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Real Estate
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May 20, 2013
9th Circ. Won't Rehear Casino Ruling But Issues New Opinion
The Ninth Circuit on Monday refused to rehear a dispute over an Indian tribe's controversial plan to build a $600 million Las Vegas-style casino in Glendale, Ariz., but withdrew its earlier opinion on the matter and replaced it with a decision remanding the issue to the U.S. secretary of the interior.
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May 20, 2013
Airlines May Launch 'Act Of War' Defense At 9/11 WTC Trial
The owner of the World Trade Center failed Monday to persuade a New York federal judge to prevent American Airlines Inc. and United Airlines Inc. from arguing that the 9/11 attacks were an "act of war" that they could not be held responsible for.
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May 20, 2013
11th Circ. Slashes Fla. Firm's Award In Condo Coverage Row
The Eleventh Circuit on Monday slashed a $3 million contingency fee awarded to Florida law firm Rosenbaum Mollengarden PLLC, whose equity partner was associated with two previous law firms throughout his representation of a Miami condominium association in an underlying insurance dispute.
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May 20, 2013
Lew Likely To Face Flak Over IRS, Not Financial Rules
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is scheduled to address potential risks to the financial system when he appears before Congress this week, but the growing scandal over the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups threatens to overshadow his eagerly anticipated faceoff with lawmakers over everything from systemically important financial institutions to money market fund reform.
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May 20, 2013
Real Estate Co. Accuses Adviser Of $32M Financing Fraud
A real estate firm launched a suit in Texas state court Friday seeking to hold a financial adviser liable for an alleged $32 million fraud perpetrated by his brother to fund a California condominium project, alleging the adviser lent credibility to the fraud and abetted his brother.
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May 20, 2013
Marriott Says Fla. Permit Delay Could Cost Millions
A Marriott International Inc. subsidiary on Thursday asked a Florida court to force the city of Miami Beach to issue a beach-walk building permit it needs to move forward with a hotel project, saying it will incur millions in redesign costs without the permit.
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May 20, 2013
Full 2nd Circ. Pressed To Rethink Condo-As-Lot Decision
The owner of the Residence at The Ritz-Carlton Westchester filed a motion for en banc rehearing with the Second Circuit on Monday, in a dispute with prospective residents over whether a single-floor condominium in a multistory building is subject to disclosure and reporting requirements.
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May 20, 2013
Someone 'Had To Stand Up' To Trump, Condo Investor Says
An Illinois real estate investor testified Monday that part of why she decided to sue business mogul Donald Trump's companies over their allegedly fraudulent move to pull out of a revenue-sharing offer at his luxury Chicago tower was because "somebody had to stand up to him."
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May 20, 2013
Fannie, Freddie Exempt From Transfer Tax, 6th Circ. Says
The Sixth Circuit on Monday ruled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are federal agencies exempt from real estate transfer taxes, overturning a lower court that said two Michigan counties could collect such taxes and dealing a blow to similar suits across the country.
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May 20, 2013
PBGC Wants 2nd Circ. To Rethink Morgan Stanley ERISA Case
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. on Friday asked the Second Circuit for an en banc rehearing of its case alleging Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. negligently invested a pension plan's assets in mortgage-backed securities, saying the case's dismissal hinders enforcement of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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May 20, 2013
Bankrupt Norse Holding Land Hostage, Suit Says
Dozens of New York landowners hit oil and gas producer Norse Energy USA with an adversary suit Friday, claiming the bankrupt company is holding their land hostage with expired leases while it waits for a hydraulic fracturing moratorium to lift.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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A Must-Read For 'Repo' Counterparties
Given that few courts have construed the meaning of “repurchase agreement” as used in the Bankruptcy Code, the recent case of In re Homebanc Mortgage Corp. in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware is a must-read for “repo” counterparties, say attorneys with Alston & Bird LLP.
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So You Think You Have Replacement Cost Coverage ...
In light of the Illinois Appellate Court's decision in Area Erectors Inc. v. Travelers Property Casualty Co., insureds should know that just because they have a “replacement cost” policy, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re entitled to recover the cost from the insurer to replace damaged property, says Neil Posner of Much Shelist PC.
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Legal Notices In Bankruptcy: To Read Or Not To Read?
Notice is an integral part of the judicial system, and unless you are made aware of a pending proceeding against you or that may alter your legal rights, no action taken should affect you. However, the converse is also true — if you receive notice, almost any action can be taken against you, says Jeffrey Gansberg of Much Shelist PC.
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Africa — Open For Business
While the challenge of development in many African countries should not be underestimated, the rising middle class and ensuing breadth of needs across industries ― including power generation and distribution, transportation, telecommunications, agribusiness, oil and gas, financial services, health care, education, housing and consumer goods — provide an array of prospects for foreign investment, say experts with AlixPartners and Dentons.
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3 Ways To Leverage Internet Access During Trial
A survey of local rules for courthouses with available Wi-Fi has shown that no courts expressly prohibit the use of Internet by lawyers to gain information about the venire. Interestingly, at least one appellate court has held that it was error not to allow counsel to access the Internet during jury selection, say Derek Sarafa and William O'Neil of Winston & Strawn LLP.
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What Boards Can Learn From Morgan Keegan
Long-awaited U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission guidance on valuation, if and when issued, may address the SEC’s views as to the specific role it expects fund boards to play in the valuation process. In the meantime, there are a number of lessons that boards can draw from the Morgan Keegan actions, says Domenick Pugliese of Paul Hastings LLP.
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Foreign Pension Funds Could Back US Infrastructure
In order to incentivize foreign pension funds to invest in U.S. infrastructure projects — such as oil and gas fields, pipelines, real estate development and toll roads — the Obama administration has proposed putting foreign pension funds on equal footing with U.S. pension funds that are permitted to invest in certain real estate assets on a tax-exempt basis. The proposal, if enacted, would open up certain classes of investment assets effectively unavailable to foreign pension funds, say James Reardon and Elizabeth Behncke of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP.
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Top Issues Facing Landowners Of Oil And Gas
Due to recent advances in exploration and production technology, energy companies are competing for acreage positions in unconventional resource plays and aggressively seeking oil and gas leases from landowners and owners of mineral rights. For the landowner who also owns the related mineral rights, oil and gas production has the potential to yield significant economic benefits, say attorneys with Greenberg Traurig LLP.
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Reports Of Death Of Fla. Economic Loss Rule Are Exaggerated
Depending on how you read it, the Florida Supreme Court’s Tiara Condominium opinion renouncing the contractual privity branch of the economic loss rule either threw open the courthouse doors to plaintiffs seeking to bolster purely contractual disputes with tort claims or simply renounced a relatively recent judge-made doctrine in favor of long-standing common law principles that do the same job under a different label. We believe a close reading better supports the latter conclusion, say attorneys with Hunton & Williams LLP.
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Amended Complaint Nullifies Original In 3rd Circ.
The Third Circuit ruling in West Run Student Housing Associates LLC v. Huntington National Bank serves as a reminder of the advisability of amending pleadings, where permitted by the federal rules, when errors are discovered. Failure to do so could bind a party to such erroneous factual allegations, rendering them judicial admissions that could result in dismissal of the claim, say Elizabeth Sher and Lisa Gonzalo of Day Pitney LLP.