Real Estate

  • March 18, 2025

    DOJ Says Calif. City's Zoning Illegally Favors Secular Use

    The U.S. Department of Justice is backing a church in Santa Ana, California, claiming zoning rules violate federal law by favoring secular uses for an office building the congregation agreed to purchase before learning city rules require a permit to hold religious services.

  • March 18, 2025

    Greenberg Traurig Boosts Litigation Team With 4 Denver Attys

    A team of four litigators have joined Greenberg Traurig LLP's growing Denver office, including a shareholder who was tapped to lead the office's litigation practice. 

  • March 17, 2025

    Wells Fargo Says OCC Has Closed Home Loan Consent Order

    Wells Fargo & Co. on Monday said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has closed a consent order related to its home lending business, marking the eleventh consent order against the bank that regulators have closed in recent years and another step forward in its regulatory rehabilitation efforts.

  • March 17, 2025

    Insurer Stands Alone Before $8.5M Condo Defect Judgment

    The insurer for a contractor can't get help from third-party insurers to pay an $8.5 million judgment for alleged shoddy workmanship on a 2005 condo project because a settlement agreement released them from all claims, a Florida federal judge said Monday.

  • March 17, 2025

    4th Circ. Revives Tenant's FCRA Suit Over Disputed Debt

    The Fourth Circuit has revived a tenant's lawsuit over an allegedly bogus charge from her landlord, ruling that collection agencies are not exempt from their obligation to investigate Fair Credit Reporting Act claims if they involve a legal dispute.

  • March 17, 2025

    Okla. Gov. Looks To Dismiss Tribe's Jurisdiction Dispute

    Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is asking a federal court to dismiss a paused jurisdiction dispute between the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the city of Tulsa, or be allowed to intervene, arguing that the municipality has signaled a willingness to abandon the defense of the state's interests.

  • March 17, 2025

    Calif. Panel Sides With Tribe In Hotel Construction Fight

    A California appeals panel has sided with a Native American tribe in its decision to reverse a lower court ruling and invalidate the city of Clearlake's approval of a hotel project on what was tribal land, finding that the city failed to comply with a state environmental law.

  • March 17, 2025

    Ginnie Mae Says Texas Bank Can't Undo Ruling On Lien

    Ginnie Mae and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have urged a Texas federal court to grant them summary judgment in a Texas bank's lawsuit, which alleges the government wrongfully extinguished the bank's first-priority lien for nearly $30 million of collateral, saying the court already upheld the authority to terminate the lien.

  • March 17, 2025

    Fraud Victims Claim CRE Fintech Firm Skirted Securities Law

    A group of investors pointed to a recent fraud case in seeking to claw back more than $1 billion raised by fintech firm CrowdStreet, claiming in a proposed class action filed in Texas federal court that the platform operated outside state and federal financial regulations for a decade.

  • March 17, 2025

    HUD, DOI To Identify Federal Land For Affordable Housing

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of the Interior will work together on identifying federal land that could be used as the sites of affordable housing, according to a joint announcement.

  • March 17, 2025

    4th Circ. Tosses HOA Closing Fees Suit

    The Fourth Circuit tossed a North Carolina property owner's proposed class action alleging that a property management company unlawfully charged excessive closing fees when she sold two properties.

  • March 17, 2025

    High Value Dubious In $23M Easement Dispute, 11th Circ. Told

    A partnership that claimed a $23 million tax deduction for a conservation easement donation failed to consider the lack of market demand for a potential quarry it used to justify the land's high value, the U.S. government told the Eleventh Circuit.

  • March 17, 2025

    DC Commercial Property Taxable Values Drop Nearly 8%

    Commercial property values in Washington, D.C., dropped 7.87% in their 2025 assessments compared with a year earlier, the district's tax office said.

  • March 14, 2025

    Fannie, Freddie Can't Avoid $612M Investor Win, Judge Rules

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday upheld a $612.4 million jury verdict against the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ruling that the jury was provided with "ample evidence" that reasonably led to its conclusion that FHFA improperly amended stock purchase agreements related to the companies.

  • March 14, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: Waldorf Reno, DEI Scrubbing, CFIUS Risk

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including a chat with the legal team behind the 10-year renovation of Manhattan's iconic Waldorf Astoria, how real estate companies are dropping mention of diversity, equity and inclusion from public filings, and increasing scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

  • March 14, 2025

    Judge Hands Landlord Win In Maryland Nurse's Eviction Case

    A Maryland federal judge mostly sided with a landlord that was hit with a nurse practitioner's $1 million suit, which alleged that the landlord wrongfully locked her out of her place of business when she wasn't there and evicted her.

  • March 14, 2025

    4th Circ. Dubious Of Private Island's Win In Fair Housing Fight

    The Fourth Circuit on Friday seemed poised to upend a lower court ruling siding with a gated community in a discriminatory housing suit brought by the developer of a proposed assisted living facility, with one judge lamenting a lack of analysis on whether the facility's accommodation request was necessary and reasonable.

  • March 14, 2025

    Calif. Insurance Chief OKs State Farm Rates Pending Hearing

    The California Department of Insurance on Friday provisionally approved State Farm's request for an emergency rate hike following the Los Angeles fires, including a nearly 22% increase for homeowners, saying final approval will be contingent on the insurer justifying its request at a hearing.

  • March 14, 2025

    Mich. Panel Revives Hangar's Property Tax Challenge

    The Michigan Court of Appeals revived a company's argument that it is exempt from a city's tax on a hangar it leased from a regional airport authority, saying the state Tax Tribunal should have required the municipality to prove that a tax statute applied to the company.

  • March 14, 2025

    Calif. Tribe Looks To Defend Casino Land Trust Decision

    A California tribe at the crux of an Interior Department decision to take 221 acres of trust land for the construction of its casino development wants to intervene in a challenge to the order, saying it and the federal agency have different goals in dismissing the dispute.

  • March 14, 2025

    Connecticut Wants Retailers' Hemp Law Challenge Tossed

    The state of Connecticut has asked a federal judge to toss a lawsuit by nearly a dozen hemp retailers challenging statutes designed to regulate hemp-derived products with high levels of THC, saying the retailers' lawsuit is deficient in multiple ways.

  • March 14, 2025

    Off The Bench: Ex-Jet Sues Over Favre Clip, New Soccer Build

    In this week's Off The Bench, a retired football superstar claims an argument with icon Brett Favre should have never been aired on television, one trading card company gets the upper hand on another in dueling antitrust suits, and an English soccer club opts for a new stadium over a rebuild of the old one.

  • March 14, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Paul Weiss

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Mallinckrodt PLC and Endo Inc. combine, Rocket Cos. buys Redfin, and Endo divests its international pharmaceuticals business to Knight Therapeutics Inc.

  • March 14, 2025

    Brooklyn Man Gets 45 Months For 'Seinfeld'-Themed Fraud

    A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced a podcaster and purported cryptocurrency guru to 45 months in prison after he pled guilty to scamming investors out of more than $2 million using fictitious businesses, including one apparently named after "Seinfeld" character George Costanza's fake prospective employer Vandelay Industries.

  • March 14, 2025

    Washington Dept. OKs Property Conversion Tax Break Regs

    Washington state's Department of Revenue adopted regulations to clarify eligibility requirements for a retail sales and use tax break for the conversion of commercial property to affordable housing authorized by a 2024 law, according to a rulemaking order.

Expert Analysis

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    In The CFPB Playbook: No Lazy, Hazy Days Of Summer

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is headed for a brisk fall season, on the heels of a heated summer, which included the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the CFPB funding structure is constitutional, and in advance of the November election, says Eamonn Moran at Holland & Knight.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • Basel Endgame Rules: A Change Is Coming

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    The Federal Reserve Board's recently announced recalibration of the Basel endgame proposal begins a critical chapter in the evolution of not only the safety and soundness of U.S. banks, but also of banks' abilities to lend and support American businesses and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • Dealmaker Lessons From CFIUS' New Enforcement Webpage

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    The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ recently launched webpage, which details the actions — and inactions — that led to enforcement activity, provides important insights for dealmakers about filing requirements, mitigation commitments and the cost of noncompliance, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Reassessing Lease Provisions To Account For ESG Initiatives

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    As companies seek to build ESG considerations into their businesses, it's crucial to understand how such initiatives can quickly become significant enough to compel reassessment of lease agreement provisions, and how best to modify leases accordingly, say Julian Freeman and Gabe Pitassi at Cox Castle.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight

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    Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.

  • Co-Tenancy Clause Pointers For Shopping Center Landlords

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    Large retail tenants often require co-tenancy provisions in their leases, entitling them to remedies if a shopping center's occupancy drops in certain ways, but landlords must draft these provisions carefully to avoid giving tenants too much control, says Gary Glick at Cox Castle.

  • Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools

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    A comparison of traditional algorithmic pricing models and those powered by generative artificial intelligence can help regulators and practitioners weigh the pros and cons of relying on large language models to price products or services, say Maxime Cohen at McGill University, and Tim Spittle and Jimmy Royer at Analysis Group.

  • Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls

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    Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges

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    The Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of land "use" in its Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is contrary to the agency's past practice and other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions, leaving the rule exposed in four legal challenges that may carry greater force in the wake of Loper Bright, say Stacey Bosshardt and Stephanie Regenold at Perkins Coie.

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