Residential
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April 02, 2024
Ex-NY Court Atty Says DA Has No Evidence Of Corruption
A former appeals court attorney told a Manhattan jury Tuesday that the district attorney can't back up charges that she intended to benefit her husband when she gave a "basic, procedural fact" about the status of a case to his client.
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April 02, 2024
McLaughlin Stern Wins NY Properties Cases
McLaughlin & Stern LLP's real estate practice team won two victories in New York state courts, preserving a company's ownership of a Brooklyn townhouse and getting a mechanic's lien tossed in a case involving a Long Island home's renovation.
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April 02, 2024
Berkeley Nixes Natural Gas Ban, But Shift To Electric Rolls On
The city of Berkeley has agreed to unwind a ban on natural gas infrastructure in new construction under a deal with the California Restaurant Association, possibly foreshadowing a shift away from such bans and toward new incentive structures for electrification, attorneys say.
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April 02, 2024
Conn. Real Estate Co. Accused Of Inflating Commissions
The largest real estate firm in Connecticut, William Raveis Real Estate Inc., "artificially elevated" commissions and company profits when its executives and employees flooded the ranks of local and national trade groups and helped adopt lucrative new rules, a proposed class action antitrust and unfair trade practices case alleges.
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April 02, 2024
Hagens Berman To Lead Yardi Rent Price-Fixing Class Action
A Washington federal court tapped Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP as interim lead counsel for a putative class of renters amid a suit alleging that 11 property management companies are part of a price-fixing ring powered by an algorithm developed by Yardi Systems Inc.
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April 02, 2024
JLL, Amazon Close $140M Financing Deal For Wash. Homes
JLL has lined up $139.64 million in financing from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund for the acquisition and renovation of 11 affordable housing properties in the state of Washington, the real estate services firm announced.
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April 01, 2024
RICO Claims Fail In Suit Against Developer, Judge Says
A Texas federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by real estate entities associated with a Dallas developer who accused the founders of Megatel Homes LLC of racketeering, saying that the lawsuit didn't plausibly state that the defendants had engaged in any unlawful racketeering activity.
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April 01, 2024
Loophole Ties Conn. Firm To Home Sale Row, Judge Told
A narrow exception to Connecticut's unfair trade practices law means an estate lawyer can be sued over how his firm handled money after the seller of a Vermont home suddenly died and his significant other was left in the lurch, an attorney for the girlfriend told a Connecticut judge on Monday.
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April 01, 2024
Justices Won't Review Mortgage Vehicles' Tax Break
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to take up a case from a group of whistleblowers who pressed for an Internal Revenue Service review of tax-exempt status for real estate mortgage investment conduits.
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April 01, 2024
Texas Judge Halts New Community Lending Rules For Banks
A Texas federal judge has ordered a halt to the rollout of federal banking regulators' recently revamped rules intended to spur bank lending in underserved communities, granting a preliminary injunction sought by bank industry trade groups suing to overturn the changes.
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April 01, 2024
SmartRent Workers Get Class Cert. In Unpaid OT Row
A Georgia federal judge has granted conditional class certification to a group of former and current employees of a smart home technology firm, who allege the company failed to compensate them correctly for overtime hours they worked.
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April 01, 2024
Gas Cos. Must Face State Law Claims In Contamination Row
Electricity and natural gas company WEC Energy Group Inc. can't dodge all claims by Illinois residents accusing the company and its subsidiary of conspiring with a public relations firm to hide the extent of natural gas contamination in an aquifer that provides drinking water, an Illinois federal judge ruled Sunday.
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April 01, 2024
Mass. Justices Puzzle Over Standard For Zoning Appeal Bond
Massachusetts' highest court on Monday grappled with whether developers in Boston must show that project opponents are acting in bad faith in order to obtain an appeal bond, as they now must do elsewhere in the state since a 2022 holding in a suburban affordable housing challenge.
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April 01, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Kriss & Feuerstein and Goldberg Weprin are among the law firms that worked on the largest New York City deals that hit public records last week, a period that included a pair of transactions for residential units at a Manhattan Fifth Avenue condo tower.
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March 29, 2024
Silicon Valley Co. Planning New City Can Sue Landowners
A California federal judge has refused to throw out a suit claiming that landowners conspired to drive up the cost of land in Solano County near Sacramento as a mysterious entity backed by Silicon Valley bigwigs attempted to buy up land to build a brand new, sustainable city.
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March 29, 2024
Judge Won't Stop Immigration Fee Hikes From Taking Effect
A Colorado federal judge refused Friday to temporarily halt upcoming immigration fee hikes, saying the $5,775 increase the EB-5 investor will pay is a drop in the bucket compared to the plaintiff's $500,000 capital investment.
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March 29, 2024
Mass. Tax Board Won't Lower Value Of Boston House
A Boston home was correctly assessed, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board said in a decision published Friday, finding that an analysis of nearby homes failed to show it was overvalued.
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March 29, 2024
Biden Admin. Unveils $174M For Green Housing Program
A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program that funds green-housing retrofits for HUD-assisted multifamily properties will receive $173.8 million worth of grants and loans, the Biden administration has announced.
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March 29, 2024
Flint Residents Can't Show Profit From Hasty Water Rate Hike
Residents challenging the city of Flint's rushed implementation of higher water and sewage rates couldn't show how the city unjustly profited from the change or whether the increased rate was unreasonable, a Michigan appellate panel said in upholding the dismissal of the residents' suit.
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March 29, 2024
Atty Called A Flight Risk In $1.3 Billion Tax Fraud Case
An attorney serving a 23-year prison sentence for tax fraud in a $1.3 billion conservation easement scheme is a flight risk and should remain in federal custody while he waits for his appeal, the government told a Georgia federal court Friday.
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March 29, 2024
Missouri House Advances Property Tax Cap Ballot Measure
Missouri voters would be asked to approve a 2% annual cap on increases to assessments of primary residences under a constitutional amendment the state House of Representatives passed.
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March 29, 2024
Md. House OKs Tax Breaks For Residential Projects
Local governments in Maryland could grant property tax credits for certain hotel and residential developments that include affordable housing under legislation approved Friday by the state House of Delegates.
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March 29, 2024
Tenant Screener To Pay $2.2M Over Race Bias Claims
A tenant screening company has reached a settlement in Massachusetts federal court to end claims brought by a class of housing applicants who alleged its practices disproportionately exclude Black and Hispanic renters.
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March 28, 2024
8th Circ. Won't Revive Fannie, Freddie Investors' FHFA Suit
The Eighth Circuit on Thursday refused to revive Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors' suit alleging the Federal Housing Finance Agency's leadership and financial deals violated the U.S. Constitution, saying the investors failed to show how they were harmed by the now-upended restrictions on removing the agency's director.
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March 28, 2024
Q&A: Former Calif. Insurance Chief On Climate & Rate Setting
From intense wildfires to devastating floods, the effects of climate change on California's insurance market cannot be understated, a fact that experts point to often as regulators weigh how to bring insurers back to business in the Golden State.
Expert Analysis
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High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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CFPB Brings RESPA Reminder To Mortgage Comparison Sites
In light of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent advisory opinion on the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, anyone who, in a compensated arrangement, operates or participates in a digital comparison-shopping platform for real estate settlement services should revisit RESPA and related regulatory risk, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.
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3 Job Satisfaction Questions For Partners Considering Moves
The post-pandemic rise in legal turnover may cause partners to ask themselves what they really want from their workplace, how they plan to grow their practice and when it's time to make a move, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.
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4 Exercises To Quickly Build Trust On Legal Teams
High-performance legal teams can intentionally build trust through a rigorous approach, including open-ended conversations and personality assessments, to help attorneys bond fast, even if they are new to the firm or group, says Ben Sachs at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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Key Considerations For Appointing A Real Estate Receiver
With commercial real estate loan distress expected to grow dramatically in the coming months, lenders should make sure to understand best practices for seeking appointment of a receiver over a defaulted property, say Dave Wald at Wald Realty Advisors and Mark Silverman at Locke Lord.
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NY Foreclosure Notice Ruling Is A Win For Lenders
The New York Court of Appeals' decision this week in Bank of America v. Kessler, holding that including additional information does not void 90-day preforeclosure notices, will counteract the wave of foreclosure dismissals caused by the lower court's decision, say Diana Eng and Alina Levi at Blank Rome.
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8 Steps To Improve The Perception Of In-House Legal Counsel
With the pandemic paving the way for a reputational shift in favor of in-house corporate legal teams, there are proactive steps that legal departments can take to fully rebrand themselves as strong allies and generators of value, says Allison Rosner at Major Lindsey.
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Procedure Rule 7.1 Can Simplify Litigators' Diversity Analysis
A recent amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 will help trial courts determine whether the parties to a case are diverse, and may also allow litigators to more quickly determine whether they can remove certain cases to federal court, says Steve Shapiro at Schnader Harrison.
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Questions Surround NY's Controversial New Foreclosure Law
A new law revising New York's statute of limitations governing foreclosure actions, signed into law in December, contains some ambiguous phrasing that has sparked disputes between borrowers and lenders, and will undoubtedly lead to extensive litigation, say Christina Livorsi and Alfred Marks at Day Pitney.
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What To Expect From The House Select Committee On China
Although the U.S. House of Representatives' new select committee on China cannot act on legislation, its bipartisan mandate may enable it to establish the conditions necessary for legislation to be adopted — or not — by Congress' other committees of jurisdiction, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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New AML Law May Be Key Tool To Enforce Russia Sanctions
A new anti-money laundering law for the first time authorizes monetary rewards for tips leading to government enforcement against certain sanctions violations, and though many questions remain, it gives the U.S. an additional tool in the ongoing global battle against Russian aggression, say Daren Firestone and Kimberly Wehle at Levy Firestone.
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Atty Conflict Discussions In Idaho Murder Case And Beyond
A public defender's representation of the accused University of Idaho murderer after prior representation of a victim's parent doesn't constitute a violation of conflict of interest rules, but the case prompts ethical questions about navigating client conflicts in small-town criminal defense and big-city corporate law alike, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Charles Loeser at HWG.
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Why The Original 'Rocket Docket' Will Likely Resume Its Pace
Though the Eastern District of Virginia, for decades the fastest federal trial court in the country, experienced significant pandemic-related slowdowns, several factors unique to the district suggest that it will soon return to its speedy pace, say Dabney Carr and Robert Angle at Troutman Pepper.