Real Estate

  • October 04, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: Climate Risk, Cooling Mandates, Reuse

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including how climate risk is changing investor behavior, what the hottest summer on record has done for landlord cooling mandates, and why one BigLaw attorney thinks a new bipartisan adaptive reuse bill in Congress could be a boon for rural housing.

  • October 04, 2024

    Martin Selig Fights Founder Deposition In Renovation Bill Suit

    Affiliates of Martin Selig Real Estate told a Washington state court that the company's founding billionaire should not be deposed in a suit brought by a tenant of the Seattle Federal Reserve building over the bill for renovation work at the property.

  • October 04, 2024

    NY State Gives 1,000 Acres Back To Onondaga Nation

    New York's Onondaga Nation has regained 1,000 acres of its ancestral lands in the Tully Valley, making the title transfer one of the largest of its kind by any state, after tribe members have said for decades that the land was unlawfully taken by the federal government in the 18th century.

  • October 04, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen GMB Union sued by the makers of Tetley Tea after a staff walkout in September, boxer Mike Tyson hit with legal action from a marketing company and the Met Police face a misuse of private data claim from a woman who had a relationship with an undercover police officer. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • October 04, 2024

    Ore. Court Reverses Transfer Of Pot Facility's Tax Account

    A property tax account for the interior improvements in an Oregon warehouse leased to a marijuana grower was improperly reassigned from the grower to the warehouse owner, the state's tax court said, reversing a change made by a local assessor.

  • October 03, 2024

    Counties Say Foreclosure Attys Trying To Quash Competition

    Michigan counties facing a proposed class action over profits they kept from foreclosures of tax-delinquent properties questioned Wednesday the aim and legality of their opposing counsel's quest to rein in a previous rival's outreach to people who have experienced foreclosures. 

  • October 03, 2024

    12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar

    One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.

  • October 03, 2024

    Fla. Court Reverses Condos' Win In $1M Contractor Dispute

    A Florida appeals court Wednesday reversed a win for three condominium associations in a dispute over $1.4 million worth of mitigation work done on the property after Hurricane Irma, ruling that the contractor did not need to be licensed to do most of the work.

  • October 03, 2024

    Crowell & Moring Loses Bid For $30M COVID Rent Refund

    Crowell & Moring LLP cannot make its landlord in the District of Columbia pay back $30 million in rent it paid during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the office building stood empty and most of the firm's attorneys worked from home, a D.C. judge ruled Thursday.

  • October 03, 2024

    Sens. Question If Payouts Taint Execs' Push For US Steel Deal

    Two U.S. senators wrote to U.S. Steel's president and CEO on Wednesday seeking guarantees that a $72 million "golden parachute" deal wasn't driving the executive's willingness to support a $14.1 billion merger with Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel.

  • October 03, 2024

    Allred Feud With Ex-Tenant Over 'Large Rodent' Puzzles Judge

    Gloria Allred's long-running dispute with a former tenant — who said he fled rats in her Manhattan apartment eight years ago — spilled into New York federal court Monday, leaving the judge to wonder aloud why the celebrity attorney was still suing the man over a $25,000 claim as he sought bankruptcy protection.

  • October 03, 2024

    NJ Mogul's Brother Says Lawyering Isn't Racketeering

    Parker McCay PA shareholder Philip A. Norcross is urging a New Jersey state judge to toss the sweeping indictment against him, his power broker brother and others over an alleged extortion scheme to acquire riverfront property in a distressed city, arguing that none of the targeted conduct is criminal.

  • October 03, 2024

    Brokerage Made 'Mockery' Of Courts, Texas Justices Told

    A Dallas law firm urged the Texas Supreme Court at a hearing Thursday to uphold an appellate court's ruling that tossed a $22 million malpractice verdict against the firm in a dispute with a real estate brokerage, accusing the company of changing positions "depending on where the money lies."

  • October 03, 2024

    Sham Law Firm Employee Gets 5 Years For Foreclosure Fraud

    A Virginia man was sentenced to five years in prison and hit with a $159,000 fine for what a D.C. federal judge called Thursday the "horrendous" crime of using a Manassas law firm to defraud homeowners facing foreclosure.

  • October 03, 2024

    Ohio Justices Reject Neighbor's Objection To Gas Pipeline

    The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed a state siting board's accelerated approval for a NiSource unit's 3.7-mile natural gas pipeline in the city of Maumee, rejecting a commercial property owner's claims that the project's risks were not adequately considered.

  • October 03, 2024

    King & Spalding RE Pro Rejoins Barnes & Thornburg In Dallas

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced that a former partner has rejoined the firm's real estate department from King & Spalding LLP, adding that the returning attorney's practice centers on commercial real estate and real estate finance.

  • October 03, 2024

    Loan Servicer Settles With Mass. AG Over 'Zombie' Mortgages

    A mortgage servicing company has agreed to walk away from approximately $10 million worth of "zombie" mortgages in Massachusetts and pay $300,000 to resolve allegations that it violated multiple consumer protection laws, the state's attorney general said Thursday.

  • October 02, 2024

    EXp Investors Accuse Execs Of Ignoring Sex Assault Culture

    Shareholders of eXp World Holdings Inc. have hit the real estate brokerage company's top-brass with a derivative lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court Wednesday, claiming they intentionally ignored repeated reports that its top "influencers" were drugging and sexually assaulting real estate agents at company events, thereby exposing the company to millions in liabilities.

  • October 02, 2024

    Colony Ridge Seeks Quick Appeal In 'Reverse Redlining' Suit

    A Texas real estate developer that recently lost a bid to exit a lending discrimination suit brought by the U.S. government and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved to begin a Fifth Circuit appeal, arguing the "novelty" of the case's reverse redlining theory warrants immediate appellate review.

  • October 02, 2024

    Convicted Judge Owes Feds Retirement Funds, 7th Circ. Says

    A former Illinois judge convicted of running a $1.4 million mortgage fraud scheme must cough up assets from her retirement accounts to cover her restitution obligations, the Seventh Circuit ruled Wednesday, agreeing with a Chicago district court that the government can access her retirement savings to satisfy that debt.

  • October 02, 2024

    U.S. Steel Must Face Testing Suit Over Long-Gone Zinc Plant

    U.S. Steel can't escape a lawsuit from neighbors of a long-closed zinc refinery outside Pittsburgh seeking to make the company pay for long-term environmental testing, a Pennsylvania appellate panel ruled Tuesday, reasoning that the plaintiffs properly invoked a state law governing the cleanup of hazardous pollution.

  • October 02, 2024

    Fried Frank, DLA Piper Steer Commercial REIT's $251M Listing

    Shares of real estate investment trust FrontView began trading Wednesday after it priced a nearly $251 million initial public offering within its intended price range, with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP advising the company and DLA Piper serving as counsel for the underwriters.

  • October 02, 2024

    2nd Circ. Prods NY Appeals Court To Weigh Foreclosure Law

    The Second Circuit has urged a state appeals court to provide input on a ruling retroactively canceling U.S. Bank's attempt to foreclose on a Queens condo in 2016 by applying a six-year statute of limitations in the state's 2022 Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act.

  • October 02, 2024

    Mass. Tax Board OKs Exemption For Senior Home

    A senior home on Martha's Vineyard is exempt from property taxes, a Massachusetts tax panel said in a decision released Wednesday, ruling that the owner, a charitable nonprofit, had a sufficient presence at the property for the exemption.

  • October 02, 2024

    Conn. Receiver Gains Access To Apt. Co-Op's BofA Accounts

    Bank of America agreed to provide a court-appointed receiver with access to a distressed housing cooperative's bank accounts Wednesday amid efforts by the municipalities of Bridgeport and Stratford, Connecticut, to obtain a court order.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • In Debate Over High Court Wording, 'Wetland' Remains Murky

    Author Photo

    Though the U.S. Supreme Court's decision limiting the Clean Water Act’s wetlands jurisdiction is now a year old, Sackett v. EPA's practical consequences for property owners are still evolving as federal agencies and private parties advance competing interpretations of the court's language and methods for distinguishing wetlands in lower courts, says Neal McAliley at Carlton Fields.

  • Ga. Law Creates Challenges For Foreign Ownership Of Land

    Author Photo

    Under Georgia's new law limiting certain foreign possessory interests in agricultural land and land near military properties, affected foreign persons and entities will need to do significantly more work in order to ensure that their ownership remains legal, say Nellie Sullivan and Lindsey Grubbs at Holland & Knight.

  • Questions Remain After Mass. Adverse Possession Case

    Author Photo

    A recent Massachusetts Land Court decision, concerning an adverse possession claim on a family company-owned property, leaves open questions about potential applicability to closely held corporations and other ownership types going forward, says Brad Hickey at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Takeaways From Biden's Crypto Mining Divestment Order

    Author Photo

    A May 13 executive order prohibiting the acquisition of real estate by a foreign investor on national security grounds — an enforcement first — shows the importance of understanding how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States might profile cross-border transactions, even those that are non-notified, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Insurer Quota-Sharing Lessons From $112M Bad Faith Verdict

    Author Photo

    In Indiana GRQ v. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance, an Indiana federal jury recently issued a landmark $112 million bad faith verdict, illustrating why insurers must understand the interplay between bad faith law and quota-sharing before entering into these relatively new arrangements, say Jason Reichlyn and Christopher Sakauye at Dykema. 

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

    Author Photo

    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • 11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes

    Author Photo

    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in In re: Talal Qais Abdulmunem Al Zawawi has introduced a split from the Second Circuit regarding whether debtors in foreign proceedings must have a domicile, calling attention to the understudied nature of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

    Author Photo

    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • What A Louisiana Ruling Means For Pipeline Crossings

    Author Photo

    After a Louisiana appeals court's recent ruling on a conflict between two pipeline projects, operators and developers should review pipeline crossings to ensure that they occur at safe distances — and keep in mind the value of crossing agreements for protecting both sides in case of a dispute, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs

    Author Photo

    The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • What Lies Behind Diverging US And UK Insolvency Trends

    Author Photo

    Contrasting U.K. and U.S. insolvency trends highlight the importance of policy interventions in shaping consumer financial outcomes and economic recovery, and while the U.K.'s approach seems to have mitigated issues, the U.S. faces challenges exacerbated by economic conditions and policy transitions, says Thomas Curran at Thomas H. Curran Associates.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

    Author Photo

    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

    Author Photo

    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.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Real Estate archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!