Commercial

  • July 05, 2024

    Landfill Cos., La. Parish Score Partial Win In Landfill Suit

    The operators of a Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, landfill and the parish itself have partially defeated claims filed in Louisiana federal court by local residents who say the landfill's "harmful and toxic odors and chemicals" caused them breathing problems, nausea and poor quality of life.

  • July 05, 2024

    Neb. Justices Decline To Rule On Property Value Appeal

    The Nebraska Supreme Court said Friday it lacks jurisdiction to rule on a county board's appeal challenging decisions by the state's Tax Equalization and Review Commission that lowered valuations for a company's property, finding the board didn't meet a statutory requirement to institute judicial review proceedings.

  • July 05, 2024

    The Firms That Won Big At The Supreme Court

    This U.S. Supreme Court term featured high-stakes oral arguments on issues including gerrymandering, abortion and federal agency authority, and a hot bench ever more willing to engage in a lengthy back-and-forth with advocates. Here's a look at the law firms that argued the most cases and how they fared.

  • July 05, 2024

    Willkie Advising Saks Fifth Avenue On $2.65B Neiman Deal

    Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is advising Saks Fifth Avenue's parent company on its freshly inked deal to buy the Neiman Marcus Group, advised by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, at an enterprise value of $2.65 billion.

  • July 05, 2024

    FTC Wants Second Look At $1.6B CoStar, Matterport Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission has requested more information from CoStar Group and Matterport on a planned $1.6 billion merger that would round out CoStar's real estate analytics offerings with the latter company's virtual property tour platform.

  • July 05, 2024

    Mich. Tax Panel Drops Vacant Store's Value By $500K Per Year

    The highest and best use of a vacant commercial property at the time of its assessment was to demolish the improvements and hold it for future development, a Michigan panel ruled, lowering the property's valuation by nearly $500,000 for each of two years.

  • July 03, 2024

    Wash. Mall, Retail Center Seek $1.3M In Property Tax Refunds

    A Seattle mall and shopping center are seeking property tax refunds topping $1.3 million, according to complaints in state court that claim the county assessor failed to use appropriate data and overvalued the properties.

  • July 03, 2024

    No 'Unfettered Discretion' For Zoning Boards: Mich. Justices

    The Michigan Supreme Court has held that conditionally rezoning a property is only valid if the property's proposed use is already allowed under a town's ordinances, instructing a trial court to determine whether a racing dragway is a permitted use under a township's commercial zone.

  • July 03, 2024

    Hospitality REIT, Activist Investor To Drop Board Feud

    Braemar Hotels & Resorts and hedge fund Blackwells Capital said they plan to resolve their litigation in a deal that calls for the activist investor to withdraw from a proxy fight and buy a bigger stake in the real estate investment trust.

  • July 03, 2024

    Enviro Group Claims Navy Bungled SF Superfund Cleanup

    The U.S. Navy's efforts to remediate an 866-acre shipyard Superfund site in San Francisco have been flawed from the start, undermined by the Navy, which has gone so far as to obscure the results of its own contamination testing, per an environmental advocacy group's suit.

  • July 03, 2024

    Developer Owes $10M For Boston Project Delays, Suit Says

    Massachusetts contractor Suffolk Construction Co. Inc. claims the developer of a significant mixed-use residential and commercial block in Boston's South End still owes it more than $10 million, saying delays due to the pandemic and a change in the type of cabinetry in the apartments contributed to higher costs.

  • July 03, 2024

    Coffey Modica Promotes 2 Partners, 1 Counsel In NY

    New York litigation boutique Coffey Modica LLP announced the promotion of two attorneys to partner, including the firm's first hire in 2021, as well as the elevation of another lawyer to counsel.

  • July 03, 2024

    NY Extends Tax Breaks For Green Roofs On City Buildings

    New York is extending for another three years a property tax abatement program that encourages residential and commercial buildings in New York City as part of a bill signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. 

  • July 03, 2024

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    An insurer won a coverage dispute over a $3.2 million injury verdict stemming from a bar fight, Texas' largest nonprofit health system failed to differentiate its pandemic business loss claims from other cases, and a petroleum company was denied coverage for multidistrict litigation over gas additives.

  • July 02, 2024

    Real Estate Policy Areas To Watch In Chevron's Wake

    Housing rules, permitting practices and climate goals stand to be challenged by an anticipated wave of litigation spurred by back-to-back U.S. Supreme Court opinions that alter how and when judges can interpret ambiguous legislation.

  • July 02, 2024

    Ga. City Comes Out On Top In T-Mobile Cell Tower Suit

    The city of Columbus, Georgia, has come out on top in a legal battle with a wireless infrastructure builder who says that the city unfairly blocked its requests to build T-Mobile a cell tower, a conflict that also involved the local Shriners.

  • July 02, 2024

    Distress Darkens Conversion Plans At Brookfield Malls

    Financial challenges have shaken some of Brookfield's plans to redevelop a batch of malls it acquired six years ago into mixed-use centers, and two of the real estate company's indoor shopping complexes slumped into loan distress last month, KBRA said on Tuesday.

  • July 02, 2024

    Gov. Says Ky. Tower's Sale Didn't Cancel Ties To Laundering

    Prosecutors and a pair of Miami businessmen have traded briefs over preserving the government's case in Florida federal court to seize $9.1 million from the sale of a Louisville, Kentucky, tower over alleged ties to a Ukrainian money laundering operation.

  • July 02, 2024

    The Commercial Real Estate Q&A's You Can't Miss

    Check out Law360 Real Estate Authority's most buzzed-about commercial real estate Q&As from the first half of 2024.

  • July 02, 2024

    Data Analysis Shows Swift Influx In EPA Brownfield Grants

    A Law360 Real Estate Authority analysis of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's brownfield grant awards since the program's inception shows a steep increase in funding, particularly in funding of cleanups, since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was passed in 2021. 

  • July 02, 2024

    Alaska Village Hits Army Corps With Gold Mine Permit Suit

    The Native Village of Dot Lake is asking an Alaska federal judge to throw out a permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued for an open pit gold mine Kinross Gold Corp. and Peak Gold LLC are developing near the Yukon border.

  • July 02, 2024

    Mass. Panel Won't Cut Tax Value Over Denied Building Permits

    The owner of commercial property in Massachusetts failed to show that local denials of building permits impacted the tax value of the property, a state panel said in a decision released Tuesday, rejecting the owner's appeal of a local assessment.

  • July 02, 2024

    Real Estate Lawyers On The Move

    Haynes and Boone and McDonald Hopkins are among the law firms that have made recent real estate or construction hires.

  • July 01, 2024

    Ill. Tax Applies To Re-Renters Of Hotel Rooms, Dept. Says

    Illinois will impose an occupation tax on people who re-rent hotel rooms in the state as part of recently enacted omnibus legislation, the state Department of Revenue said.

  • July 01, 2024

    NYC Real Estate Week In Review

    Hirschen Singer and Kramer Levin are among the law firms that handled the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a busy period that saw eight deals north of the $20 million mark become public.

Expert Analysis

  • How The Commercial Real Estate Slump May Weigh On Banks

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    The continuing underperformance of the U.S. commercial real estate market has significant implications for the financial performance and disclosure requirements for various banks, especially regional ones with large debt exposures, say Atanu Saha and Yong Xu at StoneTurn.

  • Negotiating Material Escalation In Construction Contracts

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    As material price escalation clauses have remained popular in construction contracts despite an easing of recent supply chain issues, attorneys representing owners should understand key considerations for negotiating such clauses, and strategies to mitigate potential exploitation by contractors, says H. Arthur Black II at Brooks Pierce.

  • Landlords Should Prep As WeWork Faces Potential Ch. 11

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    After years of financial trouble and the recent announcement that it has substantial doubt that it would be able to continue as a going concern, WeWork may have a bankruptcy filing in its future that would have a significant impact on landlords and other stakeholders who are owed money by the company, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Identifying Trends And Tips In Litigation Financing Disclosure

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    Growing interest and controversy in litigation financing raise several salient concerns, but exploring recent compelled disclosure trends from courts around the country can help practitioners further their clients' interests, say Sean Callagy and Samuel Sokolsky at Arnold & Porter.

  • Key Drivers Behind Widespread Adoption Of NAV Financing

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    While net asset value-based lending has existed for years, NAV lending has only started to move into the mainstream recently — likely due to difficult market conditions faced by sponsors including persistent inflation, high interest rates and a lack of exit opportunities, say Matthew Kerfoot and Jinyoung Joo at Proskauer.

  • Conn. Ruling Highlights Keys To Certificate-Of-Need Appeals

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    The Connecticut Supreme Court's recent decision in High Watch Recovery Center v. Department of Public Health, rejecting rigid application of statutes concerning certificate-of-need procedure, provides important guidance on building an administrative record to support a finding that a case is contested, say attorneys at Robinson & Cole.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Elrod On 'Jury Duty'

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    Though the mockumentary series “Jury Duty” features purposely outrageous characters, it offers a solemn lesson about the simple but brilliant design of the right to trial by jury, with an unwitting protagonist who even John Adams may have welcomed as an impartial foreperson, says Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Elrod.

  • Pickleball Makes Waves In Fla. Real Estate, With Risks In Play

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    Pickleball's burgeoning popularity in Florida is catalyzing a transformation in the state's commercial real estate market, but investors must take steps to navigate legal challenges related to noise, insurance and community dynamics, says Emmanuelle Litvinov at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Business-Building Strategies For Introvert Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Introverted lawyers can build client bases to rival their extroverted peers’ by adapting time-tested strategies for business development that can work for any personality — such as claiming a niche, networking for maximum impact, drawing on existing contacts and more, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • What Calif. Pot Permit Ruling Means For Enviro Compliance

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    While a California appeals court's recent decision in Lucas v. City of Pomona affirms the city's use of a statutory exemption for its commercial cannabis overlay permit program, the ruling does not mean that all applicants seeking similar approvals are exempted from state environmental compliance obligations, say Whitney Hodges and Barbara Machado at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Rare Reg A+ Fines Reflect New Era Of SEC Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent announcement of civil penalties against 10 microcap companies for violations of Regulation A+ shows that as the SEC continues to expand its enforcement efforts, its focus remains on protecting investors of all sizes — including those investing in the historically less-scrutinized Reg A+ issuers, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Factors To Consider When Structuring Data Center Contracts

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    Data center leases and service agreements grant very similar rights and impose similar obligations, but they also hold notable differences and a range of factors that are important to consider when selecting which form of agreement to use, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Rethinking Mich. Slip-And-Fall Defense After Top Court Ruling

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    The Michigan Supreme Court recently overturned three decades of premises liability jurisprudence by ruling that the open and obvious danger defense is no longer part of a traditional duty analysis, posing the question of whether landowners will ever again win on a motion for summary dismissal, say John Stiglich and Meriam Choulagh at Wilson Elser.