.
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Series
ESG Around The World: Japan
Japan is witnessing rapid developments in environmental, social and corporate governance policies by making efforts to adopt a soft law approach, which has been effective in encouraging companies to embrace ESG practices and address the diversity of boards of directors, say Akira Karasawa and Landry Guesdon at Iwata Godo.
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How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing
Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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A Guide For Landlords Pivoting To Medical Office Buildings
The current commercial real estate landscape presents a unique opportunity for landlords, real estate developers and investors to accommodate the growing health care industry's need for office buildings, though proper navigation of complex regulations and leasing concerns is necessary, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.
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Series
Conn. Banking Brief: The Notable Compliance Updates In Q3
The most notable legal changes affecting Connecticut financial institutions in the third quarter of 2023 included increased regulatory protections for consumers, an expansion of state financial assistance for underserved communities, and a panoply of tweaks to existing laws, says Brian Rich at Barclay Damon.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Needs Defense Amid Political Threats
Amid recent and historic challenges to the judiciary from political forces, safeguarding judicial independence and maintaining the integrity of the legal system is increasingly urgent, says Robert Peck at the Center for Constitutional Litigation.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.
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Series
Mass. Banking Brief: The Notable Compliance Updates In Q3
Among the most significant developments in the financial services space in the third quarter of the year, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court handed down a stunning endorsement of the state's fiduciary duty rule, and banking regulators continued their multiyear crackdown on unregistered entities, say attorneys at Mintz.