More Real Estate Coverage

January 24, 2024
Bid To Swap Chevron For An Old Standby Raises Doubts

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court debated whether a World War II-era doctrine encouraging courts to strongly consider agency statutory interpretations could replace the court's controversial so-called Chevron doctrine that requires judges to defer to those interpretations if a statute is ambiguous.
January 24, 2024
Iowa Senate Bill Seeks Tax Break For Moveable Structures

Iowa would prohibit moveable structures that aren't connected to gas, electricity or other utilities and meet other requirements from being assessed and taxed as real property under a bill introduced in the state Senate.
January 24, 2024
Mohawk Council Wants To Withdraw From 1796 Land Dispute

The Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs says a recent decision to withdraw from a land settlement agreement with the state of New York over a decadeslong lawsuit involving more than 2,000 acres of illegally purchased land was not easy but was made in the interest of protecting the territorial integrity of the Mohawk Nation.
January 23, 2024
PacifiCorp Owes At Least $62M To 9 Homeowners Hit By Fires

PacifiCorp must pay at least $62 million in compensatory damages to nine people who fled their homes in a Labor Day 2020 fire outbreak, a Portland, Oregon, jury found Tuesday, with parties confirming the amount could be much higher with the expected addition of punitive damages.
January 23, 2024
Ch. 11 Preference Claims Can Be Sold, 5th Circ. Says

The Fifth Circuit ruled Tuesday that interest in Chapter 11 preference actions, which seek to claw back payments a debtor made to creditors prior to bankruptcy, can be sold as "property of the estate," weighing in on the issue for the first time.
January 23, 2024
Court Will Rethink Tribes' Claims In Railroad Dispute

An Idaho federal judge has reinstated two Quiet Title Act claims the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation lodged against the federal government in a dispute over land once used by a railway, agreeing that a Supreme Court ruling requires the reversal of a prior order dismissing the claims.
January 22, 2024
PacifiCorp Should Pay $45M To 9 Wildfire Victims, Jury Hears

Nine people who fled their homes during a Labor Day 2020 wildfire outbreak each deserve at least $5 million from the owner of Pacific Power, their lawyers told a Portland, Oregon, jury in closing arguments Monday, while the company said reasonable numbers would be much lower.
January 22, 2024
Iowa County's CO2 Pipeline Rules Are Preempted, Judge Told

The developer of a proposed interstate carbon dioxide pipeline has told a federal judge that rules restricting its project passed last week in Palo Alto County, Iowa, are preempted by federal law, as the company pointed to a ruling last month blocking two other local ordinances.
January 22, 2024
World Cup Workers' Abuse Claims Are Misdirected, US Co. Says

Filipino laborers who claimed they were subjected to abusive work and living conditions while helping build facilities for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar aimed their ire in the wrong direction, a U.S. construction company told a Colorado federal judge in a bid to dismiss the suit.
January 22, 2024
Feds Defend Ability To Take Land Into Trust For Alaska Tribes

The U.S. government is urging an Alaska federal judge to reject the state of Alaska's arguments that the Interior Department's decision to take a 787-square-foot piece of land in downtown Juneau in trust for the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes oversteps its authority or threatens state jurisdiction.
January 22, 2024
Holland & Knight Brings On Greenspoon Public Finance Pros

A pair of former Greenspoon Marder LLP public finance attorneys who both have about four decades of experience in their practice area have jumped to Holland & Knight LLP, the firm announced Monday.
January 19, 2024
Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 55 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2023 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.
January 19, 2024
Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2023, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.
January 19, 2024
Property Plays: Thorofare, Greystone, Brennan

Thorofare Capital has loaned $26 million for a San Diego multifamily property, Greystone has provided $40.3 million for a multifamily property in Indiana and Brennan Investment Group has picked up a 263,000-square-foot Cincinnati industrial building.
January 19, 2024
Insurer Says Wash. Judge Must Alter COVID Coverage Ruling

A Liberty Mutual unit asked a Washington state judge to alter his ruling of this month that the University of Washington established a plausible claim to recover losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the decision ignores key differences among the university's policies.
January 19, 2024
Army Corps Escapes Ohio River Tugboat Service Suit

An Ohio federal judge has let the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers out of a construction and asphalt company's suit over an allegedly unauthorized tugboat service on the Ohio River, writing in his opinion that the Corps is not properly a defendant just for owning the land the service is using.
January 18, 2024
Biz, Insurer Settle $10.5M Military School Construction Dispute

A contractor and its insurer have settled a $10.5 million lawsuit seeking coverage for shoddy construction work on a school on a military base, according to a joint statement Thursday in Maryland federal court.
January 18, 2024
Va. Landlord Charged With Preying On Low-Income Minorities

A Virginia grand jury has indicted a Hampton-based landlord for an alleged scheme to rake in government housing-assistance payments by exploiting vulnerable African American tenants whom he threatened to evict for late payments using violence and racist remarks.
January 18, 2024
DC Judge Won't DQ Atty In Construction Co. Firing Spat

A D.C. federal judge has declined to disqualify an attorney from representing a construction company in an employment dispute between the company's two co-founders, finding that the lawyer ceased representing one of the co-founders prior to her retention by the construction firm and therefore no conflict existed.
January 18, 2024
3rd Circ. Preserves $1.8M Jury Award For Resort Shareholder

The Third Circuit on Thursday upheld a $1.8 million jury award for the estate of a doctor who accused a Costa Rican resort of shorting him on timeshare investment income, reasoning that "record evidence" backed the trial verdict.
January 18, 2024
Title Co. Says It's Owed Defense In $700K Wire Mishap Suit

A title company told a Florida federal court that Nationwide unit Scottsdale Indemnity Co. wrongfully refused to cover its defense in a suit over nearly $700,000 in property sale proceeds the company is accused of wiring to a third party instead of the seller.
January 18, 2024
Feds Join AgriBiz In Asking 9th Circ. To Upend Land Swap

The federal government and a global agribusiness with operations in Idaho have urged the Ninth Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling that favored the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in their challenge to a U.S. Department of the Interior land transfer for the expansion of a fertilizer plant.
January 18, 2024
Realty Co. Seeks $8.2M For Failed Merger Defense Costs

A Hartford unit owes over $8.2 million in damages stemming from a merger gone awry between its insured and real estate giant Simon Property Group, the insured said in a complaint removed Thursday to a Delaware federal court, maintaining that it properly exhausted all other limits of coverage.
January 18, 2024
McCarter & English Adds RE Duo From Miami Boutique

McCarter & English LLP announced this week that it is strengthening the firm's presence in Miami with the addition of a pair of real estate partners joining together from a boutique where they led the real estate transactions team.
January 18, 2024
Judge Denies Bid To Halt 'Cop City' Over Pollution Claims

A Georgia federal judge is refusing to block Atlanta's construction of a controversial law enforcement training facility dubbed "Cop City" over claims it's polluting a local stream, holding that the city has put forward enough evidence for now to suggest it is complying with permit terms.

Expert Analysis

How Proposed BOEM Regs Will Boost Offshore Wind Projects

Newly proposed offshore wind project regulations from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management represent a substantial regulatory shift that will improve transparency around the timing of lease auctions, streamline approval and oversight for projects in development, and provide needed guidance for future projects, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
Mapping The Transport Sector's Road To Zero Emissions

Transportation companies that hope to lead the multiagency U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization's recently announced transition to zero-emission vehicles and fuels should anticipate a host of commercial and legal issues, say Levi McAllister and Pamela Wu at Morgan Lewis.
5 Ways Attorneys Can Use Emotion In Client Pitches

Lawyers are skilled at using their high emotional intelligence to build rapport with clients, so when planning your next pitch, consider how you can create some emotional peaks, personal connections and moments of magic that might help you stick in prospective clients' minds and seal the deal, says consultant Diana Kander.
A Look At Lease Expansion Options In A Challenging Market

Expansion options can provide a powerful incentive for businesses to sign long-term leases even amid economic uncertainty, but both landlords and tenants must carefully consider the potential rights and terms, says Kris Ferranti at Shearman.
5 Keys To A Productive Mediation

Excerpt from Practical Guidance

Cortney Young at ADR Partners discusses factors that can help to foster success in mediation, including scheduling, preparation, managing client expectations and more.
Evaluating The Legal Ethics Of A ChatGPT-Authored Motion

Aimee Furness and Sam Mallick at Haynes Boone asked ChatGPT to draft a motion to dismiss, and then scrutinized the resulting work product in light of attorneys' ethical and professional responsibility obligations.
7 Tips To Increase Your Law Firm's DEI Efforts In 2023

Law firms looking to advance their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts should consider implementing new practices and initiatives this year, including some that require nominal additional effort or expense, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Gina Rubel at Furia Rubel.
Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Get Back To Home Base

When I argued for the petitioner in Morgan v. Sundance before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, I made the idea of consistency the cornerstone of my case and built a road map for my argument to ensure I could always return to that home-base theme, says Karla Gilbride at Public Justice.
New US Waters Definition May Rock The Boat

Federal agencies' latest attempt to define "waters of the United States" attempts to avoid previous rules' failings, though it will potentially increase administrative difficulties for regulated entities and also leaves ample ground for litigation, say Christopher Thomas and Andrea Driggs at Perkins Coie.
Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target

Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the scope of the attorney-client privilege appeared to raise more questions about multipurpose counsel communications than they answered, as the parties presented shifting iterations of a predictable, easily applied test for evaluating the communications' purpose, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership

As Generation X attorneys rise to fill top roles in law firms and corporations left by retiring baby boomers, they should embrace generational characteristics that will allow them to become better legal leaders, says Meredith Kahan at Whiteford Taylor.
6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers

To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.
5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023

Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.