Residential
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March 09, 2023
Insurer Says No Coverage For Condo's $10M Plumbing Repair
Houston Casualty Co. asked a California federal judge to find that it doesn't owe coverage to a contractor for what may be more than $10 million in plumbing repairs at a condominium in Los Angeles County.
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March 09, 2023
Real Estate Rumors: Morris, David Porter, Fuller Realty
Morris Communications is said to have listed a Georgia office portfolio sale at $8 million, David Porter is said to have sold a Missouri estate for $13 million, and Fuller Realty has reportedly purchased a San Antonio office complex.
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March 09, 2023
Biden Eyes New Funds For Housing, End Of 1031 Tax Program
With his budget blueprint for the next fiscal year, President Joe Biden pitched Thursday a host of investments to increase low-income Americans' access to affordable housing, while again seeking to eliminate a tax provision that real estate pros frequently take advantage of as part of their transactions.
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March 09, 2023
NY ALJ Says Couple Can't Claim Real Estate Deduction
A New York couple couldn't claim a real estate deduction on their personal income tax returns because the husband did not qualify as a real estate professional, an administrative law judge ruled in a determination released Thursday.
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March 09, 2023
Remodeler Cops To Money Laundering In $5.1M Scam
An Omaha, Nebraska, man pled guilty to money laundering in a more than $5.1 million scheme involving his remodeling and repair company billing clients for work that hadn't started, overbilling other clients for work that was done and sending false insurance invoices, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
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March 09, 2023
Property Rights Groups Urge No Rehearing of Ind. Trails Case
Five property rights groups say they oppose an en banc hearing at the Federal Circuit for an Indiana rail trail case in which the U.S. government asked the court to revisit when a landowner can exercise a takings claim.
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March 09, 2023
Rising Student Rents Due To Lack Of Housing, Report Says
The increase in rent for purpose-built student housing is thanks to the same pressures driving up broader U.S. rental prices, but deregulating housing markets to encourage new construction could help combat the upward trend, according to a report from the research arm of nonprofit National Multifamily Housing Council.
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March 09, 2023
Greenberg Traurig Adds Construction, Real Estate Litigator
Greenberg Traurig LLP added a seasoned construction litigator from Offit Kurman as a shareholder in its northern Virginia office, the firm said in a news release Wednesday.
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March 09, 2023
Greenberg Traurig Leader Sees Active Deal Flow In Japan
The office, hotel and multifamily sectors are showing strength in Japan as that country has been less aggressive than the U.S. with interest rate hikes, Greenberg Traurig LLP's chair of Asia real estate told Law360 in a recent wide-ranging interview.
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March 08, 2023
CFPB Spots 'Junk Fees' In The Wild As States Urged To Act
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that its recent supervisory exams have turned up an array of unlawful "junk fees" charged on bank accounts, mortgages and other loans, releasing anonymized findings the same day that the White House urged states to join in its fee fight.
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March 08, 2023
Insurer Wins In CDS Bench Trial With Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers' bankrupt European unit on Wednesday lost a multiyear quest to claw back $485 million from an Assured Guaranty Ltd. unit that terminated 28 credit default swaps in 2009 during the global financial crisis, with a New York state judge finding in favor of the insurer on all counts.
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March 08, 2023
Real Estate Rumors: Rothbart, David Hudgens, TPA Group
Rothbart Construction Realty has reportedly sold 37 Chicago-area industrial buildings for more than $150 million; three Washington, D.C., homes once owned by the late David Hudgens have reportedly listed for sale at $26.5 million; and TPA Group is said to have dropped $36 million on nearly 60 acres in South Florida.
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March 08, 2023
NJ Apartment's Ida Claim Belongs In Arbitration, Judge Says
A New Jersey federal judge sent an apartment's Hurricane Ida damage claim to arbitration and dismissed its lawsuit, finding that an arbitration clause in the apartment's policies with several insurers was not negated by another provision.
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March 08, 2023
Co. Can't Sue US Bank Over RMBS Claims, NY Court Told
A New York state appellate panel heard arguments on Wednesday from U.S. Bank that an entity holding residential mortgage-backed securities that the bank once oversaw can't collect on damages for its handling of the assets ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.
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March 08, 2023
State Farm Drops Pa. Squatter Fire Suit Against Fannie Mae
State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. permanently dropped its fire coverage suit against Fannie Mae in Pennsylvania federal court on Wednesday, ending its bid to recover payments made to a homeowner after squatters started a fire in a nearby property.
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March 08, 2023
Black Calif. Couple Settles Home Appraisal Bias Lawsuit
A Black couple in Northern California settled their lawsuit against a real estate appraiser who they claimed was racially motivated when she undervalued their Marin County home after a white friend posed as the owner and received an estimate that was $500,000 higher.
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March 08, 2023
Biden Admin. Sides With Conservatives In 'Takings' Case
In a closely watched U.S. Supreme Court case, the Biden administration in part took the side of conservative groups challenging government seizures in Minnesota and other states that allow local governments to keep more money than a debtor owes.
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March 08, 2023
Ohio Judge Seeks Consolidation Plan For 18 Derailment Suits
U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson from the Northern District of Ohio on Wednesday gave counsel one week to propose a consolidation structure for 18 separate class action lawsuits brought against Norfolk Southern over the catastrophic derailment last month in East Palestine.
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March 08, 2023
Boston Asks State To Lift Decadeslong Rent Control Ban
The Boston City Council urged state lawmakers Wednesday to reinstate local governments' ability to enact rent stabilization, nearly three decades after it was outlawed by Massachusetts voters in a referendum.
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March 08, 2023
NY Top Court Urged To Revive NYC Property Tax System Fight
A New York appeals court shouldn't have dismissed a property tax coalition's case arguing that New York City's property tax system is inequitable, the group said in a reply brief filed with the state's highest court and obtained by Law360 on Wednesday.
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March 08, 2023
Huntington Beach Moves Closer To Defying Builder's Remedy
Huntington Beach signaled its willingness to go to battle with California on Tuesday, when its city council passed an ordinance saying it will ignore the builder's remedy clause of a state law pushing for more affordable housing.
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March 08, 2023
Multifamily Housing Gains, Single-Family Grows Out Of Reach
Builders pivoted to multifamily rental construction in the second half of 2022 as buyers balked at high prices and rising interest rates, a trend that may be to the detriment of those looking for affordable options in the single-family market, according to a Wednesday report by Realtor.com.
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March 08, 2023
Samsung Beats Nationwide Unit's $1.2M Battery Fire Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge tossed a Nationwide unit's $1.2 million suit against Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. for failing to establish jurisdiction over the South Korean company, whose lithium-ion batteries the insurer claimed caused a house fire.
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March 08, 2023
Idaho County Sues Feds Over Spent-Nuclear Fuel Storage
Butte County, Idaho, has asked a federal court to bar the U.S. Department of Energy from storing spent nuclear fuel within its boundaries unless the agency provides financial help to offset negative economic impacts.
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March 07, 2023
New Studies Point To Evolving Threats From Hurricanes
Climate change is threatening to put 13 million more households at risk of hurricane-force wind damage, while the likelihood of back-to-back tropical storms will increase considerably in the coming decades, two new studies have found.
Expert Analysis
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How To Deal With Difficult Clients, Practically And Ethically
Meredith Stoma at Lewis Brisbois discusses common obstacles for counsel working with difficult clients and provides guidance on ethically managing or terminating these challenging relationships — as, for example, counsel for Ye have recently done.
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A Game Changer For Mortgage Foreclosure Cases In NY
A New York appeals court's recent ruling in Federal National Mortgage Association v. Jeanty establishes that a borrower's partial payment on a mortgage in foreclosure resets the clock on the statute of limitations to foreclose, meaning loans previously considered time-barred may now be recoverable, say Adam Swanson and Jessie Bonaros at McCarter & English.
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Federal Courts Should Adopt Supreme Court's Amicus Stance
The federal courts of appeals should adopt the U.S. Supreme Court's new approach to amicus curiae briefs, which allows the friend-of-the-court submissions to be filed without consent from the court or the parties, says Lawrence Ebner at Atlantic Legal Foundation.
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Mortgage Lenders Must Prioritize Anti-Bias Compliance
The Biden administration has recently accelerated its anti-discrimination campaign against financial institutions that provide insufficient mortgage credit in minority communities, but legal exposure can be reduced via strong compliance programs that originate in the C-suite and permeate throughout the company, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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3 Pricing Trends In Law Firm Use Of Litigation Funding
As BigLaw firms increasingly include litigation funding as a financing option for clients, internal pricing groups are taking the lead on standardizing and centralizing firm processes, and aggregating risk budgets, says Brendan Dyer at Woodsford Group.
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Safeguarding Attorneys' Greatest Asset: Our Mental Health
Attorneys who understand that mental fitness is their most valuable characteristic should prioritize mental health care accordingly, including with certain activities they may not realize qualify as self-care, says Wendy Robbins at Holland & Knight.
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NYC's New Law Is A Game Changer For Short-Term Rentals
On Jan. 9, strict new regulations controlling New York City's short-term rental industry will take effect, likely giving landlords the upper hand in addressing what has been one of the city's least-regulated industries, say Adam Lindenbaum and Collin Chipetine at Rosenberg & Estis.
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Fla. Insurance Suit Trends To Look Out For After Hurricane Ian
There will likely be tens of thousands of property insurance lawsuits filed in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and carriers and insureds will need to view claims through Florida's Valued Policy Law, the concurrent cause doctrine and anti-concurrent cause provisions, say David Levin and Spencer Leach at Baker Donelson.
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Law Schools Are Right To Steer Clear Of US News Rankings
By opting out of participating in the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings, law schools abandon a profoundly flawed system and free up their resources to adapt to the tsunami of changes overtaking the profession, says Nicholas Allard at Jacksonville University College of Law.
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How CRE Buyers' Counsel Should Help Negotiate Sales
With commercial real estate deals becoming increasingly difficult for buyers in the current economy, it is crucial for buyers' counsel to understand how to push for specific representations and warranties in purchase and sale agreements without jeopardizing the deal, says Etan Moskovic at Cassin & Cassin.
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Litigation Funders Seek Transparency In Disclosure Debate
Litigation funders want to correct the record on calls for funding disclosure in the name of transparency, as this purported justification obscures the disclosure's adverse effects — prejudicing plaintiffs' cases and discouraging the assertion of meritorious legal claims, say Dai Wai Chin Feman and William Weisman at Parabellum Capital.
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5 Principles For Better Professional Development Programs
The pandemic and ensuing "great resignation" have resulted in a more transient legal work force, but law firms can use effective professional development programs to bridge a cultural gap with new associates and stem associate attrition, says Matthew Woods at Robins Kaplan.
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My Favorite Law Prof: How I Learned To Practice With Passion
First Circuit Judge Gustavo Gelpí recalls how Suffolk University Law School's Joseph Glannon taught the importance of the law as both a tool and a profession, and that those who wish to practice law successfully must do so with love, enthusiasm and passion.