Commercial
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May 14, 2024
Cos. Ask NY Court To Invalidate 100s Of Pot Licenses
New York state's beleaguered cannabis oversight agency has been hit with another lawsuit, this one seeking to invalidate hundreds of retail licenses that regulators issued to those most directly affected by the enforcement of marijuana prohibition laws.
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May 14, 2024
Property Deals See More Scrutiny As Tip Sparks Forced Sale
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is likely this year to look at additional real estate deals near government property, experts told Law360 Tuesday, a day after the White House ordered a real property divestment near a Wyoming Air Force base following national security concerns.
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May 14, 2024
Goldman Sachs Secures $7B For Real Estate Credit Investing
Goldman Sachs Alternatives pulled in more than $7 billion in its latest credit-focused fund and related investment vehicles, as the firm goes after financing opportunities in dislocated real estate markets across the world.
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May 14, 2024
Feds Dodge Salt Lake City's Suit Over $1B Gondola Plan
A Utah federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the federal government from a Salt Lake City lawsuit challenging federal approvals of a $1 billion plan to address traffic congestion by building the world's longest gondola.
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May 14, 2024
Tenn. Judge Wants Default Win For Bank But No Atty Fees
A Tennessee magistrate judge recommended partially granting a default judgment win to a bank suing a Florida-based developer accused of defaulting on about $15.3 million in loans, but also suggested denying the bank attorney fees.
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May 14, 2024
Polsinelli Grows With 2 CMBS Experts From Kilpatrick
Polsinelli PC has brought on two shareholders in Florida and North Carolina from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, bolstering the firm's real estate finance and financial services offerings, according to a Tuesday announcement.
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May 14, 2024
London-Based Legal Recruiter Opens 1st US Shop In Miami
London-based legal recruiting firm Buchanan Law announced Tuesday that it is opening its first U.S. location and second shop overall in Miami, touting the city's status as a principal hub for the country's East Coast legal industry.
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May 13, 2024
REIT Inks Deal To End Investors' Board Takeover Bid
Presidio Property Trust has agreed to nominate one new director to its board, ending a Zuma Capital Management-led investor group's bid to replace five of the real estate investment trust's six board members, in a deal guided by three law firms.
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May 13, 2024
Petersen Health Receivership Deal Draws US Trustee Concern
Senior living chain Petersen Health Care Monday told a Delaware bankruptcy judge it has struck a deal to resolve the status of a number of its facilities that are in receivership, but the U.S. Trustee's Office said the deal may bend the Bankruptcy Code too far.
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May 13, 2024
NJ Justices Hold Contract Supersedes Real Estate Wage Law
The contract a real estate agent signed deeming him an independent contractor is enough to resolve his claims of improper wage deductions, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday, saying that a state three-prong test doesn't need to apply.
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May 13, 2024
White House Bars Real Estate Deal Near Air Force Base
President Joe Biden is ordering a recent purchaser of real estate near an Air Force base in Wyoming to sell portions of the property, based on a public tip and a finding from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that cryptocurrency mining there presents a national security risk.
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May 13, 2024
Nursing Home Says Buyer's Lease Silence Endangers Future
An Ohio-based nursing home operator claimed Monday that its Pickaway County nursing home is in "imminent danger" because the company's owners are threatening the licensing and management of the nursing home by refusing to acknowledge terminated leases and not making the transition to a new lessee and operator.
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May 13, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Dylan Chan Law Firm, Norris McLaughlin and Morgan Lewis are among the law firms that grabbed work on the largest New York City real estate deals to hit public records last week, a slow period that saw only three deeds above the $15 million mark become public.
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May 13, 2024
Colliers Says Outer Boroughs Industrial Leases Jumped In Q1
Industrial leasing in New York City's outer boroughs picked up in the first quarter, with a film studio leasing in central Queens leading the way, according to an analysis from Colliers.
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May 10, 2024
Vegas Hotels, Software Cos. Escape Price-Algorithm Suit
A Nevada federal judge has permanently tossed a proposed class action that accused two software companies and multiple hotel operators of using an algorithm software in a price-fixing scheme for hotel room prices on the Las Vegas Strip.
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May 10, 2024
Boston's Industrial Market Seeing Vacancies Rise
The vacancy rate of metropolitan Boston's industrial sector rose to 9.8% in 2024's first quarter, which is four percentage points higher than the rate seen at the end of 2021, Colliers reported Friday.
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May 10, 2024
Disney World's Lone Independent Resort Gets $734M Refi
JLL's hotels and hospitality group said Friday that it had arranged a $735 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan to refinance the Walt Disney Co.'s Swan & Dolphin resort, a 2,619-key property adjacent to theme parks in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
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May 10, 2024
Activist Blasts REIT Buybacks, Hotel Sale During Proxy Fight
Activist investor Blackwells Capital LLC has sharply criticized a plan by Braemar Hotels & Resorts to sell a California hotel for $165 million and use part of the proceeds for share buybacks as Blackwells is pressuring shareholders to shake up the board of the real estate investment trust at an upcoming meeting.
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May 10, 2024
Ex-Wife's Deal With Dallas CRE Firm Ends Kickback Claims
The former wife of Dallas commercial real estate executive Clifford Fischer has agreed to drop a federal lawsuit accusing Fischer and members of an advisory board to his company of running a scheme to pay themselves unspecified millions in illegal kickbacks for business referrals.
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May 10, 2024
NY Judge Won't Toss Lender's Win In 3M Campus Suit
A New York federal judge refused to reconsider a lender's victory over a loan guarantor who allegedly owed payments for a $64 million loan related to 3M's now-foreclosed Austin, Texas, campus, but found the billing too high when determining attorney fees.
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May 10, 2024
3 Takeaways From The Real Deal's New York City Forum
Industry professionals at The Real Deal's New York City Real Estate Forum this year aired a lot of grievances about housing and development policies in the Big Apple and Empire State, though panels also touched on a major problem facing lenders.
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May 10, 2024
Simpson Thacher, Sheppard Mullin Guide $246M NYC Deal
Blackstone affiliates offloaded 21 properties surrounding New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Terreno Realty Corp. in a $246 million deal guided by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
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May 10, 2024
3 Firms Advise On $250M Great Wolf Waterpark Financing
VICI Properties Inc. said Friday it has originated a $250 million mezzanine loan as part of $1.5 billion in financing to waterpark operator Great Wolf Resorts Inc., in a transaction advised by Hogan Lovells, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP.
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May 09, 2024
10th Circ. Appeal May Expand Pollution Coverage In NM
The Tenth Circuit will hear oral arguments May 20 to determine whether absolute pollution exclusions doom a New Mexico property owner's quest for $120,000 in defense coverage in a case attorneys say could determine the future of such environmental coverage in the state.
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May 09, 2024
Vinson-Led EnCap Lands $1.5B For Energy Transition Fund
Vinson & Elkins LLP advised EnCap Investments LP on a $1.5 billion fund that seeks to invest in projects meant to decarbonize the power industry, as well as in low-carbon fuels and other green ventures.
Expert Analysis
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5th Circ. Offers Expert Opinion Guidance For Insurance Cases
A recent Fifth Circuit decision in Majestic Oil v. Lloyd's of London provides insight into how Texas' concurrent causation doctrine could affect insurance cases where the cause of damage is at issue, and raises considerations for litigants faced with new or revised expert reports after the deadline has passed, say Brian Scarbrough and Cianan Lesley at Jenner & Block.
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Every Lawyer Can Act To Prevent Peer Suicide
Members of the legal industry can help prevent suicide among their colleagues, and better protect their own mental health, by learning the predictors and symptoms of depression among attorneys and knowing when and how to get practical aid to peers in crisis, says Joan Bibelhausen at Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
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FTC Proposal Greatly Widens Auto-Renewal Regulation
The Federal Trade Commission's proposed rule on automatic renewal subscriptions would impose significant new obligations on sellers of negative option plans and expand the agency's enforcement powers, likely requiring companies to examine and change their practices, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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Now Is The Time For Independent Industry Self-Regulation
The high level of trust in business, coupled with the current political and legal landscape, provides an opportunity for companies to play a meaningful role in finding solutions to public policy issues through the exploration of independent industry self-regulation models, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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Do Videoconferences Establish Jurisdiction With Defendants?
What it means to have minimum contacts in a foreign jurisdiction is changing as people become more accustomed to meeting via video, and defendants’ participation in videoconferencing may be used as a sword or a shield in courts’ personal jurisdiction analysis, says Patrick Hickey at Moye White.
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Humanism Should Replace Formalism In The Courts
The worrying tendency for judges to say "it's just the law talking, not me" in American decision writing has coincided with an historic decline in respect for the courts, but this trend can be reversed if courts develop understandable legal standards and justify them in human terms, says Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.
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20 Years On, Campbell Holds Lessons On Reining In Ratios
Twenty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in State Farm v. Campbell provided critical guidance on the constitutionally permissible ratio of punitive to compensatory damages — and both Campbell and subsequent federal circuit court decisions informed by it offer important pointers for defendants, say attorneys at Dechert.
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How Bank Turmoil Is Affecting Real Estate Purchases, Sales
The new uncertainty in the availability of financing from bank lenders that were previously considered "money good," spurred by the bank crisis, has inserted a wrinkle in the commercial real estate market that alters some of the dynamics between a buyer and seller, says Simran Bindra at Thompson Coburn.
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Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy
As clients increasingly impose requirements for attorney hiring and retention related to diversity and secondment, law firms must remember their ethical duties, as well as broader issues of lawyer development, culture and firm integrity, to maintain their independence while meaningfully responding to social changes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
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How CMS Proposal Would Change PE Deal Transparency
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently proposed a new rule that would require the disclosure of additional ownership regarding Medicare and Medicaid nursing facilities, an approach that many states have started to take and reflects the Biden administration's scrutiny on private equity deals, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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How Cannabis Cos. Can Comply With NJ Industrial Site Law
As New Jersey’s recreational cannabis market flourishes, manufacturers that may be subject to a state environmental law must take extra precautions to mitigate potential liabilities and costs, including for historical contamination, says Matthew Karmel at Offit Kurman.
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IRS' Cost Method Update Is Favorable For RE Developers
The Internal Revenue Service's recent update to its alternative cost method will allow real estate developers to accelerate their cost recovery of improvements in certain circumstances and make it easier for practitioners to satisfy the method's tax compliance requirements, says Benjamin Oklan at Weil.
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Federal Judge's Amici Invitation Is A Good Idea, With Caveats
An Arkansas federal judge’s recent order — inviting amicus briefs in every civil case before him — has merit, but its implementation may raise practical questions about the role of junior attorneys, economic considerations and other issues, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.