Real Estate

  • May 13, 2024

    Justices Deny Review Bid From Convicted REIT Execs

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by four incarcerated executives with Texas real estate investment trust United Development Funding to overturn a Fifth Circuit ruling upholding their convictions in a Ponzi scheme.

  • May 13, 2024

    Cohen Says Trump Knew Hush Money Records Were False

    Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen took the witness stand Monday in the ex-president's New York criminal case, testifying that his longtime "boss" directed him to make hush money payments to alleged paramours and that Trump later agreed to the "legal services" label for a six-figure reimbursement despite seeing paperwork that showed otherwise.

  • May 13, 2024

    Ex-Pa. City Housing Head Gets 3 Years In Prison For Fraud

    The former head of an economically distressed Pennsylvania city's public housing authority was sentenced Monday to over three years in prison for bilking the agency out of $545,000 through a yearslong scheme of submitting inflated contracting bills for housing repairs to line his own pockets.

  • May 13, 2024

    High Court Won't Take Up Wyo. Wildfire Suit

    The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a suit by survivors of the 2018 Roosevelt wildfire in Wyoming against the U.S. Forest Service over the government's decisions in fighting the fires.

  • May 10, 2024

    Real Estate Authority: Norfolk Southern, Big 4 Earnings, HUD

    Catch up on this week's key real estate developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including reflections from co-lead plaintiffs counsel in the Norfolk Southern derailment case, Q1 results from the big four brokers, and a synopsis of billions in new grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

  • May 10, 2024

    $1B LNG Claim Won't Be Paused For $15B Keystone Case

    Canada has lost its bid to suspend a politically sensitive billion-dollar claim over a stymied liquefied natural gas facility in Québec until a critical jurisdictional issue in a parallel $15 billion claim against the U.S. challenging the cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline is decided.

  • May 10, 2024

    4th Circ. Judge Suspects 'Abuse' In Land Donor Tax Case

    The Fourth Circuit appeared poised Friday to rule that a couple owes taxes and penalties after claiming an inflated $5.1 million valuation on donated land for deductions, with one judge positing he believed the couple had engaged in "abuse" of a conservation donation.

  • May 10, 2024

    Solar Co. Stockholders Claim Execs, Board Caused Losses

    SunPower's current and former leadership was accused in a derivative shareholder suit of sending the residential solar power company into a financial tailspin by revising financial statements multiple times and causing the stock value to drop.

  • May 10, 2024

    Oakland Says SF Has No TM Rights To 'San Francisco Bay'

    The city of Oakland has pushed back at San Francisco's trademark infringement complaint over Oakland's plan to incorporate "San Francisco Bay" into its airport name, arguing that the Golden Gate City's claims are doomed because its airport is not even located in San Francisco.

  • May 10, 2024

    Nationstar Mortgage Wants To Escape 'Junk Fee' Suit

    Nationstar Mortgage LLC has asked a Washington federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging it illegally charged homeowners a "junk fee" for written payoff quotes, saying the suit's claims fail because expedited payoff fees are not unlawful and do not breach the terms of the relevant loan agreements.

  • May 09, 2024

    Industry Orgs Urge DC Circ. To Ax HUD Disparate Impact Rule

    Several industry associations are backing a D.C. Circuit challenge to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule governing disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act, contending the federal agency exceeded its powers and ignored Supreme Court precedent in issuing the regulation.

  • May 09, 2024

    Making Borrower Contact Ex Was Reasonable, Court Told

    A Connecticut woman's lawsuit accusing her mortgage servicer of forcing her to get in touch with an abusive ex-partner must be dismissed because it doesn't properly state a claim for violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the company told a federal court Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    REIT Says Insurers Must Cover Antitrust Conspiracy Claims

    A real estate investment trust accused its insurers of wrongfully denying coverage for an underlying multidistrict litigation alleging that the company was part of an antitrust conspiracy to inflate rents for multifamily housing, telling a Colorado federal court that the MDL falls plainly within multiple coverage parts of its policies.

  • May 09, 2024

    Biz Owner Admits Hiding $3.4M In Income To Dodge Taxes

    A San Francisco Bay Area man has pled guilty to tax evasion in California federal court, admitting he dodged some of the income tax he owed over a four-year period by concealing more than $3.4 million he earned from his businesses.

  • May 09, 2024

    TPG Lands Nearly $8B Across 3 Asia-Focused Funds

    Private equity giant TPG, advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, has closed three Asia-focused funds after securing a combined total of nearly $8 billion from investors.

  • May 09, 2024

    Judge Mulls Twitter's Rent Intent In Colo. Eviction Fight

    A Colorado state judge asked a Boulder landlord Thursday why Twitter's intent mattered when it stopped paying rent after being acquired by Elon Musk, as the landlord fights for access to records to rebut the social media company's wrongful eviction claims.

  • May 09, 2024

    Ore. Tax Court Drops Valuation Of Mobile Home Park

    An Oregon mobile home park should be reduced in value from $2.3 million to $1.7 million because an income analysis presented by the owners reflected the property's real market value better than a local assessor's method, the state's tax court said.

  • May 09, 2024

    NFL Player-Turned-Atty Can't Appeal After Contempt Deal

    An appeal of a contempt-of-court order by NFL-player-turned-lawyer Walter Bernard is moot because the underlying dispute over unpaid rent has been settled and Bernard has been released from jail, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled.

  • May 09, 2024

    Conn. Atty Denies Blame For News Story About Willkie Partner

    A solo practitioner in Greenwich, Connecticut, denied blame on Thursday for having "concocted" an unflattering New York Post article that said a Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner and his wife were squatting in a Connecticut mansion during a heated legal battle with their landlord.

  • May 09, 2024

    Armstrong Teasdale Litigator Joins Dentons In St. Louis

    A longtime Armstrong Teasdale litigator who's spent over a decade working on insurance coverage disputes has joined Dentons' St. Louis office as a partner.

  • May 09, 2024

    GE Dropped From Louisiana Factory Contamination Suit

    A Louisiana federal judge has dropped General Electric from property owners' suit alleging widespread contamination caused by a now-closed manufacturing facility, finding an earlier merger by a subsidiary did not make the company a liable successor.

  • May 09, 2024

    Designer, Hotelier Sued For Allegedly Duping EB-5 Investors

    Chinese investors in a luxury California hotel for green cards lodged a potential class action Thursday against a prominent interior designer and her hotelier husband for allegedly duping backers into believing Marriott would manage the hotel.

  • May 09, 2024

    Nossaman Scores New Land Use Partner For Seattle Office

    Nossaman LLP announced it has hired an attorney with experience advising and defending clients in environmental matters as a partner for its environment and land use team in the firm's Seattle office.

  • May 08, 2024

    BIA Tells 8th Circ. Energy Co. Can't Revive Lease Suit

    The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs has asked the Eighth Circuit to uphold a North Dakota federal judge's dismissal of Prima Exploration Inc.'s oil and gas lease termination suit, saying the lower court correctly dismissed the case for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

  • May 08, 2024

    Water-Damaged Conn. Hotel Sues Insurer For More Coverage

    A Connecticut hotel took Sompo America Insurance Co. to state court after the insurer only partially covered substantial water damage that forced the newly opened lodge's closure and purportedly offered "nonsensical" justifications for denying full coverage.

Expert Analysis

  • What Shareholder Approval Rule Changes Mean For Cos.

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved proposed rule changes to shareholder requirements by the New York Stock Exchange, an approval that will benefit listed companies in many ways, including by making it easier to raise capital from passive investors, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Zimbabwe Ruling Bolsters UK's Draw As Arbitration Enforcer

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    An English court's recent decision in Border Timbers v. Zimbabwe, finding that state immunity was irrelevant to registering an arbitration award, emphasizes the U.K.'s reputation as a creditor-friendly destination for award enforcement, say Jon Felce and Tulsi Bhatia at Cooke Young.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Brazil

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    Environmental, social and governance issues have increasingly translated into new legislation in Brazil since 2020, and in the wake of these recently enacted regulations, we are likely to see a growing number of legal disputes in the largest South American country related to ESG issues such as greenwashing if companies are not prepared to adequately adapt and comply, say attorneys at Mattos Filho.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

  • High Court Case Could Reshape Local Development Fees

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    If last month's oral arguments are any indication of how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, it's unlikely the justices will hold that the essential nexus and rough proportionality tests under the cases of Nollan, Dolan and Koontz apply to legislative exactions, but a sweeping decision would still be the natural progression in the line of cases giving property owners takings claims, says Phillip Babich at Reed Smith.

  • Opinion

    White Collar Plea Deals Are Rarely 'Knowing' And 'Voluntary'

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    Because prosecutors are not required to disclose exculpatory evidence during plea negotiations, white collar defendants often enter into plea deals that don’t meet the U.S. Supreme Court’s “knowing” and “voluntary” standard for trials — but individual courts and solutions judges could rectify the issue, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • How 2 CFPB Advisory Opinions Affect Reporting Agencies

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued two advisory opinions last month that demonstrate a continued commitment to address inaccuracies in background check reports and consumer file disclosures through broad interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, expanding on a coordinated federal agency effort, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Algorithmic Pricing Programs Caught In Antitrust Crosshairs

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    The Justice Department's investigation into software company RealPage follows a host of federal antitrust cases alleging that property owners and casino hotel operators use the same proprietary software programs to fix and maintain pricing, which means algorithmic pricing programs are considered a key price-fixing tool in the digital age, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift

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    As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.

  • A Welcome Turning Of The Page For Residential Real Estate

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    After one of the most challenging years on record for residential real estate, 2024 will likely be a time of transition to a stabler business climate, as sellers lose some of their excess bargaining power and the pace of sales picks up, says Marty Green at Polunsky Beitel.

  • 5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money

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    As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.

  • Series

    Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52

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    Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.

  • Strict Duty To Indemnify Ruling Bucks Recent Trend

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    A South Carolina federal court's recent decision that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to decide an insurer's duty to indemnify prior to the finding of insured liability sharply diverges from the more nuanced or multipronged standards established by multiple circuit courts, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.

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