More Real Estate Coverage
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February 22, 2024
3 Firms Steer Stonepeak's $3B Wind Farm Stake Deal
Stonepeak plans to buy a 50% noncontrolling stake in Dominion Energy's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project for $3 billion and split construction costs with the electricity giant in a deal powered by three law firms, the companies announced.
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February 21, 2024
Justices Urged To Turn Away $285M Panama Canal Award Suit
The operator of the Panama Canal on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to turn away a case in which $285 million in arbitral awards are being challenged over an arbitrator's "evident partiality," saying close relationships between arbitrators are so "ubiquitous" in international arbitration that they are unremarkable.
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February 21, 2024
Biogas Investment Tax Credit Still Needs Tweaks, IRS Told
While the IRS clarified that the clean energy investment tax credit would cover eligible upgrading equipment integral to biogas properties, the industry could get a boost if final rules allow separate ownership of the equipment, stakeholders told the agency Wednesday.
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February 21, 2024
Green Groups Press FERC To Rescind Tenn. Pipeline Approval
Environmentalists on Tuesday urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to undo its approval of a Tennessee pipeline project that will serve a Tennessee Valley Authority gas-fired power plant that is replacing a coal-fired plant, saying the agency botched its consideration of the project's climate change impacts.
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February 20, 2024
Fond Du Lac Tribe Seeks Sanctions In Mining Land Suit
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians has asked a Minnesota federal judge to sanction PolyMet Mining Inc. in the tribe's suit over a land swap for a copper and nickel mine, arguing that the company and its lawyers are obstructing the discovery process.
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February 20, 2024
5th Circ. Seeks Texas Justices' Input On LNG Permit Fight
The Fifth Circuit has yanked its prior ruling that scrapped an emissions permit issued by Texas environmental regulators for a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal, saying it wants the state's Supreme Court to weigh in on how to define the best available pollution control technology under Texas law.
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February 20, 2024
Landlord Bias Can Be Eviction Defense, Colo. Justices Say
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that tenants facing eviction can raise allegations of a landlord's discrimination or retaliation as a defense, directing a trial court to take another look at the case of a woman who accused her landlord of trying to boot her because she refused to have sex with him.
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February 20, 2024
New Yorker Writer Pans Subpoena Over Adams' Ties To Pastor
A writer for The New Yorker said that being forced to testify about an indicted Brooklyn pastor's ties to Mayor Eric Adams would step on journalistic privilege, arguing that Manhattan federal prosecutors could instead rely on other sources.
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February 20, 2024
IRS Issues Fix For Tax Treatment Of Gas Upgrading Equipment
The Internal Revenue Service issued a correction clarifying the tax treatment of certain gas upgrading equipment under proposed rules related to the energy credit.
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February 20, 2024
Justices Won't Review Partnership's $26M Easement Row
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear a partnership's bid to keep a $26.5 million deduction for a land conservation easement, letting stand a decision that the case was barred by a law that prohibits suits that restrain the collection of taxes.
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February 16, 2024
Florida Loses Wetland Permitting Authority In D.C. Court Case
A D.C. judge has stripped Florida of its federally delegated authority to permit wetlands development, ruling that U.S. environmental regulators failed to analyze the impact of their decision on endangered and threatened species and handing a victory to conservation groups challenging the program.
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February 16, 2024
Gov't Wants More Alaskan Native Reps On Subsistence Board
The U.S. government has plans to strengthen Alaskan Native tribal representation on its Federal Subsistence Board, saying the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have proposed a new rule to add board members with personal experience of subsistence living in rural Alaska.
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February 16, 2024
Feds Tell 1st Circ. Mass. Wind Farm Approval Was Sound
The federal government has said a Massachusetts federal judge properly dumped a challenge lodged by commercial fishing groups seeking to upend federal approvals of the Vineyard Wind project, telling the First Circuit that the record shows federal agencies thoroughly studied the project's potential impacts.
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February 15, 2024
Software Company Seeks $10M Policy Limit For Bad Deal
A software company told a California federal court that its insurer breached its contract by failing to cover $10 million in damages suffered because of misrepresentations made by a property and casualty insurance software company it bought.
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February 15, 2024
New York Says Thruway Doesn't Cut Through Cayuga Land
New York state officials are asking a federal district court to dismiss litigation by the Cayuga Nation that seeks a cut of the tolls collected on the New York State Thruway, arguing that the tribe can't prove it had possession of the land over which the highway was being built.
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February 14, 2024
Navajo Say Hopi Tribe Bid To Join Land Trust Suit Is Untimely
The Navajo Nation has said the Hopi Tribe's attempt to intervene in its lawsuit against the U.S. government over a land trust and casino road easement dispute is untimely, coming after nearly four years of litigation.
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February 14, 2024
Mass. Court Doubts Northeastern Vowed To Keep Land Public
Massachusetts Appeals Court justices appeared Wednesday to question a claim by the town of Nahant and a group of residents that Northeastern University had implicitly dedicated oceanfront land it acquired in the 1960s as a wildlife preserve and park by allowing public access for decades.
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February 13, 2024
Calif. Clean Energy Storage Secures $350M From Blackstone
Arevon Energy Inc. said Tuesday that it closed on financing for a California renewable energy storage facility, including $350 million from a Blackstone unit in the form of preferred equity, with guidance from three law firms.
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February 13, 2024
DC Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To FERC Pipeline Powers
The D.C. Circuit has reinstated its prior judgment affirming a lower court's dismissal of Virginia landowners' constitutional challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case.
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February 12, 2024
Utah Defends Standing In Monument Cases Before 10th Circ.
The state of Utah has doubled down in urging the Tenth Circuit to reverse a Utah federal judge's decision dismissing the state's challenge of the Biden administration's redesignation of large swaths of land as part of two national monuments, saying its case should have readily survived the motions to dismiss that led to its downfall.
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February 12, 2024
Tree Removal Mixup Merits Coverage, Homebuilder Tells Court
A homebuilder's insurer must defend it in litigation over the accidental removal of 66 trees in an adjacent lot, the homebuilder told a Texas federal court, arguing the tree removal was accidental and thus an occurrence under its commercial general liability policy.
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February 09, 2024
State Farm Defends Pricing Setting Insured Says Shorted Her
State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. renewed its bid to toss a Mississippi homeowner's proposed class action over allegations it intentionally underpaid fire damage claims, arguing it was correct to use a "new construction" setting in its pricing software that led to lower recoverable labor costs.
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February 09, 2024
Property Plays: MCR, Black Spruce, Willow Bridge
MCR has landed $333 million in refinancing for a multistate hotel portfolio, Black Spruce Management has scored $146 million in financing for a Manhattan multifamily property, and Willow Bridge Property has landed $175 million in financing for three multifamily properties.
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February 09, 2024
DOI Accused Of Delaying Coal Mine Enviromental Review
Signal Peak Energy has slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a complaint in D.C. federal court accusing the agency of unlawfully delaying an environmental impact statement needed for the approval of its expansion of the Bull Mountains coal mine in Montana.
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February 09, 2024
Iowa House Bill Would Cancel Growth Assessment Limitation
Iowa would eliminate a limitation used in the calculation of assessments for agricultural and residential properties under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
Expert Analysis
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3 Job Satisfaction Questions For Partners Considering Moves
The post-pandemic rise in legal turnover may cause partners to ask themselves what they really want from their workplace, how they plan to grow their practice and when it's time to make a move, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.
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4 Exercises To Quickly Build Trust On Legal Teams
High-performance legal teams can intentionally build trust through a rigorous approach, including open-ended conversations and personality assessments, to help attorneys bond fast, even if they are new to the firm or group, says Ben Sachs at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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Key Considerations For Appointing A Real Estate Receiver
With commercial real estate loan distress expected to grow dramatically in the coming months, lenders should make sure to understand best practices for seeking appointment of a receiver over a defaulted property, say Dave Wald at Wald Realty Advisors and Mark Silverman at Locke Lord.
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Clean Energy Tax Credits' Wage, Apprentice Rules: Key Points
The Inflation Reduction Act's complicated prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for clean energy facility construction tax credits recently took effect — and the learning curve will be more difficult for taxpayers who are not already familiar with such programs, say attorneys at Shearman.
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8 Steps To Improve The Perception Of In-House Legal Counsel
With the pandemic paving the way for a reputational shift in favor of in-house corporate legal teams, there are proactive steps that legal departments can take to fully rebrand themselves as strong allies and generators of value, says Allison Rosner at Major Lindsey.
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DOI Enviro Damage Assessment Proposal May Add Flexibility
The U.S. Department of the Interior's recently proposed overhaul of its natural resource damage assessment program suggests that current restrictive formulas may be replaced with a more flexible structure — which could bring major benefits to potentially responsible parties and natural resource trustees, says Brian Ferrasci-O’Malley at Nossaman.
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Procedure Rule 7.1 Can Simplify Litigators' Diversity Analysis
A recent amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 will help trial courts determine whether the parties to a case are diverse, and may also allow litigators to more quickly determine whether they can remove certain cases to federal court, says Steve Shapiro at Schnader Harrison.
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How Companies Could Define 'Social' In ESG Metrics
While the "social" prong of environmental, social and governance criteria is still hard to evaluate, a three-tiered approach similar to the framework for tracking greenhouse gas emissions could serve as a good basis for companies to develop goals and measure progress in a uniform way, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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Claims Court Ruling Puts New Spin On Blue & Gold
The Court of Federal Claims' unique procedural posture in SLS Federal Services v. U.S., in which it followed a trend toward narrowing the ambit of the Blue & Gold waiver, may have significant new implications for agencies that undertake corrective action in lieu of defending against protests, say attorneys at Seyfarth.
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New AML Law May Be Key Tool To Enforce Russia Sanctions
A new anti-money laundering law for the first time authorizes monetary rewards for tips leading to government enforcement against certain sanctions violations, and though many questions remain, it gives the U.S. an additional tool in the ongoing global battle against Russian aggression, say Daren Firestone and Kimberly Wehle at Levy Firestone.
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Atty Conflict Discussions In Idaho Murder Case And Beyond
A public defender's representation of the accused University of Idaho murderer after prior representation of a victim's parent doesn't constitute a violation of conflict of interest rules, but the case prompts ethical questions about navigating client conflicts in small-town criminal defense and big-city corporate law alike, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Charles Loeser at HWG.
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Why The Original 'Rocket Docket' Will Likely Resume Its Pace
Though the Eastern District of Virginia, for decades the fastest federal trial court in the country, experienced significant pandemic-related slowdowns, several factors unique to the district suggest that it will soon return to its speedy pace, say Dabney Carr and Robert Angle at Troutman Pepper.
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How Gov't Enviro Justice Push May Affect Developers
Attorneys at Crowell & Moring contextualize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent guidance on environmental justice and permitting decisions, and the U.S. Department of Energy's requests for input on using grants to achieve EJ goals, highlighting practical implications for project developers and other industry participants.