Residential
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March 24, 2025
Comparable Homes Don't Lower Mass. Property's $430K Value
A Massachusetts home will remain valued at $429,500, a state tax panel said in a decision released Monday, rejecting the owner's arguments that the home valuation grew at a higher rate than that of comparable properties.
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March 24, 2025
No Evidence To Lower Home Value, Mass. Panel Says
A Massachusetts panel declined to drop a condominium unit's valuation in a decision released Monday, rejecting the owner's argument that local assessors had increased home valuations in that particular area more than for other homes in the town.
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March 21, 2025
NJ AG Says Landlord Discriminated Against Low-Income Renters
The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights has found probable cause that the owner of a Garden State apartment complex and its leasing agent allegedly discriminated against poor tenants through illegal minimum-income requirements, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Friday.
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March 21, 2025
Property Plays: Data Centers, Extell, Deauville
Property Plays is a weekly roundup of the latest loans, leases, sales and projects around the country. Send your tips — all confidential — to realestate@law360.com.
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March 21, 2025
Hail Deductible Applicable In Colo. Townhomes' Storm Dispute
A homeowners association's insurer correctly applied a hail deductible when it issued a roughly $1,600 payment despite the association's $3.5 million damage estimate, a Colorado federal court ruled Friday, rejecting the association's argument that the deductible became void once the insurer breached the policy by underpaying coverage.
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March 21, 2025
Loan Servicer Faces 'Zombie Mortgage' Truth In Lending Suit
A mortgage loan servicer that allegedly tried to charge a North Carolina borrower $160,000 for a mortgage he discharged in bankruptcy during the Great Recession got hit with a proposed federal class action accusing it and a trust that purportedly attempted to foreclose his house of violating the Truth in Lending Act.
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March 21, 2025
Cole Schotz Guides Chetrit's $268M Loan For NYC Properties
Developer The Chetrit Group LLC borrowed more than $268 million from real estate investment firm G4 Capital Partners for properties in New York's Upper East Side neighborhood, in a deal worked on by Cole Schotz PC, according to official property records.
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March 21, 2025
Seyfarth Shaw Guides $144M Brooklyn Project Financing
Full-service real estate firm Watermark Capital Group borrowed more than $144 million from S3 Capital in a deal guided by Seyfarth Shaw LLP for a commercial real estate property that's the site of a major residential project located in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, according to property records filed Friday.
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March 21, 2025
Miami Beach Gives Deauville, Towers Project Early OK
The Miami Beach Commission voted in favor of requested land-use changes that would allow the owners of the historic Deauville Beach Resort to rebuild the hotel and add two large residential towers to the property, a project almost universally lauded in the meeting.
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March 21, 2025
Mich. Judge Dismisses $217M Dam Repair Tax Challenge
A Michigan federal judge has dismissed a pair of lawsuits alleging a $217 million special assessment to fund the reconstruction of dams destroyed in 2020 floods was unfairly levied on certain properties, finding homeowners had the opportunity to oppose the assessment and litigate their claims in state court.
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March 21, 2025
3rd Circ. Takes On NJ Judicial Privacy Law's Constitutionality
The Third Circuit has granted requests by several data brokers to review a lower court judge's ruling that New Jersey's judicial privacy and security measure, known as Daniel's Law, is constitutional.
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March 21, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Cravath, Paul Weiss, Cooley
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Google acquires Wiz, QXO Inc. acquires Beacon Roofing Supply, and the Boston Celtics are bought by a group led by private equity firm co-founder William Chisholm.
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March 20, 2025
State Farm's Calif. Rate Request Exemplifies Long Negotiation
California regulators' provisional approval of State Farm's premium increase request following the Los Angeles fires is another step forward in an insurance reform process that insurance pros view as a negotiation that has been protracted to the detriment of consumers.
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March 20, 2025
LA Hit With Sanctions Request In Encampment Sweep Lawsuit
Homeless residents accused the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office of hiding documents they requested in their suit challenging the constitutionality of encampment sweeps, asking a California federal court for case-ending sanctions for the second time in two weeks.
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March 20, 2025
Office-To-Residential Efforts Offer Pain And Potential
With an estimated 1 billion square feet of office space currently vacant across the country and housing affordability a widespread concern, office-to-residential conversions have obvious appeal. But experts speaking at a multifamily housing event this month said while these projects can ultimately turn out great, the challenges in completing them will prevent the volume needed to solve the nation's housing crisis.
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March 20, 2025
Extell Shrinks Height For Planned NYC 5th Ave. Tower
Extell Development reduced the height of a once-proposed 78-story tower on Manhattan's Fifth Ave. down to 32 stories tall, according to recent filings with the New York City Department of Buildings, and Law360 has removed the project from its Tall Buildings Tracker.
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March 20, 2025
Baron Property Clinches $206M Loan To Build Fla. Rentals
Baron Property Group borrowed $206 million from investment advisory firm Post Road Group to build its 661-unit Metro Parc North residential project in Hialeah, Florida, according to a March 20 announcement.
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March 20, 2025
4th Circ. Leery Of Reviving Class Claims In Lending Bias Suit
A group of borrowers faced an uphill battle Thursday trying to convince the Fourth Circuit to revive their class claims accusing Navy Federal Credit Union of discriminatory lending practices, with one judge chastising what he said were attempts to rewrite the complaint.
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March 20, 2025
Jurisdictional Uncertainty Helps Preserve Ill. Tax Bias Suit
Cook County property owners who mistakenly brought discriminatory assessment accusations in state court before taking their allegations to federal court can continue pursuing those claims, an Illinois judge said, rejecting the county's timeliness challenge.
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March 20, 2025
4 Firms Help Seal $11B QXO, Beacon Deal After Buyout Battle
QXO Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to acquire Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. for $11 billion following an at-times contentious takeover attempt that included Beacon's rejection of a prior QXO buyout proposal, in a deal guided by four law firms.
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March 19, 2025
Toxic-Loft Suits Too Late, But Owners Share Blame, Jury Says
A California state jury in Los Angeles found Wednesday that 20 residents of an art loft building waited too long to file toxic exposure claims, but suggested that the building owners caused the delays, triggering further proceedings before a judge.
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March 19, 2025
Your Competition Is Probably Investing In Their Clients
Legal advisers typically sit beside, not across, from their clients, and advise on deals rather than take part in them.
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March 19, 2025
Swiss Investor Can't Revive $230M Czech Republic Claim
A Swiss company with failed plans to develop a Prague residential complex has lost its bid to revive a $230 million damages claim against the Czech Republic based on arguments that the arbitrators had not adequately considered the fallout after the company rebuffed a local official's bribe request.
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March 19, 2025
Fla. Court Affirms Boardwalk Easement, Despite Defunct Law
Florida's First District Court of Appeal confirmed Wednesday that Walton County, Florida, had a right to a public easement on a beach, finding it need not have exercised that right before the federal government repealed the law under which the land was conveyed to private owners.
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March 19, 2025
QXO Pushes Deadline As Beacon Takeover Talks Press On
QXO extended its Tuesday deadline for Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. shareholders to tender their shares until Wednesday, after announcing earlier in the month that friendly discussions had begun amid the once-hostile takeover bid.
Expert Analysis
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What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking
With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.
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How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers
Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.
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2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.
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SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.
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8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For
In this article, Jason Lambert at Hill Ward discusses a number of recent bills out of the Florida Legislature targeting construction companies in the Sunshine State that have been sent to the governor for signature, at least some of which will have broad impacts that affected companies should prepare for ahead of the July 1 effective date.
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Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System
A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.
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Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty
Taxpayers considering protective refund claims pending resolution of major questions in tax cases like Moore v. U.S., which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, should understand how doing so may also leave them vulnerable to an excessive refund claim penalty under Internal Revenue Code Section 6676, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation
A New York federal court’s recent ruling in In re: Cortlandt provides guidance on how to calculate a landlord's damages claim when a bankruptcy debtor rejects a lease, changing from an approach that considers the remaining rent due under the lease to one that considers the remaining time, say Bethany Simmons and Noah Weingarten at Loeb & Loeb.
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Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact
A close look at the unique language at issue in Avila v. Biscayne, in which a Florida appellate court deemed a condo termination to be invalid, shows that the case is unlikely to significantly affect other potential terminations, say Barry Lapides and Edward Baker at Berger Singerman.
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Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s spring 2024 consumer compliance supervisory report found that relatively few institutions had significant consumer compliance issues last year, but the common thread among those that did were inadequacies or failures in disclosures to consumers, says Matthew Hanaghan at Nutter.
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What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers
A California appellate court's recent decision in Homeward Opportunities v. Taptelis found that a defaulting borrower could not delay foreclosure with an improperly served notice of pendency of action, but leaves open a possibility for borrowers to delay eviction proceedings merely by filing lawsuits, say Anne Beehler and Krystal Anderson at Holland & Knight.
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How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction
The growing popularity of trends like 3D printing technology and prefabrication in the construction industry have positive ramifications ranging from reducing risks at project sites to streamlining construction schedules, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.
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Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline
The flurry of final rules now leaping off the Federal Register press — some of which will affect entire industries and millions of Americans — shows President Joe Biden's determination to protect his regulatory legacy from reversal by the next Congress, given the impending statutory look-back period under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.