Residential

  • September 13, 2023

    Steinbridge, FrontRange Target $1.3B Housing Venture

    Two real estate companies, The Steinbridge Group and an affiliate of FrontRange Capital Partners, began a joint venture that they say will develop single-family and small multifamily homes throughout the U.S. to help increase the housing stock.

  • September 13, 2023

    Atty Fees Granted To Insurer In Fla. Condo's $13.8M Irma Suit

    A Florida federal judge awarded a Chubb unit more than $4,000 in attorney fees and costs after a Sunny Isles Beach condo association's $13.8 million Hurricane Irma damage complaint was dismissed.

  • September 13, 2023

    Wash. Dept. Clarifies Estate Tax Break For Family-Owned Biz

    Washington state explained when certain family-owned business interests engaged in real estate rental investment activities may qualify for the state's estate tax deduction in an excise tax advisory issued by the state Department of Revenue.

  • September 13, 2023

    NJ High Court Will Decide Class Action Waivers In Leases

    The New Jersey Supreme Court will weigh whether a class action waiver in tenants' leases at a luxury apartment building can be enforced without a mandatory arbitration agreement, agreeing to review a state appellate panel's decision to allow a lawsuit over a luxury condominium operator's alleged building security shortfalls to advance.

  • September 13, 2023

    Ex-NYC Buildings Commissioner Pleads Not Guilty To Bribery

    A longtime New York City politician pled not guilty in state court Wednesday to taking more than $150,000 worth of bribes while serving as a city councilmember, senior adviser to Mayor Eric Adams and commissioner of the Department of Buildings.

  • September 12, 2023

    Rule Changes Could Slow Eviction Process In Michigan

    The Michigan court process for evictions is set to change in November, when several new and temporary tenant protections that could increase the amount of time it takes to evict a renter who is behind on bills will take permanent effect.

  • September 12, 2023

    Insurer Won't Cover $11M Water Damage, Condo Co. Says

    A Seattle-area condominium association asked a Washington federal court to force its insurer to cover more than $11 million in hidden water damage to its complex, launching its latest bid to have its historical insurers pay for the loss.

  • September 12, 2023

    Moritt Hock Adds Five Attys To NYC Real Estate Practice

    Five real estate attorneys have joined Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP's New York City office from the recently shuttered Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer LLP, telling Law360 on Tuesday that they're bringing an expertise in cooperative and condominium law to their new home.

  • September 12, 2023

    Va. Property Manager Accused Of Bias Against Voucher Users

    A nonprofit accused a Virginia-based company that develops and manages apartments Tuesday in a Washington, D.C., court of discriminating against housing applicants who use federal and D.C. housing vouchers to pay rent.

  • September 12, 2023

    Md. Property Owner Can't Get Tax Break For Immovable Tenant

    A Maryland man's claim that his inability to evict a tenant because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions rendered his property worthless was insufficient to reduce the property's valuation, the state's tax court said in an order released Tuesday.

  • September 12, 2023

    Hotel Owners Again Pitch Luxury Tower In Miami Beach

    The owners of two adjacent Miami Beach, Florida, hotels returned Tuesday to local historic preservation officials to present their new plan to build a beachfront luxury tower — this time offering a suite of nearby street improvements after the city rejected similar plans in 2021.

  • September 12, 2023

    Md. Tax Court Won't Lower Home's Assessed Value

    The Maryland Tax Court upheld the valuation of a Baltimore County residential property, saying in a decision released Tuesday that the owner's evidence of comparable sales prices fell short of what was needed to overturn the finding of a local assessment board.

  • September 12, 2023

    Real Estate Rumors: Mohamed Hadid, Toro, Apollo Global

    Developer Mohamed Hadid is reportedly scrapping plans for a 100,000-square-foot estate and is selling the site for $68 million, Toro Real Estate Partners is said to have sold a Florida multifamily property for $7.5 million, and Apollo Global Management has reportedly lent $90 million for a New York retail property.

  • September 12, 2023

    NY Provides $20M In Financing For Decarbonization Projects

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that the state will provide a $20 million energy financing fund to support carbon footprint reduction among disadvantaged communities.

  • September 12, 2023

    Zillow Users Must Paint Clear Picture Of Injury In Wiretap Case

    Zillow website users must show how they were harmed by the online home marketplace's use of Microsoft technology that captures personal information to advance a proposed class action over what they allege are wiretapping law violations by the real estate giant, a Washington federal judge ruled this week.

  • September 12, 2023

    Goodwin Procter Works On $430M Calif. Industrial Deal

    Westcore Realty has acquired a large industrial property near San Bernardino, California, in a $430 million deal that involved Goodwin Procter LLP, according to documents made public Monday.

  • September 12, 2023

    Ex-BigLaw Partner Pleads Guilty To Lying In Own Ch. 11

    A former BigLaw partner specializing in financial disputes pled guilty in New York federal court Tuesday to one count of misstating assets under oath in a 2022 personal bankruptcy filing.

  • September 12, 2023

    Single-Family Rental Giant Hires Ex-Blackstone GC

    Progress Residential has hired a former top legal adviser for Blackstone's real estate asset management business as general counsel, the single-family rental giant announced Tuesday.

  • September 12, 2023

    NC Homeowners Group Backs Ban On Short-Term Rentals

    A North Carolina homeowners association wants the state Court of Appeals to uphold a ban on short-term rentals, arguing that such a restriction fits with the neighborhood covenants already in place.

  • September 12, 2023

    Dentons-Led CPI Property Group Secures €635M Bridge Loan

    CPI Property Group, a commercial landlord focused on real estate in Central Europe, obtained a €635 million ($679.4 million) bridge loan through a group of banks to replace existing debt connected to two recent acquisitions, with guidance from Dentons, according to an announcement.

  • September 11, 2023

    Kan. Apartment Not Covered For Tenant Death, Insurer Says

    An apartment complex owner's insurer told a Kansas federal court Monday a "habitability and wrongful eviction exclusion" bars coverage for an underlying suit brought by a tenant's son who says his father died of hypothermia due to a faulty furnace.

  • September 11, 2023

    The Law Firms Behind Flannery's Mysterious Calif. Land Grab

    Flannery Associates, an entity backed by several Silicon Valley high-net-worth individuals, has had counsel from multiple law firms on transactional and litigation matters as it has quietly acquired hundreds of properties in California's Solano County over the past few years.

  • September 11, 2023

    Drone Evidence Threatens Privacy Rights, Nonprofits Say

    Civil liberties organizations have urged the Michigan Supreme Court to exclude evidence from a code enforcement action against a couple that a Michigan township gathered through what the nonprofits said was unauthorized drone use.

  • September 11, 2023

    Black Calif. Residents Sue Over $56M Housing Development

    Residents of a historic Black neighborhood near one of the wealthiest regions of the Bay Area are crying foul over plans to build a $56 million apartment development in their community, claiming in a federal lawsuit that it will change the character of the neighborhood and that a mandatory environmental review was never performed.

  • September 11, 2023

    SEC Fines Real Estate Adviser For Compliance Shortfalls

    A New York investment adviser has agreed to pay $100,000 to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that its written compliance and ethics measures fell short of the regulator's standards for 16 years before the issues were finally addressed.

Expert Analysis

  • Every Lawyer Can Act To Prevent Peer Suicide

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    Members of the legal industry can help prevent suicide among their colleagues, and better protect their own mental health, by learning the predictors and symptoms of depression among attorneys and knowing when and how to get practical aid to peers in crisis, says Joan Bibelhausen at Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.

  • Issues For Housing Credit Investors Following Bank Failures

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    Amid the uncertainty caused by the bank failures last month, low-income housing tax credit investors may want to revisit underwriting criteria for their equity guarantors and certain provisions under their partnership agreements, say Brad Butler and Maci Followell at Frost Brown.

  • 10th Circ. Ruling Could Gut Homeowners' Ch. 13 Safety Net

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    The Tenth Circuit’s recent ruling in Doll v. Goodman could spell the end of Chapter 13 protection for consumers in a number of states, and if the decision is replicated in other circuits, homeowners across the country could lose their homes for lack of a viable bankruptcy administration, says former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Catherine Bauer, now at Signature Resolution.

  • FTC Proposal Greatly Widens Auto-Renewal Regulation

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    The Federal Trade Commission's proposed rule on automatic renewal subscriptions would impose significant new obligations on sellers of negative option plans and expand the agency's enforcement powers, likely requiring companies to examine and change their practices, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Do Videoconferences Establish Jurisdiction With Defendants?

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    What it means to have minimum contacts in a foreign jurisdiction is changing as people become more accustomed to meeting via video, and defendants’ participation in videoconferencing may be used as a sword or a shield in courts’ personal jurisdiction analysis, says Patrick Hickey at Moye White.

  • Humanism Should Replace Formalism In The Courts

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    The worrying tendency for judges to say "it's just the law talking, not me" in American decision writing has coincided with an historic decline in respect for the courts, but this trend can be reversed if courts develop understandable legal standards and justify them in human terms, says Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.

  • 20 Years On, Campbell Holds Lessons On Reining In Ratios

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    Twenty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in State Farm v. Campbell provided critical guidance on the constitutionally permissible ratio of punitive to compensatory damages — and both Campbell and subsequent federal circuit court decisions informed by it offer important pointers for defendants, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy

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    As clients increasingly impose requirements for attorney hiring and retention related to diversity and secondment, law firms must remember their ethical duties, as well as broader issues of lawyer development, culture and firm integrity, to maintain their independence while meaningfully responding to social changes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • IRS' Cost Method Update Is Favorable For RE Developers

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    The Internal Revenue Service's recent update to its alternative cost method will allow real estate developers to accelerate their cost recovery of improvements in certain circumstances and make it easier for practitioners to satisfy the method's tax compliance requirements, says Benjamin Oklan at Weil.

  • Federal Judge's Amici Invitation Is A Good Idea, With Caveats

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    An Arkansas federal judge’s recent order — inviting amicus briefs in every civil case before him — has merit, but its implementation may raise practical questions about the role of junior attorneys, economic considerations and other issues, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.

  • Fox Ex-Producer Case Is A Lesson In Joint Representation

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    A former Fox News producer's allegations that the network's lawyers pressured her to give misleading testimony in Fox's defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems should remind lawyers representing a nonparty witness that the rules of joint representation apply, says Jared Marx at HWG.

  • As The Metaverse Expands, Bankruptcy Questions Arise

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    Restructuring and bankruptcy happen in the metaverse, too — and the uncertain and evolving rules of digital ownership could have surprising effects on who gets paid, with increasing tension between platforms and users, say Kizzy Jarashow and James Lathrop at Goodwin.

  • Stanford Law Protest Highlights Rise Of Incivility In Discourse

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    The recent Stanford Law School incident, where students disrupted a speech by U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, should be a reminder to teach law students how to be effective advocates without endangering physical and mental health, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada.