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Real Estate
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May 20, 2013
First Potomac Nets $259M In DC Industrial Portfolio Sale
First Potomac Realty Trust has entered into two separate deals to sell a 24-property industrial portfolio in the Washington, D.C., area for a total of $259 million, mostly to a Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII LP affiliate, the company announced Monday.
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May 20, 2013
$8.5B BofA Settlement Will Be Weighed By Judge, Not Jury
A New York state judge said Monday that she alone, and not a jury, will decide if Bank of America Corp. can go through with a $8.5 billion mortgage-backed securities settlement, finding that the process used doesn't require a jury.
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May 20, 2013
Wayne Newton Museum Developer Files Ch. 11 Plan
A bankrupt real estate developer that planned to turn Wayne Newton’s Las Vegas mansion into a Graceland-style museum filed a Chapter 11 reorganization plan Friday which would pay all of its creditors in full, following an April settlement of litigation with the singer.
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May 20, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Freeport McMoRan, Blackstone, Billabong
Executives at Freeport-McMoRan have hinted that they are revisiting their $6.9 billion bid for Plains Exploration after the target company's shareholders have been slow to support the landmark buyout, while Billabong continues to bleed value as negotiations with prospective buyers drag on.
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May 17, 2013
PokerStars' Bid To Buy Casino Sinks In NJ Court
A New Jersey judge on Friday ended PokerStars’ campaign to buy an Atlantic City casino, refusing to cement a temporary injunction preventing the casino’s owners from terminating the deal and declining to invalidate a contract written with terms unlike any the judge said he’d ever seen.
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May 17, 2013
Latham Witness Can't Claim Piece Of $10M Judgment
Latham & Watkins LLP didn't break the law when it refused to pay a portion of a $10.3 million judgment won by one of its clients in a real estate lawsuit to an auditor who testified at a deposition, since the auditor was a witness, not an expert, a California appeals court ruled Friday.
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May 17, 2013
NY Crane Rulings Affirm Building Owners' Liability Worries
Two recent court decisions clarify that New York property owners are responsible for crane safety, making projects in the state more costly and and building owners more open to liability, attorneys say.
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May 17, 2013
Fla. High Court Says City Can't Give Its Lien Superpriority
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed a lower court's decision that Palm Bay, Fla., could not give its municipal code enforcement liens a superpriority status over a mortgage held by Wells Fargo Bank NA because it conflicts with state law.
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May 17, 2013
S. Korean Investor Drops $218M On Chicago Office Tower
South Korea-based real estate investor Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. entered the Chicago market Thursday with the $218 million purchase of 225 W. Wacker St., broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. said in a statement.
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May 17, 2013
Revenue-Sharing Deal Fueled Trump Condo Buys, Jury Hears
An Illinois woman suing real estate mogul Donald Trump's companies told a federal jury Friday that the revenue-sharing deal she alleges was unfairly pulled from hotel condominium buyers in Trump's luxury Chicago tower was an important factor in her decision to buy two units.
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May 17, 2013
NJ Sports Authority OKs Amusement Park Plans
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority on Friday gave key approvals for developer Triple Five Group Ltd.'s $3 billion American Dream amusement park project, though the action could reignite legal efforts by the New York Jets LLC and New York Football Giants Inc. to block the plans.
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May 17, 2013
First American Charges Excess Mortgage Fees, Class Claims
First American Title Co. was hit with a proposed class action in Texas on Friday that claims it overcharged homeowners for mortgage fees even though it knew the exact amounts to be paid to counties.
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May 17, 2013
Falcone, Execs Wrongly Forced Out Casino Co. CEO, Suit Says
Hedge funder Philip Falcone and two other executives involved in a Vietnam resort developer were hit by a lawsuit Thursday in New York state court over claims they forced out the development company's CEO through a wrongful administrative leave.
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May 17, 2013
MDM Group Buys Miami Lot For $1B Convention Center-Hotel
MDM Development Group has purchased land from the developer of the proposed Miami World Center on which it plans to build a convention center and massive Marriott hotel, a potential billion-dollar project the developer promises will “help shape the city's future.”
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May 17, 2013
No Conflict For RE Law Firm In NYC Tower Suit, Judge Says
A real estate-focused law firm can continue representing a developer in a dispute over a stalled Manhattan residential tower planned above a synagogue, a New York state judge ruled Friday, finding that any potential conflicts were too speculative.
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May 17, 2013
Rakoff Gives Dexia's $774M JPMorgan MBS Suit 2nd Life
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Friday vacated an earlier decision dismissing Dexia NV/SA's suit accusing JPMorgan Chase Bank NA of selling defective residential mortgage-backed securities, saying that a New York state court should handle the Belgian bank's $774 million claim.
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May 17, 2013
SunTrust Blocks FINRA Arbitration In MBS Row
SunTrust Banks Inc. on Friday won its bid to thwart a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration proceeding against it by Connecticut hedge fund Turnberry Capital Management LP in a dispute over soured mortgage-backed securities when a New York federal judge ruled Turnberry was not a SunTrust unit’s customer.
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May 17, 2013
Pa. Rep. Wants More Clarity In Royalty Checks To Gas Lessors
A Pennsylvania state lawmaker introduced legislation on Thursday designed to ensure that deductions taken out of royalty checks issued to landowners who lease their properties to gas drillers are clearly broken down.
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May 17, 2013
Amazon's Plan For Fla. Warehouse Hits Sales Tax Snag
Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. and Florida's Department of Revenue have failed to reach an agreement on what Amazon's sales tax collection in the state should be if it builds a warehouse facility there, state officials confirmed Friday.
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May 17, 2013
Aussie Gambling Co. Must Face Suit Over Fontainebleau
A Nevada appeals court refused Wednesday to allow one of Australia's largest gambling companies off the hook in litigation related to the failed $2.9 million Fontainebleau casino project in Las Vegas, forcing the company to battle lenders who say it is partially to blame.
Expert Analysis
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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Know Your Risks Before Going Green In Construction
Although there are benefits to “going green” in the construction, development and operation of buildings, there are also risks unique to green building that will test the boundaries of coverage under typical liability insurance policies, say attorneys with Sedgwick LLP.
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4th Circ. Weighs In On Bona Fide Purchaser Defense
The Fourth Circuit recently issued a ruling in PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston that may limit the availability of the bona fide prospective purchaser defense. By narrowly construing one of the elements of the BFPP defense, the court has underscored the importance of strict compliance with all requirements of the defense, say attorneys with K&L Gates LLP.
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The Who, What And Why Of Public-Private Partnerships
Public-private partnerships have been used in a wide range of sectors to provide public services, from power plants and railroads to hospitals and sanitation plants. Yet there are a variety of potential contractual arrangements and the financing of a PPP can be complex, say Maryam Khosharay and Herbert Glaser of Haynes and Boone LLP.
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Renovated: Fla. Rules On Design Professional Liability
A new Florida law will effectively permit business entities providing professional services to limit by contract the liability of their individual employees or agents. Attorneys with design professional clients — including architects, interior designers, landscape architects, engineers, surveyors and geologists — should expect requests for limitation of liability provisions in such contracts beginning July 1, 2013, say Keith Ramsey and Monte Starr of Holland & Knight LLP.
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E-Discovery In The Cloud: Who Can Get Your Data?
Many lawyers are asking whether placing electronically stored information in the cloud could inadvertently waive the attorney-client privilege and whether the government or a civil litigant could obtain ESI directly from a cloud service provider. In answering these questions, there are a number of aspects of the cloud worth considering, say Timothy Broas and Matthew Saxon of Winston & Strawn LLP.
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Commercial Leasing Recovery Remains Uneven
In addressing trends in the current commercial leasing market, several patterns are apparent. For one, many property owners that have been able to survive foreclosure now face the specter of refinancing their property in the mixing bowl of loss of market value, lenders requiring a lower loan-to-value ratio, and reduced cash flow from the property, says Barry Katz of Arnstein & Lehr LLP.
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5 Reasons For Optimism In The Venture Capital Community
Not every company can be the next Facebook. But thankfully, for many startups, generating one billion users is not the end goal, nor should it be. Enter “narrowcasting” — one of a few reasons to be optimistic about venture capital, despite the first quarter of 2013 being the slowest for fundraising since 2002, says David Kaufman of Thompson Coburn LLP.
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A Troubling Surprise For Construction Projects
Recently, the D.C. Circuit surprisingly overturned a decision that invalidated the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to veto a Clean Water Act “dredge and fill” permit, putting several construction projects under threat of losing permit authorization. Although the case specifically refers to a coal mining operation in West Virginia, it has serious implications beyond the coal industry and state, say attorneys with Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
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The ABCs Of Data Center Leasing
Data centers house the computer servers and equipment that allow you to use your computer at work and stream a movie through Netflix, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With demand continuing to grow for the foreseeable future, this is one of the hottest, but least understood, real property types, says Michael Rechtin of Quarles & Brady LLP.