More Real Estate Coverage

Expert Analysis

• New Pa. DEP Fill Material Policy Increases Project Complexity

  

  The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's new fill management policy affects, among others, real estate developers, land owners, railroads and public utilities, and will increase the time and effort necessary to determine whether fill material qualifies as clean fill, says Michael Meloy of Manko Gold.

• Pipeline Projects Face New Questions On Landowner Rights

  

  The tension between the rights of landowners and pipeline developers has come to a head in two federal appellate courts and a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announcement, muddling the historical clarity of Natural Gas Act eminent domain authority, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

• 2 Del. Decisions Call Out Conflicted Controlling Stockholders

  

  In Tornetta v. Musk and the BGC Partners Derivative Litigation, the Delaware Chancery Court has reaffirmed that concerns over controlling stockholders may be valid even when the controller didn't intend to exercise coercive influence, independent directors negotiated a transaction, or stockholders approved the transaction, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

• Midstream Agreements Can Still 'Run With The Land'

  

  Colorado's federal bankruptcy court recently held that a gas gathering and processing agreement and a salt water disposal agreement were "covenants running with the land," and were not extinguished through a bankruptcy sale. The ruling is welcome news for upstream and midstream companies in the oil and gas space, say attorneys at Davis Graham.

• How New York Crafted Its Own Green New Deal: Part 3

  

  There may be reason to doubt the feasibility of some of the ambitious goals that New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act sets for emissions reductions and renewable energy production, and the state's ability to completely transform its electricity and transportation sectors, say attorneys with Vinson & Elkins.

• How New York Crafted Its Own Green New Deal: Part 2

  

  New York state's recently enacted Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act lays out ambitious energy production and emissions goals and an aggressive timeline for achieving them — but does not mandate any particular strategies for doing so, say attorneys with Vinson & Elkins.

• How New York Crafted Its Own Green New Deal: Part 1

  

  New York state's recently enacted Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act is aggressive, extraordinary and far-reaching in its aims, but its ultimate effects on the energy, transportation and real estate industries are in many ways still uncertain, say attorneys at Vinson & Elkins.

• Utilities Need Timely Project Review For Reliable Service

  

  National Parks Conservation Association v. Semonite, in which a Virginia utility faces possibly having to dismantle a previously approved transmission line due to drawn-out litigation, points to the need for time limits on court review of infrastructure projects, say Alan Seltzer and John Povilaitis of Buchanan Ingersoll.

• Legal Options For Pipeline Companies Stymied By Tree-Sitters

  

  While a Virginia federal judge recently rejected efforts by Mountain Valley Pipeline to join two unnamed tree-sitters as defendants in a Natural Gas Act eminent domain action, the court's opinion points toward other remedies available to pipeline companies facing tree-sitter obstruction, says Arthur Schmalz of Hunton.

• 2nd Circ.'s Seminal Rejection Of FCPA Conviction Challenge

  

  With United States v. Seng, the Second Circuit became the first federal appellate court to reject a challenge — per the Supreme Court's decision in McDonnell v. United States — to a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act conviction, sending an important message to companies attempting to comply with the expansive anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.

• Superfund Redevelopment At 20: Continuing Challenges

  

  Even as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Redevelopment Initiative celebrates its 20th anniversary, two key barriers to success remain, and are unlikely to change — the program’s chronic underfunding and the statute’s unforgiving liability scheme, says Linda Larson of Nossaman.

• The Eminent Domain Consequences Of Knick Ruling

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Knick v. Township of Scott is unlikely to cause a flood of federal takings lawsuits in Georgia and the Carolinas, but it may bring other eminent domain considerations for state and local governments, say attorneys at Parker Poe.

• Climate Change And Insurance: Insurers' Subrogation Claims

  

  Once the litigation floodgates open for property damage lawsuits against greenhouse gas polluters, a second wave of subrogation claims brought by first-party property insurers is likely to follow, say José Umbert and Jason Reeves of Zelle.