Residential
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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.
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March 28, 2024
Ga. Airbnb Owner Must Face Suit Over Off-Property Injury
A woman who was injured by a falling limb outside an Airbnb in Savannah, Georgia, has had part of her suit revived by a state appeals court, which found that the rental owner could be liable for the injury because it occurred on an "approach" to his property though not directly on it.
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March 28, 2024
MLS, Trade Group Say DOJ Deal Fix Itself Anti-Competitive
The U.S. Department of Justice drew fire Wednesday for pushing what a real estate trade group argued would itself be an anti-competitive rule, as the DOJ and other outside groups vie to influence a proposed $3 million settlement over house broker commissions in Massachusetts federal court.
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March 28, 2024
Mortgage Co. Misclassified Workers As OT-Exempt, Suit Says
A Michigan mortgage company has not been paying its loan officers, processors, partners and lead generators overtime premiums for the hours they worked over 40 or all their wages earned, two former employees claimed in a proposed collective action filed in federal court.
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March 28, 2024
Flood Risk Disclosure Law Uptick Offers Insurance Upsides
A growing trend of states adopting and implementing flood risk disclosure laws must continue, experts say, touting such laws as protecting consumers and informing efforts to mitigate climate change costs through insurance and other risk management efforts.
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March 28, 2024
Texas Airbnb Host Says Suit Over Fatal Blast In Wrong Venue
The Texas owner of an Airbnb rental unit in Jamaica where a gas stove exploded, causing fatal injuries to a Connecticut woman, says she cannot be sued where the victim lived, arguing that she never targeted the online listing for the property to anyone in Connecticut and that the federal court there lacks jurisdiction over her as a resident of Texas.
Expert Analysis
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Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy
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.
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IRS' Cost Method Update Is Favorable For RE Developers
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.
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Federal Judge's Amici Invitation Is A Good Idea, With Caveats
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.
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Fox Ex-Producer Case Is A Lesson In Joint Representation
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.
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As The Metaverse Expands, Bankruptcy Questions Arise
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.
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Stanford Law Protest Highlights Rise Of Incivility In Discourse
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.
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Dispute Prevention Strategies To Halt Strife Before It Starts
With geopolitical turbulence presenting increased risks of business disputes amid court backlogs and ballooning costs, companies should consider building mechanisms for dispute prevention into newly established partnerships to constructively resolve conflicts before they do costly damage, say Ellen Waldman and Allen Waxman at the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
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Key Takeaways In Ex-NY Lt. Gov.'s Tossed Bribery Charges
In dismissing bribery charges against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, a Manhattan federal court stringently defined an explicit quid pro quo — the latest in a string of federal rulings that have narrowed the use of federal public corruption laws to pursue state-level officials, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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High Court Bankruptcy Ruling Is A Warning To Joint Obligors
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Bartenwerfer v. Buckley opens the door to increased litigation surrounding the dischargeability of joint debts, and although it highlights the heightened risks to debtors posed as members of a partnership, its reach may exceed beyond liability for a partner's fraud, say Andrew Buxbaum and Deborah Kovsky-Apap at Troutman Pepper.
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Practical Skills Young Attorneys Must Master To Be Happier
For young lawyers, finding happiness on the job — with its competitive nature and high expectations for billable hours — is complicated, but three skills can help them gain confidence, reduce stress and demonstrate their professional value in ways they never imagined, says career counselor Susan Smith Blakely.
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Establishing A Record Of Good Faith In Mediation
Viacom v. U.S. Specialty Insurance, and other recent cases, highlight the developing criteria for determining good faith participation in mediation, as well as several practical tips to establish such a record, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.
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Honchariw Case May Greatly Affect Default Loans In Calif.
Because a California state appeals court held in Honchariw v. FJM that default interest is unlawful when a lender assesses it against the full outstanding principal balance on a partially matured loan, lenders should prepare for borrowers to increasingly rely on the case when challenging default interest, say attorneys at Duane Morris.
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5 Takeaways From Recent CFPB, FTC Equal Credit Push
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission overlap in regulating a wide range of banks and nonbanks, and the recent concerted effort from both agencies to address discrimination in financial services should remind organizations to reexamine their anti-discrimination and Equal Credit Opportunity Act compliance, say attorneys at Wiley.