Residential
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June 05, 2024
Colo. To Exempt Modular Homes From Sales Tax
Colorado will exempt new modular home sales from state tax under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.
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June 05, 2024
'Le Penthouse' Owner Files For Ch. 11 With $66M In Debt
The owner of "Le Penthouse," known as one of the most expensive New York City condominiums, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Manhattan bankruptcy court with $66.5 million in debt and a plan to sell off its properties including the penthouse.
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June 04, 2024
Judge Frets Nursing Home Co. LaVie $20M DIP Too Low
A Georgia bankruptcy judge on Tuesday gave interim approval to customary first-day motions and a $20 million debtor-in-possession loan for bankrupt nursing home operator LaVie Care Centers LLC.
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June 04, 2024
Miami Board Opposes Tower Amid Land Use Law Concerns
The design review committee for Miami's Wynwood neighborhood voted Tuesday against a 48-story mixed-use development proposed in the area, pushing back on the application, which makes use of a sweeping new Florida land use law for workforce housing.
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June 04, 2024
HUD Kicks Off Manufactured Housing Financing Program
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a federally insured financing option for buying, revitalizing and refinancing manufactured housing communities in order to provide an alternative that doesn't involve private equity funds purchasing those communities, HUD announced Tuesday.
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June 04, 2024
Meet The Attorneys Guiding Nursing Home Co. LaVie's Ch. 11
A team of attorneys from McDermott Will & Emery LLP is guiding nursing home operator LaVie Care Centers LLC through its Chapter 11 case in Georgia.
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June 04, 2024
Albany Passes Good Cause Eviction, Again
The Albany Common Council has voted to opt New York's capital city in to the state's good cause eviction law, after the city's earlier attempt was struck down by a state judge.
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June 04, 2024
LA Landfill Owner Faces Suits Over Foul Fumes, Runoff
Some 800 people near a waste dump in Los Angeles County sued its operator for damages, alleging the company is liable for a smoldering underground fire at the site — the county's second-largest landfill — that has spewed toxic gas into the air for the last year, as well as geyser-like eruptions of polluted water from the ground.
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June 04, 2024
CFPB Cautions Firms Against Contractual 'Fine Print Tactic'
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday warned banks and other financial services firms against trying to "trick" consumers with unenforceable waivers in their customer contracts, saying their use of certain contractual terms and conditions can open them up to supervisory or enforcement action.
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June 04, 2024
Property Company Must Face Ex-Manager's Race Bias Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge denied a real estate firm's effort to take an early win over a discrimination and retaliation suit brought by one of its Black former property managers, ruling that there are still too many open questions about the worker's treatment as she oversaw a problem-ridden Ohio apartment complex.
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June 04, 2024
Developer, Buyer Settle $10M Miami Condo Dispute
A German citizen and a developer have settled their dispute over a $9.6 million deal to buy a highly customized duplex condominium unit in a new Miami high rise, according to a notice filed in Florida federal court Monday.
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June 04, 2024
Experian Accuses Firms Of Fake Mortgage Denial Scheme
Credit reporting law firm Stein Saks PLLC headed up a nationwide scheme to "extort" Experian into settling "sham" lawsuits by consumers through creating fake credit denial letters in order to inflate damages and bolster their consumers' suits, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the credit reporting agency.
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June 04, 2024
Troutman Real Estate Ace Rejoins Morris Manning In Atlanta
Morris Manning & Martin LLP announced Tuesday that an attorney who left the firm as an associate for Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP a little over a year ago has rejoined the firm in Atlanta as a partner in its real estate practice.
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June 04, 2024
Simpson Reps Frontdoor On $585M Home Warranty Co. Buy
Simpson Thacher is representing Frontdoor Inc. on a newly inked deal to buy fellow home warranties provider 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, guided by Ropes & Gray, for $585 million in cash, according to a statement Tuesday.
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June 04, 2024
11th Circ. Affirms Nix Of IRS Easement Disclosure Guidance
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Tuesday that an Internal Revenue Service notice imposing reporting requirements on potentially abusive conservation easements was invalid because the agency failed to solicit the public feedback required by administrative law.
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June 04, 2024
Colo. Orders Disclosure Of Info On Local Property Tax Levies
Local jurisdictions in Colorado will be required to provide certain information about their property tax levies under legislation signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
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June 03, 2024
PacifiCorp To Pay $178M To 400 Oregonians Over Fires
PacifiCorp has agreed to pay $178 million to more than 400 Oregon residents affected by a cluster of wildfires that burned more than a million acres of land on Labor Day 2020 amid dangerously dry and windy weather conditions, the utility announced Monday.
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June 03, 2024
Treasury Aims To Salvage Corp. Transparency Act At 11th Circ.
The Corporate Transparency Act is a valid exercise of congressional authority to curb money laundering under the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution, the U.S. Treasury Department told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday in a bid to restore the law's reporting requirements.
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June 03, 2024
Corcoran Settles Nonprofit's Housing Voucher Bias Suit
A housing rights nonprofit has agreed to drop its housing voucher bias claims against real estate company Corcoran Group, which was accused in New York state court of discriminating against prospective tenants who use federal Housing Choice vouchers.
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June 03, 2024
Title Insurer Says Ga. Firm Must Repay $158K For Deed Error
A title insurance company said a Georgia law firm must reimburse it $158,000 for negligently issuing a title insurance policy on a real estate closing, telling a Georgia federal court that it is entitled to contractual and common law indemnity for its losses.
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June 03, 2024
'Luxury' Wasn't Part Of Mansion Deal, 3rd Circ. Told
An attorney for a luxury home-building company asked the Third Circuit on Monday to throw out a six-figure judgment against the company for allegedly falling short on its promise to construct a high-end house for two Western Pennsylvania homeowners, arguing the customers' suit was not based on promises made in the contract but on vague marketing statements.
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June 03, 2024
RI Panel OKs Providence Unrestricted Property Tax Rates
Rhode Island would allow the city of Providence to adopt a classification system that allows for unrestricted tax rates for the city's property classes under a bill moved to the Senate floor for consideration.
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June 03, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Dylan Chan Law Firm and Kevin Kerveng Tung were among the law firms that guided the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw six transactions above the $15 million mark become public.
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June 03, 2024
Conn. City Settles Suits Over Fatal Rooming House Fire
The city of New Haven, Connecticut, has settled lawsuits by the families of two tenants who died attempting to rescue others from a 2019 house fire after officials failed to inspect and vacate the two-story house where 20 people were living, the estates' attorneys have confirmed.
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June 03, 2024
Quarles & Brady Adds Real Estate Atty In Naples, Fla.
Quarles & Brady said it has added a senior counsel in its real estate practice group to its Naples office from Kilinski Van Wyk.
Expert Analysis
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Lawyer Discernment Is Critical In The World Of AI
In light of growing practical concerns about risks and challenges posed by artificial intelligence, lawyers' experience with the skill of discernment will position them to help address new ethical and moral dilemmas and ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a way that benefits society as a whole, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
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Don't Forget Alumni Engagement When Merging Law Firms
Neglecting law firm alumni programs after a merger can sever the deep connections attorneys have with their former firms, but by combining good data management and creating new opportunities to reconnect, firms can make every member in their expanded network of colleagues feel valued, say Clare Roath and Erin Warner at Troutman Pepper.
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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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Issues For Housing Credit Investors Following Bank Failures
Amid the uncertainty caused by the bank failures last month, low-income housing tax credit investors may want to revisit underwriting criteria for their equity guarantors and certain provisions under their partnership agreements, say Brad Butler and Maci Followell at Frost Brown.
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10th Circ. Ruling Could Gut Homeowners' Ch. 13 Safety Net
The Tenth Circuit’s recent ruling in Doll v. Goodman could spell the end of Chapter 13 protection for consumers in a number of states, and if the decision is replicated in other circuits, homeowners across the country could lose their homes for lack of a viable bankruptcy administration, says former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Catherine Bauer, now at Signature Resolution.
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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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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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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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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.
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Fox Ex-Producer Case Is A Lesson In Joint Representation
A former Fox News producer's allegations that the network's lawyers pressured her to give misleading testimony in Fox's defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems should remind lawyers representing a nonparty witness that the rules of joint representation apply, says Jared Marx at HWG.