Real Estate

  • May 31, 2024

    NJ Judge Says Mortgage Lender's Counterclaim Falls Flat

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed an unfair competition counterclaim brought by Nationwide Mortgage Bankers Inc. in a trade secrets suit by its rival Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, ruling that Nationwide Mortgage's counterclaim allegations do not actually count as unfair competition under Garden State law.

  • May 30, 2024

    CFPB To Probe 'Junk Fees' In Mortgage Closing Costs

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday that it will scrutinize how "junk fees" may be making it more expensive to purchase a home, kicking off a broad inquiry that could presage a crackdown on rising mortgage closing costs.

  • May 30, 2024

    Wash. Tribe Gets Partial Win Against Feds Over Wildfires

    A Court of Federal Claims judge partly denied Thursday the U.S. government's bid to toss claims by a tribe in Washington state over massive fires that destroyed forests on reservation land, saying a money-mandating source of law entitles the tribes to compensation.

  • May 30, 2024

    Only One Landlord Allowed To Duck DC RealPage Suit

    One of several landlords that stands accused by the District of Columbia of using property management platform RealPage to fix the price of rentals has managed to convince a D.C. Superior Court judge to kibosh the claims against the real estate investment trust permanently.

  • May 30, 2024

    Real Estate Investor Beats Niece's Suit Over Fall At LA Home

    Real estate investor and philanthropist Stanley Black can't be held liable for injuries suffered by his niece when she tripped and fell on the driveway of his Sunset Boulevard mansion, a California state appeals court has ruled, saying there's no evidence of defects on the driveway she walked on many times before.

  • May 30, 2024

    Defendant Dropped From Calif. Broker Commissions Case

    A California federal judge has dismissed a multiple listing service from a proposed antitrust class action that accused the service and several real estate brokerages of engaging in a conspiracy to artificially inflate buyer broker commissions on home sales.

  • May 30, 2024

    Curaçao Expropriation Suit Tossed Over Sovereign Immunity

    A D.C. federal judge on Thursday tossed an Iranian American women's rights activist's $110 million suit accusing Curaçao's banking regulator of unlawfully seizing her stake in a $700 million investment company, saying the regulator has sovereign immunity and that, in any case, no expropriation had taken place.

  • May 30, 2024

    Only $100K Owed For NJ Theater's Virus Losses, Judge Says

    A Zurich unit owed a theater only $100,000 for its COVID-19-related losses under its policy's communicable disease coverage provision, a New Jersey federal court ruled, rejecting the theater's arguments that each public health order constituted a separate occurrence and that a "blanket" $1.9 million limit was applicable.

  • May 30, 2024

    Venezuelan Oil Co. Looks To Slip Asset Seizure Suit

    An Oklahoma-based oil drilling company insisted Thursday that the D.C. federal court has jurisdiction to decide claims that the company's Venezuelan subsidiary was illegally expropriated without compensation as Venezuela's state-owned oil company looks to slip the long-running suit.

  • May 30, 2024

    Sorority, Ex-Affiliate End Trademark Suit After Mediation

    A sorority and a former affiliate have agreed to scrap a trademark dispute alleging the affiliate continued to use the sorority's name and symbols after their relationship had been severed.

  • May 30, 2024

    Judge Finds US Owns Fla. Island In Long-Running Dispute

    A federal judge ruled that the government owns a vacant island off the harbor of Key West, Florida, in rejecting a developer's long-running claim to title, finding that the U.S. Navy has used the site as a buffer from forces such as hurricanes and private development.

  • May 30, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: Aramco, Double Eagle, WeWork

    Saudi Arabia is planning a stock sale of state-backed oil giant Armaco that could exceed $10 billion, Double Eagle hopes to unload a Permian-based oil producer for $6.5 billion, and Adam Neumman has ended his bid to reacquire WeWork. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • May 30, 2024

    Mass. Foreclosure Law May Be Unconstitutional, Judge Says

    A Massachusetts law blocking towns and cities from returning excess funds from foreclosure sales may be an unconstitutional taking, a federal judge has said.

  • May 30, 2024

    Jersey Shore Motel Loses Condemnation Fight With Town

    A New Jersey borough properly used eminent domain to take over a local 50-room motel where it plans to provide parking and electric vehicle charging, a New Jersey appellate panel ruled.

  • May 30, 2024

    WeWork Gets OK For $4B Chapter 11 Plan

    A New Jersey bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved office space provider WeWork's plan to wipe out $4 billion in debt and end its Chapter 11 case after hearing there were no remaining creditor objections.

  • May 30, 2024

    Conn. Atty Avoids Default In $1.4M Transfer Scam Suit

    A Connecticut attorney has won the right to defend herself against accusations she knowingly participated in an email transfer scam that stole more than $1.4 million from a New Jersey-based real estate development company last year.

  • May 30, 2024

    High Court Calls For 2nd Circ. Redo In BofA Preemption Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a Second Circuit decision that freed Bank of America NA from class action litigation brought over a New York escrow interest law, ruling that the circuit court wasn't "nuanced" enough in finding the law preempted for national banks.

  • May 29, 2024

    Malaysia Plans Suits Over $14.9B Award To Sulu Claimants

    Units of Malaysia's national natural gas company are planning to file litigation in Europe against claimants awarded $14.9 billion and their litigation funder following a high-stakes arbitration with the Southeast Asian country over a 19th-century land deal, according to newly filed documents in New York.

  • May 29, 2024

    Tribe Says Mining Co. Can't Protect 500 Docs In Land Suit

    A Native American tribe has asked a Minnesota federal court to ignore a mining company's objections to a magistrate judge's order compelling it to produce nearly 500 documents related to a land exchange dispute, arguing that it failed to establish attorney-client privilege claims.

  • May 29, 2024

    DACA Holder Accuses Fla. Credit Union Of Discrimination

    A man with temporary immigration protections through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is accusing Florida's third-largest credit union of unlawfully denying him a home loan based on his immigration status, in a suit filed Wednesday in federal court.

  • May 29, 2024

    NC State Is Blocking Probe Of PCBs In Building, Court Told

    North Carolina State University is trying to exploit the judicial process in order to destroy evidence of building contamination, a cancer-stricken professor told a state appeals court Tuesday in a bid to advance plans for a carcinogen inspection.

  • May 29, 2024

    More Law Firms Are Relocating, Signing New Leases In 2024

    More law firms have relocated or renewed their office leases in the first quarter of 2024 than during the same period over the last four years, continuing a post-pandemic trend that began late last year as more firms made moves, according to a recent report by real-estate services company Savills.

  • May 29, 2024

    South Baltimore Citizens Call On EPA For Incinerator Relief

    Baltimore has turned a blind eye to South Baltimore residents suffering from respiratory diseases and persistently urging the city to transition away from Maryland's largest trash incinerator to zero-waste infrastructure for dealing with refuse, two environmental groups and a residents group say in an administrative complaint Wednesday.

  • May 29, 2024

    Wash. Panel Ends Quest Diagnostics' COVID Coverage Quest

    Quest Diagnostics' insurers don't owe the medical testing lab COVID-19-related business loss coverage, a Washington appeals court said, ruling the company failed to show that the presence of the virus resulted in physical loss or damage to its property.

  • May 29, 2024

    Nestle Purina Sued Over Foul Odors At Denver Plant

    Two Colorado residents hit Nestle Purina PetCare Co. with a proposed class action in federal court Tuesday, saying the company's pet food manufacturing facility emits gag-inducing odors that have disrupted lives and reduced property values.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Inside Bank Regulators' Community Lending Law Overhaul

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    The federal banking agencies' recently finalized changes to the Community Reinvestment Act not only account for the gradual shift to an environment where lending and deposit-taking are primarily conducted online, but also implement other updates such as diversity initiatives and a new series of lending tests, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • Sellers Seeking Best Deal Should Focus On Terms And Price

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    Rising interest rates and a decline in the automotive mergers and acquisitions market mean that a failed deal carries greater stakes, and sellers therefore should pursue not only the optimum price but also the optimum terms to safeguard their agreement, says Joseph Aboyoun at Fox Rothschild.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'

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    In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.

  • A Bird's Eye View Of NYC's New Parapet Inspection Law

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    Building owners in New York City should be ready for the city's new parapet inspection requirements going into effect in January, which will likely necessitate additional construction work for countless buildings not previously subject to formal inspections, says Benjamin Fox Tracy at Braverman Greenspun.

  • AI Isn't The Wild West, So Prepare Now For Bias Risks

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    In addition to President Joe Biden's recent historic executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence, there are existing federal and state laws prohibiting fraud, defamation and even discrimination, so companies considering using or developing AI should take steps to minimize legal and business risks, says civil rights attorney Farhana Khera.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • AI's Baked-In Bias: What To Watch Out For

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    The federal AI executive order is a direct acknowledgment of the perils of inherent bias in artificial intelligence systems, and highlights the need for legal professionals to thoroughly vet AI systems, including data and sources, algorithms and AI training methods, and more, say Jonathan Hummel and Jonathan Talcott at Ballard Spahr.

  • How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners

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    A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.

  • Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability

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    In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.

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