Real Estate

  • August 26, 2025

    1st Circ. Says Insurer Owes No Defense In Eviction Suits

    A Liberty Mutual unit has no duty to defend a commercial real estate loan provider in underlying suits over the eviction of residents from a Massachusetts senior care facility, the First Circuit ruled, finding the insurer's denial of coverage to be reasonable.

  • August 26, 2025

    Buchalter Adds Ex-Carlton Fields Attys To LA Office

    Buchalter has hired two former Carlton Fields attorneys as shareholders for its corporate team in Los Angeles, and one of the announced hires is returning to the firm after almost 30 years.

  • August 25, 2025

    Nationstar Loan Payoff Statement Fees OK'd By Wash. Judge

    A Washington federal judge has sided with Nationstar in a proposed class action alleging illegal fees, recognizing the home loan servicer is allowed to charge a "reasonable fee" for expedited delivery of a loan payoff statement upon request.

  • August 25, 2025

    Rite Aid, Lease Buyer Hit Back At Landlord's Sale Objection

    Bankrupt drugstore chain Rite Aid and the discount clothing retailer Ross Dress For Less are pushing back against a landlord who objected to the debtor's sale of 18 store leases to Ross, saying the planned sale is in Rite Aid's best interest.

  • August 25, 2025

    Washington Judge OKs Tenant Class Challenging Lease Terms

    A Washington federal judge certified a class of Washington tenants accusing a landlord for more than 700 U.S. residential properties of having lease provisions, such as service fees, that violate state law.

  • August 25, 2025

    Warner Bros. Denies 'Ugly House' Infringement At Del. Trial

    An attorney for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. told a Delaware federal judge on Monday its popular "Ugliest House in America" show had "nothing to do" with HomeVestors of America Inc.'s "Ugly House" competition, kicking off an infringement trial where the latter company is seeking millions in disgorgement.

  • August 25, 2025

    Title Insurer Beats Ex-Board Member's Fiduciary Duty Claims

    Connecticut title insurer CATIC, its Delaware and Florida corporate arms, and 12 of its senior leaders have escaped fiduciary duty claims from a lawyer who challenged his purported ejection from two boards of directors after an audit allegedly revealed accounting problems at his Hartford law firm.

  • August 25, 2025

    Trustee For NJ House Flipper Cos. Seeks OK For Oct. Auction

    The Chapter 11 trustee for companies tied to celebrity house flippers accused of a Ponzi-like scheme Monday asked a New Jersey bankruptcy judge to approve procedures for the sale of the companies' assets.

  • August 25, 2025

    Mich. Judge Backs 125% Recovery In Tax Foreclosure Deal

    A Michigan federal judge has given the initial approval to a settlement between a proposed class of former property owners and two counties over allegations that the counties unlawfully kept surplus proceeds from the sales of their tax-foreclosed properties, a deal similar to one the same judge OK'd last week.

  • August 25, 2025

    Alaska Looks To Reopen Tribal Gaming Lease Dispute

    Alaska is asking a D.C. federal court to reopen a dispute that rejected an Indigenous tribe's bid to secure the right to open a bingo hall, alleging that the tribe is now claiming governmental powers over the land and treating it as Indian Country under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

  • August 25, 2025

    Jury Awards Ex-Housing Worker $2.3M In Hostile Workplace Suit

    A federal jury on Monday awarded a former homeownership coordinator at the public housing authority in Charlotte, North Carolina, more than $2 million in damages in her suit claiming she was subject to a hostile work environment after she reported concerns that the agency was discriminating against elderly and disabled veterans and other housing applicants.

  • August 25, 2025

    Trenton Hit With Whistleblower Suit By Fired Housing Atty

    A former assistant city attorney for Trenton, New Jersey, has sued the city for allegedly firing her in retaliation for speaking out about supposed corruption and for cooperating with a state investigation into it.

  • August 25, 2025

    Atlanta-Area Hotels Failed To Stop Sex Trafficking, Suit Says

    A group of Atlanta-area hotel owners and operators, including Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, were sued in Georgia federal court by a woman who alleged that they did nothing to prevent her from being trafficked for sex as a minor even at their properties though the signs were blatant.

  • August 25, 2025

    Morrison Cohen Hires Ex-K&L Gates Real Estate Partner

    Manhattan-based Morrison Cohen LLP announced Monday the hiring of a former K&L Gates LLP partner for its real estate practice.

  • August 25, 2025

    NJ Court Upholds Most Claims In Judicial Privacy Suits

    Lawsuits filed by a data privacy group representing judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials may continue against companies and groups that published their home addresses and unlisted phone numbers after a New Jersey federal judge on Monday denied the defendants' motions to dismiss.

  • August 25, 2025

    Texas Bill Would OK Low-Population Voter-Approval Tax Rates

    The Texas voter-approval property tax rate, the maximum rate a local government can adopt without voter approval, would be reduced for smaller taxing authorities under a bill passed in the state Senate and a House committee. 

  • August 22, 2025

    DC Circ. Weighing $47M Award Is Told Due Process At Stake

    A Mexican businessman at the center of an allegedly fraudulent loan scheme underpinning an international tribunal's $47 million award to a Canadian investor is urging the D.C. Circuit to cancel the award, calling the underlying arbitration a "blatant denial" of due process.

  • August 22, 2025

    Split 9th Circ. Halts Land Swap With Idaho Tribes' Backing

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Friday upheld a lower court's decision to invalidate an Interior Department land transfer in Idaho for the expansion of a phosphogypsum plant, saying that a 1900 federal law limits the disposal of treaty-ceded lands.

  • August 22, 2025

    NYC Mall Lenders, Developer Ax Foreign Investor Suit

    A New York federal judge dismissed foreign investors' suit over the loss of their investment in a New York City mall project, finding they failed to prove their investments were lost because parties allowed their funds to be subordinated to later financing provided by a Goldman Sachs affiliate.

  • August 22, 2025

    Housing Supervisor Rebuts Ex-Employee's Retaliation Claim

    A former supervisor at the public housing authority in Charlotte, North Carolina, facing accusations of retaliation and creating a hostile work environment told jurors Friday that she never singled out a coordinator for punishment or had any inkling of discrimination within the organization that would rise to the level of violating federal housing laws.

  • August 22, 2025

    $16M Loan Docs Looked Legit To Pullman & Comley, Letter Says

    Pullman & Comely LLC said in a 2022 letter to New York-based lender Titan Capital ID LLC that it had no knowledge of any inaccuracies or issues in a $16 million loan to the development arm of a Connecticut municipal housing authority, according to exhibits recently filed in a suit over the allegedly botched transaction.

  • August 22, 2025

    Rubin And Rudman Adds Environmental Land Use Law Expert

    Rubin and Rudman LLP has hired a partner to the firm's environmental, land use and zoning practice group whose transactional and regulatory compliance focus will complement the firm's bench of environmental land use law and real estate law experts and litigators.

  • August 22, 2025

    $785K Legal Malpractice Judgment Against Pa. Firm Upheld

    A debt collection agency did not provide enough evidence to show it deserved prejudgment interest on a $785,000 jury award it received from a malpractice suit against two former Hartman Valeriano Magovern & Lutz attorneys who allegedly botched a real estate transfer that cost the agency $1.4 million, according to a recent decision from the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

  • August 22, 2025

    Tribe Member Can't Discharge Tax Debt, 10th Circ. Affirms

    An Oklahoma federal court correctly affirmed a bankruptcy court's refusal to reopen a case brought by a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation who claimed his tax debt should have been discharged in bankruptcy, the Tenth Circuit said.

  • August 22, 2025

    Real Estate AI Co. Can't Dodge $100M Share Deal Breach Suit

    A New York federal judge has mostly denied reAlpha Tech Corp.'s bid to toss a Luxembourg-based investment firm's suit seeking to enforce a $100 million share purchase agreement, rejecting reAlpha's arguments seeking to toss the suit's breach of contract and damages claims but dismissing the plaintiff's declaratory judgment claim.

Expert Analysis

  • Tips For Cos. From California Climate Reporting FAQ

    Author Photo

    New guidance from the California Air Resources Board on how businesses must implement the state's sweeping climate reporting requirements should help companies assess their exposure, understand their disclosure obligations and begin documenting good-faith compliance efforts, says Thierry Montoya at Frost Brown.

  • What Calif. Insurance Ruling Means For Smoke Damage Limits

    Author Photo

    As California continues to grapple with an increasing number of wildfire claims, a state court's recent Aliff v. California FAIR Plan decision serves as a clear directive to insurers that policy language that narrows the scope of fire coverage below the California Insurance Code's minimum standards is impermissible, say attorneys at Wood Smith.

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

    Author Photo

    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • What 9th Circ. Ruling Shows About Rebutting SEC Comments

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit's June opinion in Pino v. Cardone Capital suggests that a company's lack of pushback to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission comment may be evidence of its state of mind for evaluating potential liability, meaning companies should consider including additional disclosure in SEC response letters, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Series

    Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

    Author Photo

    Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

  • 2 NY Cases May Clarify Foreclosure Law Retroactivity

    Author Photo

    Two pending cases may soon provide the long-awaited resolution to the question of whether retroactive application of the New York Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act violates the state Constitution, providing a guide for New York courts inundated with motions in foreclosure and quiet title actions, says Fernando Rivera Maissonet at Hinshaw & Culbertson.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

    Author Photo

    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • Yacht Broker Case Highlights Industry Groups' Antitrust Risk

    Author Photo

    The Eleventh Circuit recently revived class claims against the International Yacht Brokers Association, signaling that commission-driven industries beyond real estate are vulnerable to antitrust challenges after the National Association of Realtors settled similar allegations last year, says Miles Santiago at the Southern University Law Center and Alex Hebert at Southern Compass.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

    Author Photo

    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

    Author Photo

    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • A Look At Florida's New Protected Series LLC Legislation

    Author Photo

    A new law in Florida enhances the flexibility of using limited liability companies as the entities of choice for most privately held businesses, moving Florida into a small group of states with reliable uniform protected series legislation for series LLCs, says Louis Conti at Holland & Knight.

  • Examining TCPA Jurisprudence A Year After Loper Bright

    Author Photo

    One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, lower court decisions demonstrate that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act will continue to evolve as long-standing interpretations of the act are analyzed with a fresh lens, says Aaron Gallardo at Kilpatrick.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

    Author Photo

    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • Texas' Cactus Ruling Clarifies 'Produced Water' Rules

    Author Photo

    The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Cactus Water Services v. COG Operating, holding that mineral interest lessees have the rights to water extracted alongside oil and gas, should benefit industry players by clarifying the rules — but it leaves important questions about royalties unresolved, say attorneys at Yetter Coleman.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Real Estate archive.