More Real Estate Coverage
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April 17, 2025
Wash. Justices Strike Down Spokane's Homeless Camp Law
The Washington Supreme Court said a voter-approved initiative restricting encampments for homeless people in Spokane is unconstitutional, in an opinion Thursday that said the measure exceeds the scope of local initiative power because it impermissibly "tinkers" with a policy the city had previously adopted.
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April 16, 2025
3rd Circ. Punts Mining Co. Document Fight To Ch. 11 Judge
The Third Circuit vacated a Delaware bankruptcy judge's order to unseal records a successor of Essar Steel's U.S. unit is seeking to bolster its antitrust claims against Cleveland-Cliffs, ruling Wednesday that the Chapter 11 judge used the wrong standard.
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April 16, 2025
Interior Transfers 110,000 Acres To Army For Border Security
The U.S. Department of the Interior is transferring 110,000 acres of federal land along the southern border to the U.S. Army to support Border Patrol as part of a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration.
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April 16, 2025
DOI Blocked From Making Connecticut Tribal Land Moves
A Connecticut federal judge has temporarily barred the U.S. Department of the Interior from placing 80 acres of land claimed by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation into trust, and scheduled an expedited hearing on the state's request for a longer delay.
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April 16, 2025
Mass. High Court Revives BU Contract Suit Against Architect
Massachusetts' highest court ruled Wednesday that a six-year limit on tort claims due to design defects in a construction project under a Boston University athletic field doesn't apply to a contract dispute between the school and an architectural firm that explicitly agreed to cover such costs.
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April 16, 2025
Exxon Urges Justices To Resolve Seized Cuba Property Claim
Exxon Mobil Corp. asked the U.S. Supreme Court to scrutinize a ruling frustrating its attempts to collect damages from Cuban property confiscated decades ago, arguing the Trump and Biden administrations' opposing stances on such lawsuits present a chance for the court to settle the political debate.
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April 16, 2025
Pryor Cashman Adds New Real Estate Partner For NYC Office
Pryor Cashman LLP announced Wednesday that it had hired Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP attorney Paul J. Proulx for the firm's real estate and land use/zoning teams in its New York City office.
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April 15, 2025
New Mexico Pueblos Allowed Into Fed Mineral Lease Ban Suit
A pair of Native American pueblos can intervene in a Navajo Nation suit seeking to undo a Biden administration order withdrawing federal land from new mineral leasing around Chaco Canyon, a federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday.
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April 15, 2025
No Appeal For Green Energy Co. CEO In $40M Investor Suit
The CEO of a company purportedly funded by a green energy outfit can't appeal a judge's determination in a proposed investor class action that found the executive is subject to the Tennessee federal court's jurisdiction, saying he failed to meet the requirements for such an appeal.
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April 15, 2025
Court Abused Discretion In Tesoro Pipeline Row, 8th Circ. Told
Enrolled members of a North Dakota tribe say a lower court abused its discretion in denying them intervention in a lawsuit challenging the federal government's right-of-way trespassing claims against the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline, arguing it failed to consider the full scope of their interests and rights at stake.
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April 15, 2025
DLA Piper Says Ex-ArentFox RE Duo Bolsters Lender Services
DLA Piper has announced the latest additions to its real estate team, welcoming two former ArentFox Schiff LLP lawyers who the firm says will bolster its services for lending-focused clients.
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April 14, 2025
Conn. Sues Feds To Block 80-Acre Tribal Land Trust Decisions
Connecticut is asking a federal court to undo a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs decision to take 80 acres into trust for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, arguing it lacked authority to issue the order that, if allowed to stand, it said will end the state's sovereign territory rights.
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April 14, 2025
Feds Push To End Alaska Tribe's Gold Mine Permit Challenge
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a gold mine developer are asking a federal court for permission to move for early dismissal of an Alaskan tribe's remaining claim against an open-pit gold mine near the Yukon border, saying its amended lawsuit doesn't fare better than the original.
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April 14, 2025
NJ Attorney Must Face Land Dispute Malpractice Suit
A New Jersey state judge has rejected a Fox Rothschild LLP attorney's bid for an early exit from a suit by a pair of sisters accusing him and related parties of malpractice stemming from the mishandling of their late stepfather's estate.
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April 10, 2025
Reps Intro Bill To Cap Conservation Easement Protections
Two Republican congresswomen have introduced a bill that would put a 30-year cap on conservation easements entered into by the U.S. Department of the Interior, saying the agreements shouldn't be allowed to hamstring future generations of landowners.
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April 10, 2025
Bradley Arant Moves Atlanta Office For Growing City Roster
Having nearly tripled its headcount in Atlanta since launching in the city two years ago, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has moved into a newly renovated three-floor space in a Midtown office tower, the firm announced Thursday.
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April 10, 2025
Rocket Mortgage Says Feds Can't Scuttle Appraisal Suit
Rocket Mortgage LLC is fighting back against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's bid to dismiss the mortgage lender's suit, arguing in Colorado federal court that HUD is unlawfully forcing the company to change a residential appraisal that was allegedly discriminatory.
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April 09, 2025
Tribe Warns High Court Of Dire Impact If Land Trust Bid Fails
A Michigan tribe seeking to undo an order denying its bid to compel the federal government to take 73 acres into trust for a casino venture outside of Detroit says a Supreme Court rejection of its petition will have disastrous consequences for its members and other similarly situated tribes.
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April 08, 2025
Cushman Atty Transitions In-House As Kidder Mathews GC
Kidder Mathews announced Monday that it has hired Edward Castro, a 30-year corporate attorney with experience in commercial real estate law, as general counsel advising the company and its 19 West Coast offices.
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April 08, 2025
Private Owner Subject To Prevailing Wage, Pa. Justices Told
Counsel for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Labor Law Compliance told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday that contractors who constructed a state police barracks were entitled to pay in line with public works projects, arguing that private financing and ownership of the building doesn't negate the prevailing wage.
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April 07, 2025
No Basis To Revive Leasing Withdrawals Ruling, Trump Says
The Trump administration urged an Alaska federal judge not to reinstate a decision barring it from undoing former President Barack Obama's withdrawal of offshore waters from oil and gas leasing, while it fights to revoke additional Biden administration removals.
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April 07, 2025
Ex-Goodwin RE Atty Leaves Retirement For Reed Smith
Reed Smith LLP announced Monday that a longtime private equity real estate lawyer has come out of retirement to join the firm in California after working most recently for Goodwin Procter LLP.
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April 07, 2025
Judge Orders Argentina To Pay Decade-Old Contractor Claim
Argentina must pay more than $21 million to Italian construction firm Webuild SpA to resolve a claim over a Buenos Aires water services contract the government canceled in 2006, a D.C. federal judge has determined.
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April 07, 2025
Montana To Appraise Taxable Real Property Every 2 Years
Montana will reappraise most taxable real property every two years under a bill signed by the governor.
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April 04, 2025
4th Circ. Rules Ch. 7 Debtor On The Hook For Mortgage Bill
The Fourth Circuit on Friday revived class claims by a Chapter 7 debtor who received a collection letter over a defaulted mortgage, saying the debtor still has obligations to pay the mortgage lender, partially overturning a West Virginia district court's decision.
Expert Analysis
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SEC Form PF Amendments Show Private Fund Adviser Focus
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted amendments to Form PF that will establish new event-reporting requirements for private equity and large hedge fund advisers, reflecting the SEC's increased attention on the private markets also seen in its stated examination priorities and latest rule proposals, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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What Tax-Exempt Orgs. Need From Energy Credit Guidance
Guidance clarifying the Inflation Reduction Act’s credit regime, expected from the U.S. Department of the Treasury this summer, should help tax-exempt organizations determine the benefits of clean energy projects and integrate alternative energy investments into their activities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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As Sackett Trims Feds' Wetlands Role, States May Step Up
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency extinguishes federal authority over many currently regulated wetlands — meaning that federal permits will no longer be required to discharge pollutants in affected areas, but also that state regulators may take a more active role, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.
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How Fla. Tort Reform Will Shift Construction Defect Suits
Recent modifications to Florida's private statutory action rules for building code violations and to the statute of limitations and repose for defect claims significantly clarify ambiguity that had existed under previous rules, and both claimants and defendants should consider new legal arguments that may become possible, say Ryan Soohoo and George Truitt at Cole Scott.
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The Nuts And Bolts Of IRS Domestic Content Tax Credit
Recent IRS guidance provides specifics on how renewable energy projects can qualify for bonus tax credits by meeting U.S. domestic content rules, but also creates a qualification framework that will be complicated for project developers to navigate, say Scott Cockerham and Wolfram Pohl at Orrick.
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Biden's Enviro Justice Focus Brings New Business Risks
A recent executive order from President Joe Biden continues the administration's whole-of-government approach toward environmental justice, and its focus on transparency may increase the risk of permit challenges, enforcement actions and citizen suits, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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EV Chargers Can Bring Benefits For Calif. Property Owners
California property developers and owners face growing pressure to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure — but this can be a unique opportunity to add value to real estate assets, and can be accomplished in multiple ways, say Riley Cutner-Orrantia and Eurie Hwang at Crosbie Gliner.
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Brownfield Renewables Guidance Leaves Site Eligibility Murky
Recent IRS guidance sheds some light on the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for renewable energy development on contaminated sites — but the eligibility of certain sites for brownfield status remains uncertain, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Water Infrastructure Crisis Requires Private Investment
The federal government is in the process of distributing billions of dollars recently allocated for upgrades to U.S. water infrastructure — but capital, beyond what government can provide, is needed to fully address decades of neglect, meaning that private investment must be a part of the solution, says Damian Georgino at Womble Bond.
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Ambiguity In 'Buy America' Implementation May Slow Projects
The White House Office of Management and Budget's most recent guidance, which builds on a complex patchwork of Buy America restrictions that vary by federal agency, would perpetuate government contractors' uncertainty regarding product and material classification and could delay infrastructure projects, say attorneys at Miles & Stockbridge.
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La. Suit Could Set New Enviro Justice Litigation Paradigm
Inclusive Louisiana v. St. James Parish, a lawsuit filed recently in Louisiana federal court that makes wide-ranging and novel constitutional and statutory claims of environmental racism based on centuries of local history, could become a new template for environmental justice litigation against governments and businesses, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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The Legal Consequences Of High PFAS Background Levels
As federal and state regulations around per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances proliferate, emerging scientific literature is showing that PFAS exist in many environments at background levels that exceed regulatory limits — and the potential legal implications are profound, say Grant Gilezan and Paul Stewart at Dykema and Dylan Eberle at Geosyntec Consultants.
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IRS Green Energy Tax Credit Notice Provides Needed Clarity
Recent IRS guidance clarifying how the government will determine energy community locations for purposes of bonus clean energy tax credits should help resolve risk allocation disagreements among financing parties and parties to merger and acquisition transactions, say Casey August and Paul Gordon at Morgan Lewis.