More Real Estate Coverage
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February 02, 2024
Tribes Fight Industry Bid To Weigh In On Land Swap Dispute
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are objecting to two industry groups weighing in on a dispute over a federal land transfer for the expansion of a fertilizer plant, telling the Ninth Circuit that the organizations' "impermissibly partisan" arguments offer no novel legal perspectives on the case.
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February 02, 2024
Court's Claims Of Internal Dispute A Myth, Tribe Tells Fed. Circ.
The Winnemucca Indian Colony is asking the Federal Circuit to overturn a decision that dismissed allegations in a $208 million breach of trust suit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs, saying the Court of Federal Claims wrongly characterized the events that underpinned its litigation as an internal dispute within the tribe.
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February 02, 2024
Property Plays: Brennan, PowerHouse Data, Cambridge
Brennan Investment Group has purchased a portfolio of industrial buildings in Florida and Colorado, PowerHouse Data has picked up 145 acres in Virginia and Cambridge Realty Capital has landed $52.5 million in financing for multifamily properties in Kentucky and Illinois.
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February 02, 2024
Green Group Blasts Berkshire Unit's Bid To Flush Water Suit
An environmentalist group urged a North Carolina federal court to keep alive its Clean Water Act complaint against a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. unit, arguing that it's packed with specifics about how pollution from a development has sullied nearby waterways.
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February 02, 2024
Ore. Property Owner Denied Tax Break Over Late Mailing
An Oregon property owner is not eligible for a 3% discount on property taxes granted to early payers because he did not show that he mailed his payments in a timely manner to meet a statutory deadline, the Oregon Tax Court ruled.
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February 01, 2024
Alaska Tribes Seek Canada Recognition To Consult On Mines
A group of tribal governments in southeast Alaska is asking Canadian regulators to acknowledge its historic presence along the boundary-crossing Unuk River, in order to protect the watershed from open-pit gold and silver mining Skeena Resources Ltd. is proposing in British Columbia.
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February 01, 2024
Insurer Settles $1.7M Suit Over School's Tornado Damage
A Nashville private school agreed to permanently end its $1.7 million unpaid tornado damage suit against Cincinnati Insurance Co. and the school's former agent, according to an order in Tennessee federal court.
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February 01, 2024
Remine Shareholder Sues In Del. Over $53.5M MLS Merger
A shareholder of a real estate services platform acquired by five multiple listing services in 2021 sued the company's founders and directors in Delaware's Court of Chancery, alleging that they structured the $53.5 million sale for their own benefit at the expense of common stockholders.
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January 31, 2024
Tenn. Bill Aims To Cap Hikes On Local Hotel Occupancy Taxes
Tennessee would bar municipalities from raising local taxes on hotel and motel stays above a certain level under a bill filed in the state House of Representatives.
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January 31, 2024
Treasury Aims To Finish Credit Monetization Rules In 2024
The U.S. Department of the Treasury aims to issue final rules this year on two new ways to monetize tax credits tied to clean energy construction projects, known as the direct pay and transferability methods, an official said.
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January 30, 2024
Timber Co. Says Seller 'Twisting' Words In Carbon Offset Fight
A New Hampshire-based timber company has told a North Carolina court that an investment firm specializing in forestland is "twisting" words in an attempt to escape claims that it overvalued the carbon offset of a property by about $1 million.
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January 30, 2024
6th Circ. Backs Antero's Win In Oil Royalties Breach Suit
The Sixth Circuit affirmed on Tuesday a lower court's dismissal of a lessor's contract breach suit accusing Antero Resources of underpaying royalties under an oil-and-gas lease, finding the lessor failed to follow the lease's 90-day presuit notice requirement and "made no attempt to provide any prelawsuit notice at all."
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January 30, 2024
Feds, Tesoro Question Landowners' Bid To Join Pipeline Fight
The U.S. government has told a North Dakota federal judge that tribal landowners' push to join a pipeline fight with Tesoro High Plains Pipeline Co. LLC may be premature, while the company said it threatens to turn its litigation against the government "into a circus."
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January 29, 2024
Escrow Agent Not Covered For Fraud Suits, Court Told
An escrow agent no longer has coverage for four underlying suits accusing it of unlawfully withholding funds or distributing them to third parties who had no valid claim to the money, an insurer told a Florida federal court, saying its theft coverage extension endorsement has been exhausted.
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January 26, 2024
Biden Stokes LNG Uncertainty With Export Review Pause
The Biden administration's pause of its approvals of liquefied natural gas exports to countries that don't have free-trade agreements with the U.S. will delay several projects and have potential customers question whether their supply agreements can ultimately be honored.
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January 26, 2024
CBD Co. Asks Judge To Reject Franchisee's $10M Claims
The owner of the Your CBD Store brand has urged a Georgia federal court to snuff out an arbitration action brought by one of its franchisees seeking as much as $10 million in damages, according to a lawsuit that says an oral agreement between the two cannot be arbitrated.
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January 26, 2024
Property Plays: Phipps, Sunroad, EastGroup
Phipps Houses has landed $98.2 million in financing for a Queens residential project, Sunroad Enterprises has scored $149 million in refinancing for a multifamily portfolio spanning three states and EastGroup Properties has picked up three industrial buildings in Las Vegas for $54.8 million.
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January 26, 2024
State Farm Underpaid Miss. Property Losses, Class Suit Says
A Mississippi homeowner accused State Farm Fire and Casualty in federal court of intentionally underpaying her fire damage claim by using the wrong setting in its pricing software, treating the repairs as new construction and improperly excluding higher labor costs associated with more complicated fixes.
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January 26, 2024
Biden Admin Pauses LNG Reviews Over Climate Concerns
The Biden administration on Friday said it would pause its approvals of liquefied natural gas exports to countries that don't have free-trade agreements with the U.S., and revise its export policy to greater account for LNG's impacts on climate change and energy prices.
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January 25, 2024
Wash. Justices Spare Homeowners From Lakeshore Eviction
The Washington State Supreme Court on Thursday said a group of homeowners are the legal owners of shoreline where they built boat docks and decks, rejecting a county government's argument that it controlled the lakeshore linked to a county recreational trail under a 19th-century federal railroad right-of-way law.
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January 25, 2024
DC Circ. Unsure About Wading Into PR Bay Dredging Fight
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faced off against several environmental groups at the D.C. Circuit Thursday over a dredge project that would widen Puerto Rico's largest port, but the panel seemed more concerned about whether it had the jurisdiction to hear the appeal at all.
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January 25, 2024
FERC Won't Halt Work On Texas LNG Export Terminal
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has said it won't pause authorized construction on a liquefied natural gas export terminal on the South Texas Gulf Coast, a decision a dissenting commissioner said perpetuates and magnifies injuries to environmental justice communities and ignores evidence of harm to public health and the environment.
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January 25, 2024
States, Industry Back Feds' Land Swap Fight At 9th Circ.
The states of Idaho and Utah, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Mining Association have joined the federal government in urging the Ninth Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling in favor of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' challenge to a land transfer intended for the expansion of a fertilizer plant.
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January 25, 2024
Lender Aided $8M Kuwaiti Royal Rip-Off, Judge Finds
A Maryland federal judge ordered a lender to pay at least $469,990 after finding the company helped further a Baltimore restaurant owner's scheme that bilked $7.8 million from a member of the Kuwaiti royal family.
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January 24, 2024
Investors Urge NY Court To Restore RMBS Fraud Claim
A group of investors in a residential mortgage-backed securities entity asked a New York state appeals court Wednesday to hold one of the project officers liable for concealing negative information about its prospects.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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The Discipline George Santos Would Face If He Were A Lawyer
Rep. George Santos, who has become a national punchline for his alleged lies, hasn't faced many consequences yet, but if he were a lawyer, even his nonwork behavior would be regulated by the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and violations in the past have led to sanctions and even disbarment, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.
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FinCEN Report Holds Key Russia-Linked Risk Considerations
A recent report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reminds financial institutions to review guidance issued on reporting Russia-linked suspicious activity, emphasizing the need to review anti-money laundering and sanctions monitoring processes to remain adaptive to global developments, say Siana Danch and Peter Hardy at Ballard Spahr.
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A Litigation Move That Could Conserve Discovery Resources
Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben proposes the preliminary legal opinion procedure — seeking a court's opinion on a disputed legal standard at the outset, rather than the close, of discovery — as a useful resource-preservation tool for legally complex, discovery-intensive litigation.
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Litigators Should Approach AI Tools With Caution
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT hold potential to streamline various aspects of the litigation process, resulting in improved efficiency and outcomes, but should be carefully double-checked for confidentiality, plagiarism and accuracy concerns, say Zachary Foster and Melanie Kalmanson at Quarles & Brady.