Commercial

  • May 22, 2024

    Sullivan & Cromwell Atty Urges Cos. To Tend To Climate Data

    Public companies should not expect stakeholder concerns over climate risk to go away, even though litigation has cast a fog of uncertainty over certain disclosure rules, a Sullivan & Cromwell lawyer said Wednesday at a panel on the topic.

  • May 22, 2024

    Realty Firm Seeks Early Win In Law Firm's Suit Over Lease

    Real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. has urged a Texas state court to grant it an early win against law firm Polunsky Beitel & Green LLP in a suit alleging that Polunsky Beitel is wrongfully going to lose its sublease for a Houston commercial office building that will now be converted into a residential building.

  • May 22, 2024

    Wells Fargo Wants Receivership For Hotels After $52M Default

    Wells Fargo has sued American Hotel Income Properties REIT Inc. in New York federal court, claiming that the real estate investment trust's hotels should be placed into a court-ordered receivership after the REIT's affiliates defaulted on a $52.4 million loan.

  • May 22, 2024

    DC Empty Building Not Eligible For Tax Exemption, Court Says

    The owner of a vacant building in Washington, D.C., can't claim an exemption from the district's vacant building property tax rate because the owner claimed the exemption outside the allowed two-year period, the district's highest court ruled.

  • May 22, 2024

    NJ Atty Faces Fla. Suspension Over Sale Of $1.6M Painting

    An attorney suspended for one year in New Jersey last year for smuggling a $1.6 million painting out of his house to avoid an asset sale has agreed to a guilty plea accepting another yearlong suspension in Florida related to the scheme.

  • May 22, 2024

    Prologis Legal Chief To Step Down At The End Of 2024

    Prologis Inc.'s chief legal officer will retire and transition to a senior adviser role starting in January, the logistics-focused real estate investment trust said Wednesday, and another member of its legal team has been tapped to fill the position.

  • May 22, 2024

    SC Expands Abandoned Building Credit, Adds Railroad Credit

    South Carolina expanded its tax credit for the revitalization of abandoned buildings and provided an income tax credit for railroad reconstruction under a bill signed by the governor.

  • May 22, 2024

    Soured Partnership Tanks Dallas Tower Weakened By COVID

    In the fourth story in a series on distressed office properties in various U.S. markets, Law360 Real Estate Authority examines how a solid office building in an otherwise strong market — Dallas' Uptown — started showing cracks from COVID-19 and controversy.

  • May 22, 2024

    Goodwin Real Estate Atty Eyes Gov't Role In Adaptive Reuse

    Investors considering converting office buildings to a residential use are increasingly seeking more assistance from and collaboration with governments, one of Goodwin's real estate leaders told Law360 in a recent interview.

  • May 21, 2024

    Quarry Not Liable For Dirt Bike Accident, NJ Panel Says

    The owner of a New Jersey quarry long used by all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts cannot be held liable for injuries a dirt biker sustained after he struck a steel cable on the property, a state appeals court has ruled, saying the landowner installed the cable for legitimate, not malicious, purposes.

  • May 21, 2024

    Bankrupt SVB Fights To Keep $1.9B Suit Against FDIC Alive

    The bankrupt former parent company of Silicon Valley Bank urged a California federal judge on Tuesday not to toss its suit against the Financial Deposit Insurance Corp. that seeks to get the deposit insurer to return $1.93 billion, saying the FDIC has not fulfilled its obligation to turn over the company's account funds.

  • May 21, 2024

    22 States Tell 11th Circ. Corp. Transparency Act Goes Too Far

    The federal Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutionally displaces state authority and its enforcement would economically harm states and their residents, attorneys general from 22 states told the Eleventh Circuit, urging it to uphold a ruling that struck down the law.

  • May 21, 2024

    Variety Of Cases Propelled Rise In New Jersey Ch. 11 Filings

    The cases that have made the New Jersey bankruptcy court the second busiest in the nation have run the gamut from nationwide retail chains, major real estate players and Johnson & Johnson's mass tort talc spinoff to genetic labs and cryptocurrency platforms.

  • May 21, 2024

    Tremont Chicago Hotel Lender Calls For End To Ch. 11 Case

    Citing a bankrupt owner's lack of equity and longstanding defaults, the senior secured creditor to Chicago's defunct former Tremont Hotel has asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to dismiss the case or lift its Chapter 11 automatic stay.

  • May 21, 2024

    Calif. City Sued Over Botched $8.8M Hotel Sale

    A hotel operator has accused Anderson, California, of sabotaging a signed $8.8 million purchase offer and other contracts for the company's local hotel by red-tagging the property, and also impeding remodeling efforts because the operator's manager and president are both foreigners.

  • May 21, 2024

    Boston Eateries Say They've Shown Proof Of Anti-Italian Bias

    A group of restaurant owners in Boston's North End, the city's version of "Little Italy," reinforced their argument to a federal judge that anti-Italian bias was behind an on-street outdoor dining ban in the neighborhood.

  • May 21, 2024

    Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023

    The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.

  • May 21, 2024

    The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms

    The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the near future.

  • May 20, 2024

    CoStar, Hotel Giants Defend Benchmarking In Price-Fixing Suit

    CoStar Group Inc. and a contingent of big-name hotels have asked a Washington federal judge to toss an antitrust lawsuit claiming the hotel operators share industry analytics to inflate luxury hotel room prices, arguing the proposed class action is riddled with legal defects.

  • May 20, 2024

    Mich. Town Hit With $5M Suit Over Weed Dispensary Flip-Flop

    A marijuana retail store developer has sued a Michigan township in federal court, alleging the township violated the state's zoning enabling act and cost it more than $5 million by unconstitutionally blocking its special-use permit to develop a dispensary after initially greenlighting the development.

  • May 20, 2024

    10th Circ. Oral Args. Poised To Shape NM Pollution Coverage

    The Tenth Circuit said there were "good arguments on both sides" of an appeal at oral arguments Monday over whether absolute pollution exclusions doomed a New Mexico property owner's quest for defense coverage of underlying contamination litigation, in a case that could set the tone for insurance battles in the state.

  • May 20, 2024

    Mich. Town Can't Block $2B Battery Plant, Judge Rules

    A Michigan federal judge has ordered that Green Charter Township can't prevent Gotion Inc.'s upcoming battery components plant, in which the company plans on investing more than $2 billion, from moving forward.

  • May 20, 2024

    EPA Touts Brownfield Grants In Visit To Polluted Philly Site

    Biden administration officials visited a riverfront site in Philadelphia where the city is using federal support to clean up contamination and add amenities, as they promoted $3 million in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency support to four New Jersey communities.

  • May 20, 2024

    Ga. Court Sends Fatal Restaurant Shooting Suit To Trial

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday said a lawsuit against an Atlanta-area restaurant and its security company over a 2016 shooting on the premises should proceed to trial.

  • May 20, 2024

    Wyndham Wants Out Of Pa. Hotel's Labor Trafficking Case

    Wyndham Hotels & Resorts argued to a federal court Monday it could not be plausibly alleged the chain knew or could have known that its former franchisee at a New Stanton, Pennsylvania, Days Inn was exploiting laborers in a room-for-hire scheme, and so it should be dismissed from the laborers' lawsuit.

Expert Analysis

  • Landlords Should Prep As WeWork Faces Potential Ch. 11

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    After years of financial trouble and the recent announcement that it has substantial doubt that it would be able to continue as a going concern, WeWork may have a bankruptcy filing in its future that would have a significant impact on landlords and other stakeholders who are owed money by the company, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Identifying Trends And Tips In Litigation Financing Disclosure

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    Growing interest and controversy in litigation financing raise several salient concerns, but exploring recent compelled disclosure trends from courts around the country can help practitioners further their clients' interests, say Sean Callagy and Samuel Sokolsky at Arnold & Porter.

  • Key Drivers Behind Widespread Adoption Of NAV Financing

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    While net asset value-based lending has existed for years, NAV lending has only started to move into the mainstream recently — likely due to difficult market conditions faced by sponsors including persistent inflation, high interest rates and a lack of exit opportunities, say Matthew Kerfoot and Jinyoung Joo at Proskauer.

  • Conn. Ruling Highlights Keys To Certificate-Of-Need Appeals

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    The Connecticut Supreme Court's recent decision in High Watch Recovery Center v. Department of Public Health, rejecting rigid application of statutes concerning certificate-of-need procedure, provides important guidance on building an administrative record to support a finding that a case is contested, say attorneys at Robinson & Cole.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Elrod On 'Jury Duty'

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    Though the mockumentary series “Jury Duty” features purposely outrageous characters, it offers a solemn lesson about the simple but brilliant design of the right to trial by jury, with an unwitting protagonist who even John Adams may have welcomed as an impartial foreperson, says Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Elrod.

  • Pickleball Makes Waves In Fla. Real Estate, With Risks In Play

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    Pickleball's burgeoning popularity in Florida is catalyzing a transformation in the state's commercial real estate market, but investors must take steps to navigate legal challenges related to noise, insurance and community dynamics, says Emmanuelle Litvinov at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Business-Building Strategies For Introvert Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Introverted lawyers can build client bases to rival their extroverted peers’ by adapting time-tested strategies for business development that can work for any personality — such as claiming a niche, networking for maximum impact, drawing on existing contacts and more, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • What Calif. Pot Permit Ruling Means For Enviro Compliance

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    While a California appeals court's recent decision in Lucas v. City of Pomona affirms the city's use of a statutory exemption for its commercial cannabis overlay permit program, the ruling does not mean that all applicants seeking similar approvals are exempted from state environmental compliance obligations, say Whitney Hodges and Barbara Machado at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Rare Reg A+ Fines Reflect New Era Of SEC Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent announcement of civil penalties against 10 microcap companies for violations of Regulation A+ shows that as the SEC continues to expand its enforcement efforts, its focus remains on protecting investors of all sizes — including those investing in the historically less-scrutinized Reg A+ issuers, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Factors To Consider When Structuring Data Center Contracts

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    Data center leases and service agreements grant very similar rights and impose similar obligations, but they also hold notable differences and a range of factors that are important to consider when selecting which form of agreement to use, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Rethinking Mich. Slip-And-Fall Defense After Top Court Ruling

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    The Michigan Supreme Court recently overturned three decades of premises liability jurisprudence by ruling that the open and obvious danger defense is no longer part of a traditional duty analysis, posing the question of whether landowners will ever again win on a motion for summary dismissal, say John Stiglich and Meriam Choulagh at Wilson Elser.

  • Subchapter V Eligibility Ruling Raises Uncertainty For Tenants

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    A Virginia bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Macedon Consulting — that all remaining rent under a lease should be factored into a lessee's Subchapter V eligibility — raises the question, but does not address, how a court should calculate the amount of debt owed under a lease, creating significant risk for potential tenant debtors, says Sam Ashuraey at Ashuraey Law.

  • Parsing Tax Implications Of NYC Office Leasing Transactions

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    Though New York City's tax laws generally do not require negotiated contractual risk allocation in the case of sublease and early lease termination transactions, it is still helpful for counsel to both landlords and tenants to understand the laws' nuances, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.