Commercial

  • April 19, 2024

    Insurers Push To Arbitrate Hurricane Damage Case

    An arbitrator should decide whether a Louisiana property owner's hurricane damage claims must be arbitrated, a group of surplus lines insurers argued in urging the Second Circuit to reject a New York district court's reliance on the circuit's precedent to find the arbitration clause at issue unenforceable.

  • April 19, 2024

    NY AG Doubts Trump Insurer Can Cover $175M Bond

    The New York Attorney General's Office told a Manhattan court Friday it has doubts about a California insurer's ability to cover a $175 million bond imposed on Donald Trump after a civil trial in which he was found responsible for conspiring to inflate his wealth for financial gain.

  • April 19, 2024

    US Trustee Balks At 22% Rate On Petersen Health DIP Loan

    The U.S. Trustee's Office objected Friday to senior living company Petersen Health Care's proposed bankruptcy financing, telling a Delaware judge that the combined 22% interest rate on the $45 million debtor-in-possession loan is "above market."

  • April 19, 2024

    Pillsbury Makes Longtime Commitment To 'Iconic' SF Building

    Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has extended the lease on its San Francisco offices for 11 more years, the firm announced Friday.

  • April 19, 2024

    Polsinelli Adds Shareholder To Tax Credit Practice In Dallas

    An attorney who spent more than a decade developing a niche practice specializing in tax credit financing has moved her practice to Polsinelli PC's Dallas office after five years at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC.

  • April 19, 2024

    The Week In Trump: NY Trial And A High Court Date Loom

    Despite a few snags, jury selection for Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan unfolded relatively quickly, clearing the way for opening statements Monday in the historic case as the former president prepped for a U.S. Supreme Court debate over his supposed immunity.

  • April 19, 2024

    Fried Frank Advises $632M Hotel Portfolio Refinancing

    Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP advised hotel operator MCR and developer Building and Land Technology on a $632 million refinancing of a portfolio of 53 hotels in more than a dozen states.

  • April 19, 2024

    EPA Says 2 'Forever Chemicals' Are Hazardous Substances

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday officially declared two "forever chemicals" to be hazardous materials under federal law, which could bring a host of consequences for Superfund site cleanups and development projects.

  • April 18, 2024

    What 4 Real Estate Leaders Said At NYU's REIT Symposium

    The public real estate investment trust sector will bounce back from its current troubles "at some point," said Jon Gray, Blackstone's president. He was not the only company executive who sounded hopeful about the industry's future at New York University's 28th annual REIT symposium.

  • April 18, 2024

    Investors In Failed Manila Casino Deal Sue For SPAC Shares

    Shareholders in a blank-check company that failed to take a Philippines casino public have intervened in two Delaware Chancery Court lawsuits to recoup their failed investments, with one seeking to litigate damages from the busted $2.6 billion deal and the other pushing for the company's liquidation.

  • April 18, 2024

    Investor Says Healthcare REIT Ties Undercut Lease Terms

    An activist investor on Thursday urged shareholders to vote against two of National Health Investors Inc.'s incumbent board members at an annual meeting in May, alleging that conflicts of interest between directors on the board and the company's largest tenant are harming the real estate investment trust.

  • April 18, 2024

    Rexford Didn't Fear Competitors Would Get Blackstone Assets

    Rexford Industrial Realty wasn't terribly concerned that a 3 million-square-foot Blackstone industrial portfolio might go to one of its competitor REITs had the company not scooped up the properties earlier this year for roughly $1 billion, Rexford said on its first-quarter earnings call Thursday.

  • April 18, 2024

    Blackstone, Expecting CRE Rebound, Leans Into Deal-Making

    Executives at Blackstone, the world's largest landlord and alternative asset manager, said they see signs that commercial real estate is beginning to bounce back, despite macroeconomic challenges and a shift in how people use offices.

  • April 18, 2024

    Smith Gambrell Hires Ex-Jacksonville, Fla., Deputy GC

    Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP has added a longtime deputy general counsel for the city of Jacksonville, Florida, as counsel within its real estate group and as the head of the Jacksonville office's government affairs practice.

  • April 17, 2024

    Damages Still Possible In Lease Tax Reimbursement Row

    A Court of Federal Claims judge has ruled that the General Services Administration could unilaterally adjust the real estate tax reimbursement methodology under a lease for the Defense Health Agency's headquarters building, but the building owner may still be owed damages.

  • April 17, 2024

    Ga. Jury Finds Supplier At Fault For Botched Herbicide Job

    An Atlanta federal jury on Wednesday found a company hired to thin out woods on a rural Georgia property and a subcontractor brought in to spray the property with herbicide were responsible for wrecking a developer's plans for turning the location into a quail hunting retreat. 

  • April 17, 2024

    Wilmington Trust Wants $33M For Defaulted Mortgage

    Wilmington Trust accused a company in Delaware federal court of owing more than $33 million for a defaulted mortgage loan for a Wilmington, Delaware, property.

  • April 17, 2024

    Racetrack's Unlisted Use Unremarkable, Mich. Justice Says

    A Michigan Supreme Court justice said Wednesday it was not "particularly remarkable" that a zoning ordinance did not list all approved commercial uses, as residents push the court to restrict a race dragway's operations, noting that the law uses examples because it would be impossible to list everything allowed.

  • April 17, 2024

    Prologis Pins Lower Occupancy Rates On Southern California

    Prologis Inc. executives told investors Thursday that the logistics real estate investment trust saw occupancy rates and pricing at slightly lower than expected levels during the first quarter of 2024, driven down largely by lackluster performance in Southern California.

  • April 17, 2024

    SL Green And Vornado Extend, Modify NYC Office Loans

    SL Green Realty Corp. and Vornado Realty Trust modified, extended and partially repaid a $125 million mezzanine loan for a downtown Manhattan office building and also modified and extended a $1.075 billion securitized mortgage, the real estate investment trusts announced.

  • April 17, 2024

    Okla. Lawmakers OK Use Of Images For Property Inspections

    Oklahoma would allow county assessors to inspect property remotely using aerial images taken from airplanes after an initial in-person inspection under a bill passed by the state House of Representatives and headed to the governor.

  • April 17, 2024

    No Redo For Insurer In Hail Damage Dispute, Judge Says

    A Texas federal court refused to rethink its ruling denying an insurer's early win in a hail damage coverage dispute with a textile company, saying the insurer provided no new information that could change the court's finding or establish the court's manifest error.

  • April 17, 2024

    99 Cents Seeks Quick Ch. 11 Auction For IP, Real Estate

    Bankrupt discount retail chain 99 Cents Only hopes to sell its real estate, store leases and intellectual property by May 21 as part of its speedy Chapter 11 winding down, according to an auction procedures motion filed with the Delaware bankruptcy court.

  • April 17, 2024

    Porter Hedges Adds Real Estate Pro From Munsch Hardt

    Porter Hedges LLP is expanding its Texas team, bringing in a Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr PC real estate pro as a partner in its Houston office.

  • April 17, 2024

    Insurer Owes No More Water Damage Coverage, Court Says

    A Nationwide unit was required to pay only $5,000 to a Tennessee building's owner after water from a sewer or drain pipe backed up and overflowed within, a Tennessee federal court ruled, finding a water damage exclusion in the company's policy made a $5,000 sublimit applicable.

Expert Analysis

  • Identifying Trends And Tips In Litigation Financing Disclosure

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    Growing interest and controversy in litigation financing raise several salient concerns, but exploring recent compelled disclosure trends from courts around the country can help practitioners further their clients' interests, say Sean Callagy and Samuel Sokolsky at Arnold & Porter.

  • Key Drivers Behind Widespread Adoption Of NAV Financing

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    While net asset value-based lending has existed for years, NAV lending has only started to move into the mainstream recently — likely due to difficult market conditions faced by sponsors including persistent inflation, high interest rates and a lack of exit opportunities, say Matthew Kerfoot and Jinyoung Joo at Proskauer.

  • Conn. Ruling Highlights Keys To Certificate-Of-Need Appeals

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    The Connecticut Supreme Court's recent decision in High Watch Recovery Center v. Department of Public Health, rejecting rigid application of statutes concerning certificate-of-need procedure, provides important guidance on building an administrative record to support a finding that a case is contested, say attorneys at Robinson & Cole.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Elrod On 'Jury Duty'

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    Though the mockumentary series “Jury Duty” features purposely outrageous characters, it offers a solemn lesson about the simple but brilliant design of the right to trial by jury, with an unwitting protagonist who even John Adams may have welcomed as an impartial foreperson, says Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Elrod.

  • Pickleball Makes Waves In Fla. Real Estate, With Risks In Play

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    Pickleball's burgeoning popularity in Florida is catalyzing a transformation in the state's commercial real estate market, but investors must take steps to navigate legal challenges related to noise, insurance and community dynamics, says Emmanuelle Litvinov at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Business-Building Strategies For Introvert Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Introverted lawyers can build client bases to rival their extroverted peers’ by adapting time-tested strategies for business development that can work for any personality — such as claiming a niche, networking for maximum impact, drawing on existing contacts and more, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • What Calif. Pot Permit Ruling Means For Enviro Compliance

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    While a California appeals court's recent decision in Lucas v. City of Pomona affirms the city's use of a statutory exemption for its commercial cannabis overlay permit program, the ruling does not mean that all applicants seeking similar approvals are exempted from state environmental compliance obligations, say Whitney Hodges and Barbara Machado at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Rare Reg A+ Fines Reflect New Era Of SEC Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent announcement of civil penalties against 10 microcap companies for violations of Regulation A+ shows that as the SEC continues to expand its enforcement efforts, its focus remains on protecting investors of all sizes — including those investing in the historically less-scrutinized Reg A+ issuers, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Factors To Consider When Structuring Data Center Contracts

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    Data center leases and service agreements grant very similar rights and impose similar obligations, but they also hold notable differences and a range of factors that are important to consider when selecting which form of agreement to use, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Rethinking Mich. Slip-And-Fall Defense After Top Court Ruling

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    The Michigan Supreme Court recently overturned three decades of premises liability jurisprudence by ruling that the open and obvious danger defense is no longer part of a traditional duty analysis, posing the question of whether landowners will ever again win on a motion for summary dismissal, say John Stiglich and Meriam Choulagh at Wilson Elser.

  • Subchapter V Eligibility Ruling Raises Uncertainty For Tenants

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    A Virginia bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Macedon Consulting — that all remaining rent under a lease should be factored into a lessee's Subchapter V eligibility — raises the question, but does not address, how a court should calculate the amount of debt owed under a lease, creating significant risk for potential tenant debtors, says Sam Ashuraey at Ashuraey Law.

  • Parsing Tax Implications Of NYC Office Leasing Transactions

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    Though New York City's tax laws generally do not require negotiated contractual risk allocation in the case of sublease and early lease termination transactions, it is still helpful for counsel to both landlords and tenants to understand the laws' nuances, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Caregiver Flexibility Is Crucial For Atty Engagement, Retention

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    As the battle for top talent continues post-pandemic, many firms are attempting to attract employees with progressive hybrid working environments — and supporting caregivers before, during and after an extended leave is a critically important way to retain top talent, says Manar Morales at The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.