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  • October 18, 2024

    Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms

    The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.

  • October 18, 2024

    Timeshare Co. Preyed On Fla. Servicemember, High Court Told

    A Florida U.S. Army soldier and his wife petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review their case against Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited Inc., disputing that his contract isn't legal under the Military Lending Act because the company used predatory tactics to sell him a timeshare.

  • October 18, 2024

    Cos. Say Brokerage Startup's NAR Listing Rules Suit Is Stale

    HomeServices of America Inc. and HSF Affiliates LLC told a Utah federal court on Friday to toss a residential brokerage startup's antitrust suit that accused them, multiple brokerages and the National Association of Realtors of conspiring to block the startup from NAR's multiple listing services.

  • October 18, 2024

    Ohio High Court Restores Developer's FHA Penalty Suit

    The Ohio Supreme Court has revived a developer's attempt to recoup some of a Fair Housing Act penalty from franchisees who built inaccessible multifamily housing, finding Friday the lower courts jumped the gun when they found the developer's claims were preempted by the FHA.

  • October 18, 2024

    Enforcers Fight RealPage Transfer Bid In Rent-Fixing Case

    Enforcers urged a North Carolina federal court not to transfer the government's antitrust case against RealPage to the Tennessee court overseeing similar private cases, saying Congress has made it clear that public antitrust actions should not be roped into multidistrict litigation.

  • October 18, 2024

    Judge Excuses Nationwide From Ga. Mold Death Coverage

    A Georgia federal judge found Nationwide Property & Casualty Insurance Co. has no duty to defend an apartment owner from claims in a separate lawsuit alleging the landlord failed to treat black mold or warn a tenant who died of exposure to the infestation.

  • October 18, 2024

    Feds Win 1st Trial In Sprawling NYC Housing Bribery Case

    A former New York City Housing Authority superintendent was convicted of taking bribes to award no-bid contracts, handing federal prosecutors a win in the first trial in a case that saw 70 defendants arrested earlier this year.

  • October 17, 2024

    9th Circ. Upholds Wash. City's Anti-Car Camping Law

    A Ninth Circuit panel has rebuffed a veteran's challenge to a Washington city's ordinance that he says displaced residents living in their vehicles, ruling Oct. 17 that the ordinance does not violate his purported right to intrastate travel, which the judges said may not exist to begin with.

  • October 17, 2024

    Pa. Appeals Court Stops Damaged Philly Building's Demolition

    A Pennsylvania appellate court has tossed a lower court order that required the demolition of a seven-story Philadelphia apartment building that had a partial façade collapse in September 2022.

  • October 17, 2024

    Milton Brings High Insured Costs, Familiar Pressures To Fla.

    While Florida avoided a worst case scenario following Hurricane Milton's landfall, insurance experts say that the high cost of the storm will add familiar pressures to a Florida homeowners insurance market that has been battered for years by storms.

  • October 17, 2024

    NJ Atty Disbarred On Charges Of Stealing Over $600K

    A New Jersey attorney accused of stealing over $600,000 from several clients through fraudulent real estate transactions over the last 10 years has been disbarred in New Jersey state and federal court.

  • October 17, 2024

    5th Circ. Tosses Policyholder's Hurricane Coverage Suit

    The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a National Flood Insurance Program policyholder's suit seeking coverage for at least $100,000 in hurricane damage to a Mississippi beachfront property, saying it was time-barred and failed to allege any extracontractual duties.

  • October 16, 2024

    NYC Condo Building's Revised Ch. 11 Plan Gets Confirmation

    A New York federal bankruptcy judge has confirmed the owner of a Manhattan condominium complex's revised Chapter 11 plan, signing off on the planned restructuring after initially sending it back for revisions in late September, according to a notice filed Wednesday.

  • October 16, 2024

    Hurricanes Stir Questions On 'Acts Of God' In Contracts

    The predictability of extreme weather events is bringing renewed attention to force majeure clauses in real estate contracts and whether incidents like a pair of devastating hurricanes in Florida can really be classified as unforeseeable "act of God" events.

  • October 16, 2024

    Real Estate Lenders Are Borrowers In Debt Funds' Rise

    Private credit may have stepped in to fill the void when banks pulled back significantly from lending to commercial property owners, but that doesn't mean banks have left the picture.

  • October 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Says No Claim For Taking Until Permit Is Denied

    The Eleventh Circuit ruled Wednesday that Fane Lozman — houseboat owner, activist and thorn in the side of the Riviera Beach, Florida, city government — cannot yet bring his claims for a regulatory taking of his property against the city because he has not applied for a permit or zoning variance.

  • October 16, 2024

    Feds Deny That West Bank Sanctions Hamper Free Speech

    The Biden administration rebuffed claims by a group of U.S. and Israeli citizens that a sanctions program covering extremist actors in the Israeli-occupied West Bank restricts their free speech rights, saying that merely opposing U.S. foreign policy goals isn't a sanctionable offense.

  • October 16, 2024

    DC Tenant Atty Says There's No Evidence Of ERAP Fraud

    Washington, D.C., officials recently changed the city's Emergency Rental Assistance Program to address what they called a crisis stemming from some tenants misusing the initiative, but the district hasn't shown evidence of misuse and the updates will likely cause more harm than good, a Legal Aid DC attorney told Law360 Real Estate Authority in an interview.

  • October 16, 2024

    NC Panel Won't Reignite Duke Energy Case Over House Fire

    A split panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals declined to revive a liability suit brought against Duke Energy Corp. and a contractor it hired to install new meters at its customers' homes after one of those contractors allegedly caused a bed to catch fire leading to $130,000 in damage.

  • October 16, 2024

    Dallas Officials OK $54M Townhomes Development Project

    Dallas' City Plan Commission unanimously approved Steinbridge Group's $54 million plans to develop 180 three-bedroom townhomes in the city's Capella Park neighborhood, the real estate development and investment firm announced.

  • October 16, 2024

    Lender To Pay $10M To Settle Birmingham Redlining Claims

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Justice said a mortgage lender the agencies accused of redlining in Birmingham, Alabama, will pay nearly $10 million and open a loan office in a majority-Black neighborhood to resolve the claims.

  • October 16, 2024

    Short Supply Continues To Drive Home Price Growth

    Single-family home prices moderated only slightly in the third quarter of 2024, as tight supply continues to constrain the market even as mortgage rates drop, per Fannie Mae's Home Price Index.

  • October 16, 2024

    Barings Offers $134M Refi For NC Apartment Complex

    Barings has provided a five-year, $134 million loan to refinance the debt for a 283-unit, mixed-use North Carolina apartment complex, the real estate investment management company announced.

  • October 16, 2024

    4th Circ. Affirms Judgment In Foreclosure Bid-Rigging Case

    The Fourth Circuit backed a North Carolina federal court and tossed part of an appeal by a real estate company founder and others of a jury verdict that they rigged bids in foreclosure auctions in violation of state and federal antitrust laws.

  • October 15, 2024

    CFPB Funding Shouldn't Stop Texas' Fraud Suit, Judge Says

    A Houston federal magistrate judge has endorsed allowing the state of Texas to proceed with a real estate fraud suit against land developer Colony Ridge, rejecting objections tied in part to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding from Federal Reserve "earnings."

Expert Analysis

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.

  • SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.

  • 8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For

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    In this article, Jason Lambert at Hill Ward discusses a number of recent bills out of the Florida Legislature targeting construction companies in the Sunshine State that have been sent to the governor for signature, at least some of which will have broad impacts that affected companies should prepare for ahead of the July 1 effective date.

  • Time To Fix NYC's Broken Property Assessment System

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    A New York appellate court's decision to revive Tax Equity Now New York v. City of New York may force the city to revamp its outdated and unfair real estate tax assessment system, which could be fixed with a couple of simple changes, says Seth Feldman at Romer Debbas.

  • Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty

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    Taxpayers considering protective refund claims pending resolution of major questions in tax cases like Moore v. U.S., which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, should understand how doing so may also leave them vulnerable to an excessive refund claim penalty under Internal Revenue Code Section 6676, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in In re: Cortlandt provides guidance on how to calculate a landlord's damages claim when a bankruptcy debtor rejects a lease, changing from an approach that considers the remaining rent due under the lease to one that considers the remaining time, say Bethany Simmons and Noah Weingarten at Loeb & Loeb.

  • Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact

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    A close look at the unique language at issue in Avila v. Biscayne, in which a Florida appellate court deemed a condo termination to be invalid, shows that the case is unlikely to significantly affect other potential terminations, say Barry Lapides and Edward Baker at Berger Singerman.

  • Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s spring 2024 consumer compliance supervisory report found that relatively few institutions had significant consumer compliance issues last year, but the common thread among those that did were inadequacies or failures in disclosures to consumers, says Matthew Hanaghan at Nutter.

  • Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

  • What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers

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    A California appellate court's recent decision in Homeward Opportunities v. Taptelis found that a defaulting borrower could not delay foreclosure with an improperly served notice of pendency of action, but leaves open a possibility for borrowers to delay eviction proceedings merely by filing lawsuits, say Anne Beehler and Krystal Anderson at Holland & Knight.

  • How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction

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    The growing popularity of trends like 3D printing technology and prefabrication in the construction industry have positive ramifications ranging from reducing risks at project sites to streamlining construction schedules, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.