Real Estate

  • September 20, 2024

    Cards Against Humanity Hits SpaceX With $15M Trespass Suit

    Cards Against Humanity LLC hit Elon Musk's SpaceX with a $15 million lawsuit in Texas state court, alleging SpaceX has trespassed and dumped trash and machinery on its once-pristine Lone Star State property that the party card game-maker bought to impede former President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall.

  • September 20, 2024

    Cities Score Wins Over FCC Even In 9th Circ. Permitting Loss

    Even though the Ninth Circuit in a recent decision largely upheld a Federal Communications Commission policy that reined in municipal governments' power to impose zoning restrictions on wireless network siting, the court's ruling wasn't all bad news for city officials.

  • September 20, 2024

    Enviro Group Threatens Suit To Protect Newt In Fla., Ga.

    The Center for Biological Diversity has notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it plans to sue over the denial of Endangered Species Act protections to a newt species that lives in threatened pine forests and wetlands in southeastern Georgia and north-central Florida.

  • September 20, 2024

    Senate Panel Advances Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act

    A U.S. Senate panel has moved forward efforts to win passage of the Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act, which would place approximately 172 acres of specified lands in San Diego into trust for the benefit of the California tribe.

  • September 20, 2024

    Eviction Law Firm Says Tenant's Fee Class Action Untimely

    An eviction law firm pushed a Colorado federal court to toss a proposed class action filed by tenants who claim the firm illegally charged them attorney fees before their eviction proceedings were resolved.

  • September 20, 2024

    Slow Development Puts Nebraska District Into Ch. 9

    A local development authority filed for Chapter 9 protection in Nebraska after laying out significant funds to install roads and sewer systems for a housing development that was stalled by the 2008 financial crisis.

  • September 20, 2024

    Insurers Say Ky. House Damage Wasn't From Mine Collapse

    Insurers told a Kentucky federal court to toss a couple's case seeking compensation for damage to their home because of coal mine subsidence, arguing the damage wasn't caused by a collapsing void underground.

  • September 20, 2024

    Vandalizing Doctor Gets $200K For Defeating Vengeful Suit

    A doctor who defaced the property of a real estate developer with graffiti can keep an award of more than $200,000 in attorney fees for defending himself from a suit that a judge found was filed out of vengeance, a Michigan appellate panel has ruled. 

  • September 20, 2024

    Entrepreneur Says Partners Stiffed Him On Testing Site Deal

    A Pittsburgh entrepreneur says he had a deal with three Omaha, Nebraska-based businessmen to help them open COVID-19 testing labs in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the early days of the pandemic, but is still owed $2 million, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Pennsylvania state court.

  • September 20, 2024

    Insurer Off Hook For Late-Reported Malpractice Claim

    An insurance carrier had no obligation to defend or indemnify a Massachusetts attorney who failed to report a malpractice lawsuit for more than a year, the First Circuit said, affirming a lower court's decision to vacate a $1.1 million jury verdict against the insurer.

  • September 20, 2024

    Mandarin Oriental Can Proceed With COVID Coverage Suit

    A New York federal judge declined to toss a COVID-19 business interruption lawsuit by luxury international hotel chain Mandarin Oriental, holding that the chain sufficiently alleged that its loss was caused by an infectious disease under the terms outlined in its "all risks" policy.

  • September 20, 2024

    Morgan Lewis Hires Sidley Structured Transactions Partner

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced Friday that it has hired the co-leader of Sidley Austin LLP's residential mortgage-backed securities team to further expand its structured transactions practice in New York.

  • September 20, 2024

    Tribe's Stateless Status Undoes $1.9M Construction Suit

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday tossed a New York construction company's $1.9 million lawsuit against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, finding the tribe's stateless position leaves the court with no jurisdiction to decide the case.

  • September 20, 2024

    Green Groups Can't Bar Housing Project, SC Judge Says

    A South Carolina federal judge on Thursday denied conservation groups' push to block a 9,000-unit housing development on the Cainhoy Peninsula near Charleston, ruling they've not shown they're likely to succeed in a case challenging federal reviews and approvals.

  • September 20, 2024

    Ore. Couple Denied Tax Deduction For Below-Market Rentals

    An Oregon couple were correctly denied income tax deductions for expenses related to rental properties, the state tax court said, because they did not charge the renters market rates, disqualifying the rentals as income-producing properties.

  • September 19, 2024

    Wells Fargo Judge Says NDA Isn't A 'Gag' In Loan Bias Case

    A California federal judge on Thursday challenged Wells Fargo's arguments seeking to prevent a former underwriter from testifying as an expert in a proposed class action claiming the bank discriminated against non-white borrowers, saying a confidentiality agreement the ex-employee purportedly signed couldn't be used as a "gag" to silence him.

  • September 19, 2024

    CFPB's Chopra Sounds Alarm On Home Insurance 'Crisis'

    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra called Thursday for concerted policy action to tame spiking homeowners insurance costs and said he's looking into streamlining rules on mortgage refinancing to help consumers take advantage of the Federal Reserve's shift into rate-cutting mode.

  • September 19, 2024

    Wash. Justices Strike Down County's Rural Winery Regs

    The Washington State Supreme Court has struck down an Evergreen State county's regulations for wineries and tasting rooms on rural land near Seattle, saying Thursday the local government violated long-term planning and land use law by downplaying potential environmental consequences of the rules before passing them.

  • September 19, 2024

    US Argues Court Can't Stop Tribe From Blocking Roads

    The U.S. government told a Wisconsin federal judge that a town's lawsuit seeking to stop the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians from barricading roads on tribal land can't be enforced, saying the Native American tribe is immune from the suit.

  • September 19, 2024

    Mich. Atty Gets 1 Year For Inflating Apartment Values

    A Michigan attorney and real estate executive was sentenced Thursday to one year and a day in prison for inflating how profitable his company's apartments were, allowing him to sell them for more than $500 million. 

  • September 19, 2024

    Potomac Law Group Adds Morgan Lewis Partner

    A former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP real estate attorney has joined Potomac Law Group, framing the move as a strategic shift out of BigLaw amid a "sluggish" transactional environment.

  • September 19, 2024

    76ers To Get New Philly Arena In $1.3B Project, Mayor Says

    The Philadelphia 76ers are getting a new arena in Chinatown as part of a $1.3 billion project that will bring hundreds of jobs, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker announced in a video message.

  • September 19, 2024

    Senate Panel Holds Steward CEO In Contempt After No-Show

    A U.S. Senate committee voted unanimously Thursday to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in civil and criminal contempt after he defied a subpoena to testify about the bankrupt health system's downfall.

  • September 19, 2024

    Fla. Panel Backs Simon Option On Closed Boca Raton Sears

    A split Florida appeals court has sided with Simon Property Group in backing a trial court ruling that the owner of a Boca Raton mall has a right to buy a vacant Sears store after Seritage Growth Properties pitched a redevelopment plan out of line with a 1980s easement.

  • September 19, 2024

    Ohio Panel Says Landfill Death Suit Shouldn't Be Thrown Out

    A split Ohio state appeals court has revived a wrongful death suit brought against waste management firm Rumpke Sanitary Landfill Inc. over a tree on its land that fell and killed a motorist passing a landfill, with one judge saying the company can't be held liable and another calling for new standards.

Expert Analysis

  • Tips For Advising CRE Owners Affected By Houston Storms

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    As Houston residents begin the arduous process of recovery after this month's devastating storms, attorneys should guide commercial real estate owners and managers toward immediate action under their insurance coverage to facilitate restoration and a return to normalcy, says Justin Ratley at Munsch Hardt.

  • 4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • What's New In Kentucky's Financial Services Overhaul

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    Kentucky's H.B. 726 will go into effect in July and brings with it some significant restructuring to the Kentucky Financial Services Code, including changes to mortgage loan license fees and repeals of provisions relating to installment term loans and savings associations, say attorneys at Frost Brown.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • How Real Estate Cos. Can Protect Their IP In The Metaverse

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    The rise of virtual and augmented reality creates new intellectual property challenges and opportunities for real estate owners, but certain steps, including conducting a diligence investigation to develop an understanding of current obligations, can help companies mitigate IP issues in the metaverse, says George Pavlik at Levenfeld Pearlstein.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches

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    Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • In Debate Over High Court Wording, 'Wetland' Remains Murky

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    Though the U.S. Supreme Court's decision limiting the Clean Water Act’s wetlands jurisdiction is now a year old, Sackett v. EPA's practical consequences for property owners are still evolving as federal agencies and private parties advance competing interpretations of the court's language and methods for distinguishing wetlands in lower courts, says Neal McAliley at Carlton Fields.

  • Ga. Law Creates Challenges For Foreign Ownership Of Land

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    Under Georgia's new law limiting certain foreign possessory interests in agricultural land and land near military properties, affected foreign persons and entities will need to do significantly more work in order to ensure that their ownership remains legal, say Nellie Sullivan and Lindsey Grubbs at Holland & Knight.

  • Questions Remain After Mass. Adverse Possession Case

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    A recent Massachusetts Land Court decision, concerning an adverse possession claim on a family company-owned property, leaves open questions about potential applicability to closely held corporations and other ownership types going forward, says Brad Hickey at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Takeaways From Biden's Crypto Mining Divestment Order

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    A May 13 executive order prohibiting the acquisition of real estate by a foreign investor on national security grounds — an enforcement first — shows the importance of understanding how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States might profile cross-border transactions, even those that are non-notified, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Insurer Quota-Sharing Lessons From $112M Bad Faith Verdict

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    In Indiana GRQ v. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance, an Indiana federal jury recently issued a landmark $112 million bad faith verdict, illustrating why insurers must understand the interplay between bad faith law and quota-sharing before entering into these relatively new arrangements, say Jason Reichlyn and Christopher Sakauye at Dykema. 

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

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