More Real Estate Coverage
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February 21, 2024
Biogas Investment Tax Credit Still Needs Tweaks, IRS Told
While the IRS clarified that the clean energy investment tax credit would cover eligible upgrading equipment integral to biogas properties, the industry could get a boost if final rules allow separate ownership of the equipment, stakeholders told the agency Wednesday.
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February 21, 2024
Green Groups Press FERC To Rescind Tenn. Pipeline Approval
Environmentalists on Tuesday urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to undo its approval of a Tennessee pipeline project that will serve a Tennessee Valley Authority gas-fired power plant that is replacing a coal-fired plant, saying the agency botched its consideration of the project's climate change impacts.
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February 20, 2024
Fond Du Lac Tribe Seeks Sanctions In Mining Land Suit
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians has asked a Minnesota federal judge to sanction PolyMet Mining Inc. in the tribe's suit over a land swap for a copper and nickel mine, arguing that the company and its lawyers are obstructing the discovery process.
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February 20, 2024
5th Circ. Seeks Texas Justices' Input On LNG Permit Fight
The Fifth Circuit has yanked its prior ruling that scrapped an emissions permit issued by Texas environmental regulators for a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal, saying it wants the state's Supreme Court to weigh in on how to define the best available pollution control technology under Texas law.
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February 20, 2024
Landlord Bias Can Be Eviction Defense, Colo. Justices Say
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that tenants facing eviction can raise allegations of a landlord's discrimination or retaliation as a defense, directing a trial court to take another look at the case of a woman who accused her landlord of trying to boot her because she refused to have sex with him.
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February 20, 2024
New Yorker Writer Pans Subpoena Over Adams' Ties To Pastor
A writer for The New Yorker said that being forced to testify about an indicted Brooklyn pastor's ties to Mayor Eric Adams would step on journalistic privilege, arguing that Manhattan federal prosecutors could instead rely on other sources.
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February 20, 2024
IRS Issues Fix For Tax Treatment Of Gas Upgrading Equipment
The Internal Revenue Service issued a correction clarifying the tax treatment of certain gas upgrading equipment under proposed rules related to the energy credit.
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February 20, 2024
Justices Won't Review Partnership's $26M Easement Row
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to hear a partnership's bid to keep a $26.5 million deduction for a land conservation easement, letting stand a decision that the case was barred by a law that prohibits suits that restrain the collection of taxes.
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February 16, 2024
Florida Loses Wetland Permitting Authority In D.C. Court Case
A D.C. judge has stripped Florida of its federally delegated authority to permit wetlands development, ruling that U.S. environmental regulators failed to analyze the impact of their decision on endangered and threatened species and handing a victory to conservation groups challenging the program.
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February 16, 2024
Gov't Wants More Alaskan Native Reps On Subsistence Board
The U.S. government has plans to strengthen Alaskan Native tribal representation on its Federal Subsistence Board, saying the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have proposed a new rule to add board members with personal experience of subsistence living in rural Alaska.
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February 16, 2024
Feds Tell 1st Circ. Mass. Wind Farm Approval Was Sound
The federal government has said a Massachusetts federal judge properly dumped a challenge lodged by commercial fishing groups seeking to upend federal approvals of the Vineyard Wind project, telling the First Circuit that the record shows federal agencies thoroughly studied the project's potential impacts.
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February 15, 2024
Software Company Seeks $10M Policy Limit For Bad Deal
A software company told a California federal court that its insurer breached its contract by failing to cover $10 million in damages suffered because of misrepresentations made by a property and casualty insurance software company it bought.
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February 15, 2024
New York Says Thruway Doesn't Cut Through Cayuga Land
New York state officials are asking a federal district court to dismiss litigation by the Cayuga Nation that seeks a cut of the tolls collected on the New York State Thruway, arguing that the tribe can't prove it had possession of the land over which the highway was being built.
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February 14, 2024
Navajo Say Hopi Tribe Bid To Join Land Trust Suit Is Untimely
The Navajo Nation has said the Hopi Tribe's attempt to intervene in its lawsuit against the U.S. government over a land trust and casino road easement dispute is untimely, coming after nearly four years of litigation.
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February 14, 2024
Mass. Court Doubts Northeastern Vowed To Keep Land Public
Massachusetts Appeals Court justices appeared Wednesday to question a claim by the town of Nahant and a group of residents that Northeastern University had implicitly dedicated oceanfront land it acquired in the 1960s as a wildlife preserve and park by allowing public access for decades.
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February 13, 2024
Calif. Clean Energy Storage Secures $350M From Blackstone
Arevon Energy Inc. said Tuesday that it closed on financing for a California renewable energy storage facility, including $350 million from a Blackstone unit in the form of preferred equity, with guidance from three law firms.
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February 13, 2024
DC Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To FERC Pipeline Powers
The D.C. Circuit has reinstated its prior judgment affirming a lower court's dismissal of Virginia landowners' constitutional challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case.
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February 12, 2024
Utah Defends Standing In Monument Cases Before 10th Circ.
The state of Utah has doubled down in urging the Tenth Circuit to reverse a Utah federal judge's decision dismissing the state's challenge of the Biden administration's redesignation of large swaths of land as part of two national monuments, saying its case should have readily survived the motions to dismiss that led to its downfall.
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February 12, 2024
Tree Removal Mixup Merits Coverage, Homebuilder Tells Court
A homebuilder's insurer must defend it in litigation over the accidental removal of 66 trees in an adjacent lot, the homebuilder told a Texas federal court, arguing the tree removal was accidental and thus an occurrence under its commercial general liability policy.
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February 09, 2024
State Farm Defends Pricing Setting Insured Says Shorted Her
State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. renewed its bid to toss a Mississippi homeowner's proposed class action over allegations it intentionally underpaid fire damage claims, arguing it was correct to use a "new construction" setting in its pricing software that led to lower recoverable labor costs.
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February 09, 2024
Property Plays: MCR, Black Spruce, Willow Bridge
MCR has landed $333 million in refinancing for a multistate hotel portfolio, Black Spruce Management has scored $146 million in financing for a Manhattan multifamily property, and Willow Bridge Property has landed $175 million in financing for three multifamily properties.
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February 09, 2024
DOI Accused Of Delaying Coal Mine Enviromental Review
Signal Peak Energy has slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a complaint in D.C. federal court accusing the agency of unlawfully delaying an environmental impact statement needed for the approval of its expansion of the Bull Mountains coal mine in Montana.
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February 09, 2024
Iowa House Bill Would Cancel Growth Assessment Limitation
Iowa would eliminate a limitation used in the calculation of assessments for agricultural and residential properties under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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February 09, 2024
Owens Corning To Buy Door-Maker Masonite In $3.9B Deal
Ohio-based construction materials manufacturer Owens Corning said Friday it has inked a $3.9 billion agreement to buy Tampa, Florida-based door-maker Masonite International Corp., just weeks after the latter company's earlier effort to buy PGT Innovations Inc. fell through.
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February 08, 2024
Jackson Walker Adds Real Estate Pro In Austin From Winstead
Jackson Walker LLP has strengthened its land use practice group in Austin, Texas, with the addition of a senior counsel who came aboard from Winstead PC.
Expert Analysis
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Unpacking Long-Awaited Clean Energy Tax Credit Guidance
Recently proposed Internal Revenue Service regulations provide welcome confirmatory guidance on the application of investment tax credits as reworked by 2022's Inflation Reduction Act, prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules that are largely consistent with market expectations, and broader eligibility criteria that should please the wind power industry in particular, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Navigating USCIS' New Minimum EB-5 Investment Period
Recent significant modifications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 at-risk requirement are causing uncertainty for several reasons, but investors who consider certain key aspects of prospective projects can mitigate the immigration and investment risks, say Samuel Silverman at EB5AN, Ronald Klasko at Klasko Immigration, and Kate Kalmykov at Greenberg Traurig.
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ESG Around The World: Mexico
ESG has yet to become part of the DNA of the Mexican business model, but huge strides are being made in that direction, as more stakeholders demand that companies adopt, at the least, a modicum of sustainability commitments and demonstrate how they will meet them, says Carlos Escoto at Galicia Abogados.
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The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms
In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.
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DC Ruling Provides Support For Builders Risk Claim Recovery
To deny coverage for builders risk claims, insurers have been increasingly relying on two arguments, both of which have been invalidated in the recent U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision, South Capitol Bridgebuilders v. Lexington, say Greg Podolak and Cheryl Kozdrey at Saxe Doernberger.
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What NJ's Green Remediation Guidance Means For Cleanups
Recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection promoting greener approaches to restoring contaminated sites demonstrates the state's commitment to sustainability and environmental justice — but could also entail more complexity, higher costs and longer remediation timelines, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.
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AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier
Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.
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Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.
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ESG Around The World: South Korea
Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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AI Isn't The Wild West, So Prepare Now For Bias Risks
In addition to President Joe Biden's recent historic executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence, there are existing federal and state laws prohibiting fraud, defamation and even discrimination, so companies considering using or developing AI should take steps to minimize legal and business risks, says civil rights attorney Farhana Khera.
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Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.