Real Estate

  • 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.

  • March 29, 2024

    Off The Bench: Ohtani Woes, Va. Ends Arena Plan, Pac-12 Deal

    In this week’s Off The Bench, MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani tries to untangle himself from a gambling scandal, Virginia’s rejection sends two D.C. pro franchises back home, and the Pac-12 pays up to two schools that were left behind. If you were sidelined this week, Law360 will catch you up with the sports and betting stories that had our readers talking.

  • March 28, 2024

    White House Directs Agencies To Install AI Risk Safeguards

    The White House on Thursday issued a new directive requiring all federal agencies to address safety and civil rights risks in their use and procurement of artificial intelligence in an array of settings, including conducting screenings at airports and making decisions affecting Americans' healthcare, employment and housing.

  • March 28, 2024

    Fla. Judge Axes Club Owners' Suit 'Intended For The Media'

    A Florida federal judge has dismissed a complaint brought by two Little Havana businessmen against top-level Miami officials over weaponizing city resources against them for supporting a local political candidate, saying the lawsuit appeared to be "intended for the media" and needs to be refiled without errors.

  • 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.

  • March 28, 2024

    PE Group Seeks $32.4M In Serbia Real Estate Arbitration

    A group of companies in Cyprus and an associated Rand Investments Ltd. executive that are entangled in international arbitration over allegations that Serbia expropriated real estate in Belgrade have argued that Serbia owes them €30 million ($32.4 million) for their share of the land's value.

  • March 28, 2024

    DOJ, FTC Weigh In On Another Pricing Algorithm Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission intervened in another alleged algorithmic collusion case Thursday with a statement of interest arguing that Atlantic City casino-hotels can't duck room rate price-fixing allegations simply by arguing there's no evidence they communicated directly or that pricing recommendations were binding.

  • 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.

  • March 28, 2024

    Fruit Grower Cleared To Leave Ch. 11 With $43M Exit Loan

    California stone fruit producer Prima Wawona is set to wind down its packing and distribution division, hand ownership of the reorganized company to creditors and leave bankruptcy after a Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed to approve its Chapter 11 plan Thursday.

  • March 28, 2024

    Wash. Appeals Court Asked To Mull COVID Coverage Question

    A Washington state court has halted litigation over the University of Washington's bid for COVID-19 business interruption coverage from a Liberty Mutual unit, asking a state appeals court to first determine whether the presence of COVID-19 satisfies UW's policies' direct physical loss or damage requirement and if a contamination exclusion applies.

  • 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.

  • March 28, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: WeWork, Reading FC, Pet Food Co.

    Ex-WeWork CEO Adam Neumann looks to buy the company back, Chiron Sports Group is in talks to buy Reading Football Club, and the private equity firms Advent and CVC eye a pet food company. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • 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.

  • March 28, 2024

    Spokeo Accused Of Flouting NJ Judicial Protection Law

    Spokeo Inc., the people search database provider, violated New Jersey state law by not removing information about law enforcement personnel from its database after requests were filed, a data privacy company contends in a lawsuit.

  • March 28, 2024

    Investors Strike $42.5M Deal In Brookfield-GGP Merger Suit

    Brookfield Property Partners LP has reached a tentative $42.5 million deal to bring an end to a yearslong battle with stockholders who alleged they were given misleading information about the global real estate company's 2018 acquisition of U.S. mall operator GGP Inc.

  • March 28, 2024

    Va. Landowners Return To Supreme Court In FERC Challenge

    Virginia residents with property being condemned for the Mountain Valley Pipeline are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit decision dismissing their suit challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's eminent domain authority, and its ability to delegate that authority to private companies.

  • March 28, 2024

    Ore. To Give Tax Break For Wildfire Settlement Payouts

    Oregon victims of wildfires who receive funds in civil actions will not owe income tax on those payments under legislation signed into law by the governor.

  • March 28, 2024

    The Home Depot Buying PE-Backed SRS For $18.25B

    The Home Depot said Thursday it has agreed to acquire SRS Distribution Inc., a private equity-backed distributor of roofing and building supplies, for $18.25 billion, inclusive of debt. 

  • March 27, 2024

    5th Circ. Reissues Arb. Decision In Hurricane Damage Case

    The Fifth Circuit has reissued its opinion allowing a group of domestic insurers to force arbitration of a dispute over coverage for hurricane damage under an international arbitration clause after the insurers argued that the unanimous decision applied circuit precedent in a new context.

  • March 27, 2024

    Vrbo Host Is Breaking Zoning Regs, Conn. High Court Told

    Some justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court signaled on Wednesday that a lower court may have failed to provide a workable definition of the word "residence" when deciding that a Branford-based zoning board's regulations allowed short-term rentals through services like Vrbo and Airbnb.

  • March 27, 2024

    DoorDash, Grubhub Want Docs From NY Restaurant Lobbyists

    DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats have urged a Manhattan federal judge to let them subpoena the trade group executives who allegedly "worked closely" with officials on challenged New York City caps on fees that food delivery apps can charge restaurants.

  • March 27, 2024

    NYC Mayor Says City Laws Can't Expand Housing Vouchers

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams has urged a state court to rule against a proposed class that wants the court to enforce a set of local laws aiming to expand a housing voucher program, saying those measures conflict with state law.

  • March 27, 2024

    Yellow Corp. Pension Fund Liability To Be Decided In Ch. 11

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Wednesday denied the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s bid to take a dispute with Yellow Corp. over $7.8 billion in retirement fund withdrawal liability claims to arbitration, finding the dispute would be best resolved through the trucking firm's Chapter 11 claims allowance process.

  • March 27, 2024

    On Deck In JPML: Baby Food, 23andMe Privacy, NCAA

    The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's packed meeting Thursday in South Carolina will see the panel mulling consolidation of privacy litigation against 23andMe, claims of heavy metals in baby food, and scholarship-fixing claims by student athletes against the NCAA — and that's just for starters.

  • March 27, 2024

    Navajo Sue Feds Over Withheld Forestry Program Funds

    The Navajo Nation claims the U.S. Department of the Interior unlawfully withheld more than a million dollars in funding for its contracted forestry management program, telling a D.C. federal judge the department should be forced to provide the money and accept the funding agreements proposed by the nation.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • AI's Baked-In Bias: What To Watch Out For

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    The federal AI executive order is a direct acknowledgment of the perils of inherent bias in artificial intelligence systems, and highlights the need for legal professionals to thoroughly vet AI systems, including data and sources, algorithms and AI training methods, and more, say Jonathan Hummel and Jonathan Talcott at Ballard Spahr.

  • How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners

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    A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.

  • Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability

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    In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling May Beget Fraud Jury Instruction Appeals

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    The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Greenlaw decision, disapproving disjunctive fraudulent-intent jury instructions, will likely spawn appeals in mail, wire and securities fraud cases, but defendants must show that their deception furthered ends other than taking the victim's property, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

  • Considerations For Navigating Mixed-Use Developments

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    As mixed-use developments continue to rise in popularity, developers considering this approach to urban planning must be aware of key considerations ranging from title and zoning laws to proper engagement with stakeholders, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.

  • House Bill Could Help Resolve 'Waters Of US' Questions

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    Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House that would restore Clean Water Act protection to areas excluded from it by the U.S. Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA decision faces an uphill battle, but could help settle the endless debates over the definition of "waters of the United States," says Richard Leland at Akerman.

  • Unlocking Value In Carve-Out M&A Transactions

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    Some of the largest mergers and acquisitions in 2023 were carve-out transactions, and despite their unique intricacies and challenges, these transactions offer both buyers and sellers the opportunity to generate outsized returns in an otherwise vigorously competitive landscape, when carefully planned and diligently executed, say Kevin Crews and Rami Totari at Kirkland.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • 1st Tax Easement Convictions Will Likely Embolden DOJ, IRS

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    After recent convictions in the first criminal tax fraud trial over allegedly abusive syndicated conservation easements, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice will likely pursue other promoters for similar alleged conspiracies — though one acquittal may help attorneys better evaluate their clients' exposure, say Bill Curtis and Lauren DeSantis-Then at Polsinelli.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: The UK

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    Following Brexit, the U.K. has adopted a different approach to regulating environmental, social and governance factors from the European Union — an approach that focuses on climate disclosures by U.K.-regulated entities, while steering clear of the more ambitious objectives pursued by the EU, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • Compliance Primer: Foreign Investment In US Real Property

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    The rise in foreign investment in U.S. real property, especially agricultural land, has led to increased national security concerns, meaning it’s important to understand reporting requirements under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act and state-level statutes, and to monitor legislative proposals that could create more stringent reporting and review processes, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • How CRE Loans Would Shift Under New Bank Capital Rules

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    Attorneys at MoFo discuss how commercial real estate loans would fare under federal banking agencies' proposed changes to how large banks risk-weight loans, particularly how CRE loans are weighed based on the current standardized framework versus the proposed expanded approach.

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