More Real Estate Coverage
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January 12, 2024
DOI Rule Aimed At Easing Tribal Land Trust Delays Is In Effect
A newly implemented rule will streamline the application process for Native American tribes asking the government to take land into trust by extensively cutting down the wait time for a decision and making the entire proceeding less expensive, the U.S. Department of the Interior said.
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January 12, 2024
Coalition Sues Feds Over Sediment Diversion Project In La.
A coalition of oyster fishers and growers and environmentalists is asking a Louisiana federal judge to overturn approvals for a major sediment diversion project that aims to address erosion, subsidence and sea level rise in the Barataria Basin south of New Orleans, claiming federal agencies botched their environmental reviews.
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January 12, 2024
Skadden, Fried Frank Guide BlackRock On $12.5B GIP Buy
BlackRock has agreed to purchase Global Infrastructure Partners for about $12.5 billion in a cash-and-stock deal that aims to capitalize on growing long-term infrastructure investment opportunities and is intended to create "the world's premier infrastructure investment firm," the New York City-based firms said Friday.
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January 11, 2024
Colo. Judge Splits Class Cert In HomeAdvisor Fraud Row
A Colorado federal judge ruled a group of service professionals can't sue HomeAdvisor as a class over claims the online marketplace sent them "bogus" home repair job leads, according to an order that certified a class for other allegations that the site has failed to take down profiles for professionals who are no longer paying members.
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January 11, 2024
Tribal Biz Wants Calif. DA Barred From Wrecking Greenhouses
A business owned by a tribal conglomerate led by the Crow Tribe of Montana asked a California federal judge Wednesday to bar San Bernardino County officials from entering property it acquired and destroying greenhouses based on their use in an illegal cannabis operation run by the tenants of a prior owner.
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January 11, 2024
Suit Aims To Protect Candy Darter From Coal Hauling In W.Va.
Conservation groups are suing the U.S. Forest Service, claiming its decision to let a mining company haul coal and equipment through part of the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia is imperiling an exceptional watershed and endangered species, including a colorfully striped fish, the candy darter.
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January 11, 2024
Tenn. Bill Would Boost Ag Land Eligible For Less Property Tax
Tennessee would more than triple the amount of land within a property tax jurisdiction that may be classified as agricultural, forest or open-space land and subject to a lower tax assessment under a bill introduced in the state Senate.
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January 11, 2024
Fla.'s Shubin Law Expands To Tampa After Co-Founder's Split
Shubin Law Group PA, formerly known as Shubin & Bass, revealed this week the firm bolstered its South Florida presence by adding a new partner with decades of experience in the region to helm a new Tampa office, shortly after one of its co-founders left to launch another practice of his own.
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January 10, 2024
WWII, Vietnam Vets Tell Jury PacifiCorp Fires Razed Homes
Following a $90 million class verdict against utility PacifiCorp over a cluster of Labor Day 2020 fires in Oregon, jurors heard individual damages testimony Wednesday from a 101-year-old World War II combat veteran and a Vietnam War combat veteran who lost homes in the fires.
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January 10, 2024
Ill. City May Be Liable In Own Pollution Suit Against Metal Co.
An Illinois federal judge has allowed a counterclaim by a scrap metal recycling company to move forward against the city of Aurora, Illinois, seeking to hold the city at least partially responsible for environmental contamination around the recycling operation.
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January 10, 2024
10th Circ. Urged To Keep National Monuments Designation
Native American tribes and environmental organizations have urged the Tenth Circuit to uphold a lower court decision dismissing Utah and other groups' challenge to President Joe Biden's redesignation of large swaths of the state as part of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
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January 10, 2024
Wash. Judge Calls Eviction Protection Ruling 'Disturbing'
A day after a Washington appellate court panel said the CARES Act's eviction notice requirement applies beyond late-rent cases, another judge on the court reviewing a separate eviction suggested Wednesday the ruling could lead to "disturbing" consequences if landlords aren't allowed to quickly evict violent tenants.
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January 10, 2024
Native Owners Again Seek To Intervene In ND Pipeline Row
A group of North Dakota tribal landowners with property alongside a gas and oil pipeline are asking a federal district court to allow them to intervene in litigation over right of way trespassing claims through the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, saying the federal government is only trying to protect its own interests in forthcoming breach of trust claims against it.
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January 10, 2024
EPA's Water Leader To Step Down After Busy Tenure
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water office on Wednesday said she'll be stepping down at the end of February, after three years leading the office through a multibillion-dollar infusion and several high profile rulemaking efforts.
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January 10, 2024
Montana Camp Must Pay $1M Bond To Stay Tribal Lease Order
A Montana campground operator must post a $1 million surety bond to allow a stay to remain in place while it appeals a ruling to the Ninth Circuit in favor of the Blackfeet Nation in an ongoing land lease dispute, a federal district court judge said, determining that the company presented a "substantial case for relief on the merits."
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January 10, 2024
Md. Real Estate Co. Sued For $10M Over $2.5M Loan
A lender has hit a Maryland real estate company and two of its officers with a more than $10 million suit alleging that the company misused a $2.5 million loan to pay off debts instead of renovating multiple Maryland properties for resale.
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January 09, 2024
Fed. Circ. Splits In Affirming Zillow's Patent Win Over IBM
A split Federal Circuit panel on Tuesday backed a lower court's finding that a pair of IBM patents were not valid under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice test, handing a win to Zillow, which had been accused of infringing the patents with its real estate website and app.
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January 09, 2024
71-Year-Old CPA Sentenced To 25 Years In $1.3B Tax Case
An accountant blamed by federal prosecutors for pioneering the use of conservation easements as illegal tax shelters was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday following his conviction on all counts of a $1.3 billion tax fraud scheme that drew the first criminal prosecution of its kind.
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January 09, 2024
Minn. Justices Question Denial Of Housing Charity Tax Break
The Minnesota Supreme Court questioned arguments by the state's largest county Tuesday that low-income housing owned by a charitable nonprofit was not exempt from property taxation because the occupancy by the tenants did not further the organization's charitable purpose.
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January 09, 2024
NJ Revises Process For Valuation Of Farmland Easements
New Jersey revised its process for determining the value of farmland and development easements on farmland intended to be acquired for preservation purposes under a bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy.
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January 08, 2024
Wash. Marketing Co. Looks To Escape Timeshare Class Action
A marketing firm connected with financial planning celebrity Dave Ramsey has urged a Washington federal judge to free it from a proposed class action accusing it of falsely promoting a timeshare-exit company, saying a decision in another suit prohibits any judgment against it.
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January 08, 2024
Feds Want Decades For Atty, CPA Convicted In $1.3B Tax Case
An attorney and an accountant found guilty by a jury of selling $1.3 billion in fraudulent tax deductions in connection with conservation easements should spend decades behind bars, federal prosecutors told a Georgia federal court in advance of their Tuesday sentencing hearings.
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January 08, 2024
Tulsa Has Interest In Prosecuting Native Crimes, Officials Say
The city of Tulsa has a strong interest in enforcing criminal law within its boundaries, its officials said, arguing that concurrent jurisdiction with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation over Native Americans who commit crimes within its boundaries is "paramount" to the Oklahoma tribe's safety.
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January 05, 2024
Minn. County Accuses Feds Of Illegally Taking Land For Tribe
A Minnesota county has sued the U.S. government in federal court, claiming the Interior Board of Indian Appeals wrongly allowed it to accept about 3,238 acres of land into trust for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians and has threatened the county's tax revenue.
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January 05, 2024
Biden Admin Floats New Natural Resource Damage Rule
An "inefficient and inflexible" rule intended to facilitate settlements that pay for environmental damage resulting from pollution would be streamlined under a new rule proposed Friday by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Expert Analysis
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IRS Starts Clock On Energy Projects' Labor Rule Exemption
A U.S. Department of the Treasury notice published this week started the 60-day clock for clean energy projects seeking to be grandfathered from having to meet new labor requirements to qualify for enhanced tax credits, and uncertainty about how the provisions will apply should be incentive for some investors to begin construction soon, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Law Schools Are Right To Steer Clear Of US News Rankings
By opting out of participating in the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings, law schools abandon a profoundly flawed system and free up their resources to adapt to the tsunami of changes overtaking the profession, says Nicholas Allard at Jacksonville University College of Law.
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Litigation Funders Seek Transparency In Disclosure Debate
Litigation funders want to correct the record on calls for funding disclosure in the name of transparency, as this purported justification obscures the disclosure's adverse effects — prejudicing plaintiffs' cases and discouraging the assertion of meritorious legal claims, say Dai Wai Chin Feman and William Weisman at Parabellum Capital.
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5 Principles For Better Professional Development Programs
The pandemic and ensuing "great resignation" have resulted in a more transient legal work force, but law firms can use effective professional development programs to bridge a cultural gap with new associates and stem associate attrition, says Matthew Woods at Robins Kaplan.
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My Favorite Law Prof: How I Learned To Practice With Passion
First Circuit Judge Gustavo Gelpí recalls how Suffolk University Law School's Joseph Glannon taught the importance of the law as both a tool and a profession, and that those who wish to practice law successfully must do so with love, enthusiasm and passion.
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ESA Listing Change Shows Conservation Partnership Benefits
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recent decision to narrow the range of the gopher tortoise’s Endangered Species Act status demonstrates that public-private voluntary conservation partnerships can help leverage landowners' knowledge of their working lands to the benefit of species, the ecosystem and the landowners, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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State-Led Programs Can Speed Up Brownfield Development
Too often, publicly funded brownfields programs are not optimized to achieve redevelopment in the near term, but policymakers can address this problem by directing additional resources toward state-level brownfields programs that offer thoughtfully designed tax incentives and liability protection, says Gerald Pouncey at Morris Manning.
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Questions To Ask Before Making A Lateral Move As Partner
Law firm partners considering lateral moves should diligently interview prospects — going beyond standard questions about compensation to inquire about culture, associate retention and other areas that can provide a more comprehensive view, says Lauren Wu at VOYLegal.
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My Favorite Law Prof: How I Learned To Argue Open-Mindedly
Queens College President Frank Wu reflects on how Yale Kamisar’s teaching and guidance at the University of Michigan Law School emphasized a capacity to engage with alternative worldviews and the importance of the ability to argue for both sides of a debate.
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Outlook For Offshore Wind Development In The Gulf Of Mexico
Jana Grauberger and Stephen Wiegand at Liskow & Lewis discuss the current status of wind development in the Gulf of Mexico and the qualification requirements for holding offshore wind leases, and look ahead to potential effects that the Inflation Reduction Act may have on the offshore wind leasing timeline.
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ABA's No-Contact Rule Advice Raises Questions For Lawyers
The American Bar Association's ethics committee recently issued two opinions concerning the no-contact rule — one creates an intuitive and practical default for electronic communications, while the other sets a potential trap for pro se lawyers, say Lauren Snyder and Deepika Ravi at HWG.
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4 Key Skills For An Effective Attorney Coaching Conversation
As BigLaw firms are increasingly offering internal coaching as one of many talent strategies to stem ongoing lawyer attrition, Stacey Schwartz at Katten discusses how coaches can help attorneys achieve their goals.
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How Civilian Attorneys Can Help Veterans
With legal aid topping the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' annual list of unmet needs of veterans facing housing insecurity, nonmilitary volunteer attorneys can provide some of the most effective legal services to military and veteran clients, say Anna Richardson at Veterans Legal Services and Nicholas Hasenfus at Holland & Knight.