More Real Estate Coverage
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March 22, 2024
5th Circ. Lifts SEC Climate Rule Stay After 8th Circ. Lottery Win
The Fifth Circuit on Friday lifted a temporary block on the implementation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new emissions reporting requirements, following the selection of the Eighth Circuit as the venue for consolidated proceedings of the various suits about the agency's controversial rules.
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March 21, 2024
8th Circ. Backs Attys' Win In COVID Hotel Eviction Challenge
Two government attorneys did not violate the U.S. Constitution when they gave the green light to a Minnesota police department to forcibly remove a resident from a Super 8 motel in June 2020 amid a COVID-19 era eviction ban, the Eighth Circuit ruled in a precedential opinion Thursday, citing a "dearth of precedent."
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March 20, 2024
Philly Charter School Exec Convicted Of Embezzlement
A nonprofit executive was convicted Wednesday in Pennsylvania federal court on all 18 counts of siphoning funds from a tax-exempt educational and housing organization to live lavishly, while the same jury found a colleague guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud but absolved him of other charges.
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March 20, 2024
Faegre Drinker Adds Former Honigman Construction Pro
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP has strengthened its construction and real estate litigation group in Chicago with Raj Patel, previously a partner with Honigman LLP, the firm said Wednesday.
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March 20, 2024
NY High Court Revives Suit Against NYC Property Taxes
A lawsuit challenging the fairness of New York City's property tax system lives on, with New York's highest court finding a group's complaint sufficiently pleads causes of action against the city for violations of New York's Real Property Tax Law and the federal Fair Housing Act.
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March 20, 2024
Intel, Commerce Dept. Forge $8.5B Logic Chip Partnership
A proposed $8.5 billion partnership between the federal government and Intel Corp. could yield thousands of jobs and up to $100 billion in logic chip facility expansion and modernization in four states.
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March 19, 2024
La. Green Groups Urge Petrochemical Plant Permit Probe
A coalition of environmental groups urged Louisiana's Supreme Court to wade into their dispute with the state concerning permits that would allow a plastics manufacturer to construct a major petrochemical facility within the state's "Cancer Alley."
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March 19, 2024
Fishers Angle For Justices' Attention With New Monument Suit
Two fishermen are challenging a 5,000-square-mile offshore national monument in a lawsuit that sets up a fight over the extent of presidential power under the Antiquities Act, an issue that has already drawn the attention of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
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March 18, 2024
Philly Nonprofit Execs Lived Large On Co. Money, Jury Told
Jurors should not believe arguments from two nonprofit executives who are former associates of City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson who said they simply made bookkeeping mistakes and didn't concoct an alleged scheme to spend company money on things like huge bonuses, lavish vacations and bribing a Milwaukee school official, federal prosecutors said Monday.
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March 15, 2024
U. Of Wash. Opposes Question Cert. In COVID Coverage Suit
The University of Washington's board of regents urged a state court to reject a Liberty Mutual unit's motion to certify COVID-19 coverage questions to a state appeals court, pointing to the Washington Supreme Court's previous rejection of such a move in a separate case that similarly involved pleadings-stage coverage claims.
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March 13, 2024
EPA Designates First Navajo Nation Superfund Site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is adding the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District in northeastern Arizona to its National Priorities List, with the district's uranium mining waste piles marking the first designated Superfund site on the Navajo Nation.
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March 13, 2024
Subpoenas Can't Skirt USPTO Discovery Rules, 4th Circ. Says
In a precedential ruling, the Fourth Circuit said Wednesday that companies can't use the subpoena power of the courts to go beyond the limits of discovery that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office puts on deposing employees in foreign countries.
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March 13, 2024
NC City Asks State Justices To Review Homebuilders' $5M Win
The North Carolina city of Greensboro urged the state's high court to review the $5.25 million judgment won by D.R. Horton Inc. and True Homes LLC in the homebuilders' class action accusing the city of charging illegal preservice water fees.
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March 13, 2024
Tower Taxes To Partly Fund $10B Midtown NYC Bus Terminal
Tax revenue from up to three private towers would help pay for a $10 billion replacement of the aging Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, under a deal approved by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
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March 13, 2024
House Passes Bill To Streamline Federal Office Usage
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted in favor of a bill that would require federal agencies to track occupancy of office space and trim or consolidate underutilized space, months after a government watchdog report uncovered notably low occupancy rates at agency headquarters.
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March 13, 2024
Cozen O'Connor's Lobbying Arm Adds Land Use Expert In NY
The former chair of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Board of Standards and Appeals has joined Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, an affiliate of the international law firm Cozen O'Connor, as a senior principal.
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March 13, 2024
EB-5 Suit Says Hotel Project Tricked Non-English Speakers
A real estate investment company is facing a proposed class action in California federal court alleging it took advantage of immigrant investors' limited English by fraudulently making them agree that the company and an Embassy Suites project could keep their investments indefinitely.
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March 12, 2024
Committee Approves Bill Aimed At Blocking New Mining Rule
The House Committee on Natural Resources voted Tuesday to approve a bill aimed at blocking a proposed rule amendment by the Biden administration that would tighten the permitting process for mining projects deemed critical by the federal government despite concerns from Democrats over impacts to the environment and Native American sacred sites.
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March 12, 2024
Judge Questions If Citibank Can Avoid Escrow Theft Burden
A Washington appellate judge questioned Tuesday if Citibank and a loan servicer could escape liability after a rogue escrow agent stole nearly $1 million from a real estate company's refinancing deals, suggesting during oral arguments that the bank gets loan payments as successor lender and should bear some burden.
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March 12, 2024
La. Property Owners, Insurers Settle $5M Hurricane Ida Fight
Lloyd's of London and other insurers and underwriters have agreed to settle claims by a group of New Orleans-area property owners who allege the insurers wrongly denied more than $5.1 million in claims from Hurricane Ida damage after the insurers demanded the dispute be resolved in arbitration.
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March 11, 2024
Corps Says Groups Can't Show Dredging Permit Was Flawed
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and an Enbridge Inc. unit told the Fifth Circuit that several groups challenging a permit issued for dredging and construction for the expansion of a major oil terminal on Texas's Gulf Coast may want a different outcome but can't show any permitting decisions were flawed.
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March 08, 2024
NY AG And Judge In Trump Case Receive Death Threats
New York Attorney General Letitia James and the judge who oversaw her civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump each received death threats inside powder-laced envelopes that triggered a massive security response late last month, according to police and court officials.
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March 08, 2024
SEC's Scaled-Back Climate Regs Still Pose Major RE Burdens
Public real estate companies won't have to track the emissions of tenants under a dialed-down climate rule adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, yet new regulations still create a significant volume of disclosure requirements.
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March 07, 2024
$285M Panama Canal Case Must Be Reviewed, Justices Told
A contractor enlisted on a multibillion-dollar project to widen the Panama Canal is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to ignore an "open conflict" among lower courts over the vacatur standard for evident partiality, as the justices get ready to issue a certiorari decision that will likely come later this month.
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March 07, 2024
Feds Designate 1.1M Acres Of Habitat For Imperiled Fla. Bat
In a move conservation groups characterized as much welcomed and long delayed, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated about 1.1 million acres in southern and central Florida as critical habitat for the endangered Florida bonneted bat.
Expert Analysis
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How Fla. Tort Reform Will Shift Construction Defect Suits
Recent modifications to Florida's private statutory action rules for building code violations and to the statute of limitations and repose for defect claims significantly clarify ambiguity that had existed under previous rules, and both claimants and defendants should consider new legal arguments that may become possible, say Ryan Soohoo and George Truitt at Cole Scott.
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The Nuts And Bolts Of IRS Domestic Content Tax Credit
Recent IRS guidance provides specifics on how renewable energy projects can qualify for bonus tax credits by meeting U.S. domestic content rules, but also creates a qualification framework that will be complicated for project developers to navigate, say Scott Cockerham and Wolfram Pohl at Orrick.
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Biden's Enviro Justice Focus Brings New Business Risks
A recent executive order from President Joe Biden continues the administration's whole-of-government approach toward environmental justice, and its focus on transparency may increase the risk of permit challenges, enforcement actions and citizen suits, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Attorneys Should Have An Ethical Duty To Advance DEI
National and state bar associations are encouraging attorneys to apply diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the legal profession and beyond, and these associations should take it one step further by formally recognizing ethical duties for attorneys to promote DEI, which could better the legal profession and society, says Elena Mitchell at Moore & Van Allen.
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EV Chargers Can Bring Benefits For Calif. Property Owners
California property developers and owners face growing pressure to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure — but this can be a unique opportunity to add value to real estate assets, and can be accomplished in multiple ways, say Riley Cutner-Orrantia and Eurie Hwang at Crosbie Gliner.
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Brownfield Renewables Guidance Leaves Site Eligibility Murky
Recent IRS guidance sheds some light on the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for renewable energy development on contaminated sites — but the eligibility of certain sites for brownfield status remains uncertain, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Water Infrastructure Crisis Requires Private Investment
The federal government is in the process of distributing billions of dollars recently allocated for upgrades to U.S. water infrastructure — but capital, beyond what government can provide, is needed to fully address decades of neglect, meaning that private investment must be a part of the solution, says Damian Georgino at Womble Bond.
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Ambiguity In 'Buy America' Implementation May Slow Projects
The White House Office of Management and Budget's most recent guidance, which builds on a complex patchwork of Buy America restrictions that vary by federal agency, would perpetuate government contractors' uncertainty regarding product and material classification and could delay infrastructure projects, say attorneys at Miles & Stockbridge.
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La. Suit Could Set New Enviro Justice Litigation Paradigm
Inclusive Louisiana v. St. James Parish, a lawsuit filed recently in Louisiana federal court that makes wide-ranging and novel constitutional and statutory claims of environmental racism based on centuries of local history, could become a new template for environmental justice litigation against governments and businesses, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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It's Time For Lawyers To Stand Up For Climate Justice
The anniversary this week of the Deepwater Horizon disaster offers an opportunity for attorneys to embrace the practice of just transition lawyering — leveraging our skills to support communities on the front lines of climate change and environmental catastrophe as they pursue rebuilding and transformation, says Amy Laura Cahn at Taproot Earth.
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Without Stronger Due Diligence, Attys Risk AML Regulation
Amid increasing pressure to mitigate money laundering and terrorism financing risks in gatekeeper professions, the legal industry will need to clarify and strengthen existing client due diligence measures — or risk the federal regulation attorneys have long sought to avoid, says Jeremy Glicksman at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
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The Legal Consequences Of High PFAS Background Levels
As federal and state regulations around per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances proliferate, emerging scientific literature is showing that PFAS exist in many environments at background levels that exceed regulatory limits — and the potential legal implications are profound, say Grant Gilezan and Paul Stewart at Dykema and Dylan Eberle at Geosyntec Consultants.
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Building On Successful Judicial Assignment Reform In Texas
Prompt action by the Judicial Conference could curtail judge shopping and improve the efficiency and procedural fairness of the federal courts by implementing random districtwide assignment of cases, which has recently proven successful in Texas patent litigation, says Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper.