Residential
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February 03, 2023
Chicago Lender Slips CFPB Redlining Suit Over Radio Remarks
An Illinois federal judge on Friday threw out a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suit targeting a Chicago mortgage lender for allegedly disparaging majority-Black neighborhoods, ruling that the redlining regulation at issue only applies to credit applicants, not prospective applicants, as the CFPB had claimed.
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February 03, 2023
Texas Court Sides With Homeowners In Easement Row
A Texas appellate court affirmed Texas homeowners' summary judgment win over real estate developers in a dispute over the ownership of a 12-foot easement, ruling that relevant documents show that the homeowners own the easement that the developers' planned condominiums would've shared.
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February 03, 2023
Property Plays: Maddd Equities, Simon Properties, Paul Bliss
A Maddd Equities venture has reportedly landed $414 million in financing for a New York multifamily project, Simon Properties is said to be eyeing a conversion of a former Sears store in California and developer Paul Bliss is reportedly hoping to move forward with a $20 million project in Clarence, New York.
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February 03, 2023
Black Leaders Net Agreement For Stake In Oakland Coliseum
A group of African-American community, business and investment leaders reached an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city of Oakland on Thursday for a 50% stake in the Oakland Coliseum in hopes of further developing housing and a convention center at the coliseum.
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February 03, 2023
Real Estate Site Sues For $200K Over Auction Contract
Commercial real estate website Ten-X is suing a New Jersey real estate group for more than $200,000 in California federal court for allegedly backing out of an auction for multifamily property at the last minute.
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February 03, 2023
Lack Of Polyamory Sinks Eviction Defense, Court Told
A case that made headlines for tackling tenant rights as applied to polyamorous relationships has boiled down to a straightforward examination of facts that show a Hell's Kitchen man must be evicted, counsel for his landlord argued Friday.
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February 03, 2023
Fla. Looks To Save Agricultural Land With $300M Boost
An unprecedented infusion of $300 million into a Florida program that buys conservation easements on agricultural land could have a significant impact relieving pressures on farmers and ranchers, preserving land for environmental purposes including the Florida Wildlife Corridor, and tapping the brakes on rapid real estate development in parts of the state.
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February 03, 2023
ChatGPT's Real Estate Potential Is Big, But Attys Urge Caution
As with a variety of other fields, research company OpenAI's recently released ChatGPT artificial intelligence platform has the potential to drastically improve efficiency in the real estate industry by automating tasks like writing property listings, drafting contracts and compiling market reports, according to attorneys. But they caution that frequent inaccuracies are a reminder the technology is at a starting point, not a complete product.
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February 03, 2023
Contract Claim Survives In Home Fire Coverage Row
An Alabama federal judge trimmed a woman's coverage lawsuit against Allstate to a single breach of contract claim, finding there are genuine disputes over the origin of the blaze that damaged her mobile home.
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February 03, 2023
Davis Graham Forms New Property Rights Practice In Denver
Colorado-based firm Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP hired three attorneys with deep experience in real estate matters to form its new property rights practice, the firm said Wednesday.
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February 03, 2023
Insurer Says Condo's $1M Storm Loss Claim Closer To $40K
Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. asked a Maryland federal court Friday to declare it doesn't have to pay for fully replacing the roofs of 22 condominium buildings, arguing that storm damage to the properties only requires smaller repairs at a much lower cost.
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February 03, 2023
Douglas Elliman Wants Costs For Subpoenas In Antitrust Case
Real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman asked a New York federal court to sanction rival Compass Inc. for reimbursement for time spent preparing items for Compass' subpoenas in its abandoned antitrust suit against a real estate trade group.
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February 03, 2023
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
The past week in London has seen the Financial Conduct Authority hoping to put care home Ponzi schemes to bed in separate claims against Lupton Fawcett, a law firm in Leeds, and a social care group, MBi; oil giant Shell in a sticky situation in a claim over pollution in two Nigerian communities; and Plexus Law's former boss suing the personal injury firm in a commercial contracts claim.
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February 03, 2023
Real Estate Group Of The Year: Wachtell
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz guided Prologis in what became the year's largest real estate transaction, totaling more than $25 billion in one merger, and represented companies across the REIT spectrum with no signs of slowing down, earning a spot in Law360's 2022 Real Estate Group of the Year.
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February 02, 2023
Marriott Reaches Deal With Timeshare Co. In Robocall Suit
Marriott International Inc. won approval Thursday from a Virginia federal judge on its settlement of claims in a trademark infringement suit against timeshare company ResortCom, which the hotel giant had accused of taking part in a deceptive robocall scheme.
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February 02, 2023
Labaton Sucharow To Rep Investors In Opendoor Tech Suit
Labaton Sucharow LLP will represent a proposed class of investors in online real estate company Opendoor Technologies Inc. in a suit alleging the company concealed the shortcomings of its "iBuying" technology, hurting investors after the company disclosed significant losses on its iBuying business.
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February 02, 2023
HUD Distributes $315M Under Program To End Homelessness
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Thursday it has awarded $315 million to 46 city, county and state community coalitions under a program intended to end homelessness.
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February 02, 2023
11th Circ. Says No Appraisal Breach From Insurer's Email
The Eleventh Circuit held Thursday that QBE Specialty Insurance Co. did not violate an appraisal agreement with a Miami homeowner by sending evidence pertaining to a pipe leak other than the one the panel was considering.
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February 02, 2023
Bring On 'Builder's Remedy,' Say Bay Area Housing Advocates
With California's state housing plan deadline now in the rearview mirror, Bay Area housing advocates are bracing for as many as 97 of the region's 101 cities to be out of compliance, triggering a possible mass "builder's remedy" scenario.
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February 02, 2023
Judge Tosses IRS Notice Requiring Easement Disclosure
An Alabama federal judge on Thursday set aside a 2016 Internal Revenue Service notice requiring the disclosure of certain conservation easement transactions, handing a win to a land donation advisory firm that sought relief from the notice.
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February 02, 2023
Conn. Couple Sues Santander Bank For Discrimination
Santander Bank is the latest lender in the hot seat for alleged discrimination after an interracial couple claimed their race was the reason the bank and its appraiser relied on an appraisal that undervalued their home and denied them refinancing
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February 02, 2023
Credit Union, Issuers Settle Loan Fraud Coverage Suit
A credit union that was scammed by someone who forged signatures on loan applications has settled a coverage dispute with its insurers over the resulting losses, telling a Washington federal court in a stipulation that their dispute should now be dismissed.
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February 02, 2023
Lenders Say RI Homeowners Owe Them For Foreclosure Sales
Nationstar Mortgage, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and other lenders hit a putative class of Rhode Island homeowners with counterclaims that seek monetary judgments for what was allegedly owed for promissory notes after the homeowners' properties were foreclosed and sold by the lenders.
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February 02, 2023
Mass. Court Affirms Denial Of Real Estate Tax Exemption
The operator of a Massachusetts apartment complex that caters to low-income and elderly residents failed to prove it met the requirements to qualify for a real estate tax exemption granted to charitable organizations, a state appeals court said Thursday, upholding a tax board's ruling.
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February 02, 2023
Fla. Broker Defends Antitrust Suit Over Boycott Via Facebook
A mortgage broker has urged a Florida federal court to not toss its proposed class action accusing United Wholesale Mortgage of anti-competitive practices, saying the company illegally tried to maintain its market dominance by rallying thousands of individuals over Facebook and convincing them to sign a boycott against two competitors.
Expert Analysis
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Ohio Ruling Leaves Mineral Rights Standard Intact, But Vague
The Ohio Supreme Court's recent decision in Gerrity v. Chervenak rejected any bright-line rule for what surface property owners must do to establish that mineral rights holders have abandoned their claims, leaving questions about what constitutes reasonable diligence, say Michael Brewster and Christopher Rogers at Frost Brown.
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Construction Insureds Should Beware Faulty Work Exclusions
A South Carolina federal court's recent decision in Cincinnati Insurance v. Charlotte Paint, narrowly construing a key phrase commonly found in property damage exclusions, highlights a litigation strategy that policyholders should be prepared to push back against in future cases, say Catherine Doyle and David Kroeger at Jenner & Block.
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How Oregon Landlords Can Navigate Shifting Eviction Rules
The frequency and overlapping nature of legislation restricting Oregon landlords' eviction rights during the pandemic create compliance challenges, but exploring alternate avenues of financial relief can help, says Ciaran Connelly at Ball Janik.
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Blockchain Holds Potential For Commercial Real Estate
Blockchain-based tokenization of commercial real estate has the capacity to bring about a paradigm shift in how real estate finance is conducted, as lower intermediary costs and minimum investment requirements unlock trillions of dollars in illiquid global real estate assets, says Josh Morton at Pillsbury.
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The Most-Read Securities Law360 Guests Of 2020
The most-read securities articles written by Law360 guest experts in 2020 centered around market volatility triggered by COVID-19; remote testimony considerations as courtroom proceedings moved online; and risk and compliance issues related to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
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5 Article III Takeaways From 7th Circ.'s FDCPA Ruling Frenzy
The Seventh Circuit's five recent rapid-fire decisions on plaintiffs' standing in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases highlight the importance of scrutinizing alleged injuries, and go a long way in clarifying the Article III analysis in similar statutory-based putative class actions, say Thomas Shriner and Aaron Wegrzyn at Foley & Lardner.
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Texas Bankruptcy Ruling May Weaken Rent Abatement Args
A recent Texas bankruptcy court's decision denying pandemic-related rent abatement for CEC Entertainment's Chuck E. Cheese restaurants may weaken tenants' arguments regarding force majeure and frustration in similar cases, say attorneys at Cleary Gottlieb.
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House Wish List Hints At Financial Services Priorities
Not all of the U.S. House of Representatives’ recent recommendations on financial regulation for the Biden administration will come to fruition, but the extensive list offers a glimpse into the House's financial services agenda for the coming term, say Aaron Cutler and Ashley Hutto-Schultz at Hogan Lovells.
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EPA Groundwater Guidance Fails To Answer Key Questions
Recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance on the U.S. Supreme Court's County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund decision on permits for indirect groundwater discharges leaves technical questions on when and how to perform evaluations unanswered, making it of little practical value, says Marcia Greenblatt at Integral Consulting.
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Judges On Race: The Path To A More Diverse Bench
To close the diversity gap between the judiciary and the litigants that regularly appear in criminal courts, institutions including police departments, prosecutor offices and defense law firms must be committed to advancing Black and Latino men, says New York Supreme Court Justice Erika Edwards.
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NY Must Uproot Old Laws To Make Real Climate Progress
New York leads the nation in its efforts to confront climate change, but to fully realize the state's environmental ambitions, policymakers must update laws that encourage continued fossil fuel consumption, say Justin Gundlach at New York University School of Law and Elizabeth Stein at the Environmental Defense Fund.
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Kentucky Tax Talk: What's On Next Year's Legislative Agenda
As the Kentucky Legislature gears up for its 2021 session, taxpayers should watch out for several proposed changes, including property tax assessment modifications and sector tax breaks, say attorneys at Frost Brown.
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Fla. High Court Should Uphold Bad Faith Rule For Insureds
Contrary to a recent Law360 guest article's argument, when the Florida Supreme Court decides Citizens Property v. Manor House, it should support the statute that requires insureds to file a bad faith action in damages disputes to stay consistent with legislative intent and decades of precedent, says Damien Reynolds at Shutts & Bowen.