Residential

  • November 12, 2024

    Freddie Mac Gets Partial Win In SEC Probe Coverage Dispute

    Government-backed mortgage buyer Freddie Mac cannot obtain coverage solely because its employees received subpoenas from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a D.C. federal court ruled while also holding that the lender's excess insurers cannot challenge a lower-layer insurer's coverage determination.

  • November 12, 2024

    High Court Declines Remaining NY Rent Stabilization Suits

    The U.S. Supreme Court will not probe a Second Circuit decision upholding a lower court's dismissal of two suits challenging distinct provisions of New York's Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, a contentious tenant-friendly change to state rental regulations.

  • November 08, 2024

    Ga. Judge Sets 2nd Trial Plan For Solar Farm Damages Fight

    A Georgia federal judge said he's moving ahead with plans for a second jury to decide how much in damages the owner and developers of Lumpkin Solar Farm owe a neighboring property owner for harms stemming from runoff and some 1,000 cubic yards of sediment that have washed off the site.

  • November 08, 2024

    Judge Won't Pause Housing Order In LA Campus Suit

    A California federal judge has refused to pause his order requiring the federal government to put out contract offers for the construction of temporary housing on a Los Angeles campus that's at the heart of a class action filed by disabled, homeless military veterans who accused the federal government of misusing the property.

  • November 08, 2024

    Investors Duped By Opportunity Zone Promises, Colo. Says

    Colorado's securities commissioner accused a California businessman on Thursday of selling investors on a project ostensibly meant to purchase single-family homes using a federal program for revitalizing economically distressed areas, while instead using company assets as a "personal piggy bank."

  • November 08, 2024

    NJ Appeals Panel Rejects Convicted Ex-Atty's Bid For Relief

    The New Jersey Appellate Division turned down on Friday a former attorney's bid for review of her conviction on participating in an $873,000 mortgage fraud scheme, in which she claimed she was barred from the full range of cross-examination at trial that she should have had the right to.

  • November 08, 2024

    Opendoor Widely Cuts Costs Amid Tough Housing Market

    Executives at Opendoor Technologies Inc. said the digital home-selling platform has turned to cost-cutting measures, including laying off 17% of its workforce, as the housing market continues to buckle under pressure in the third quarter of 2024.

  • November 08, 2024

    Nixon Peabody Helps Boston Supportive Housing Land $153M

    A Boston housing development nonprofit, with guidance from Nixon Peabody LLP, obtained $153 million in financing to develop a 19-story, 126-unit supportive housing project in the city, the law firm announced.

  • November 07, 2024

    Trump Election Complicates Growing Insurance Climate Crisis

    Donald Trump's election to a second term as president is a huge setback for global efforts to curb climate change, and his disregard for the environment will likely complicate efforts to better understand climate risks facing insurers and consumers, experts say. 

  • November 07, 2024

    NC Contractor Says DR Horton Owes It Millions

    A contractor claimed that homebuilding giant D.R. Horton Inc. stiffed it out of more than $5.5 million after it did site work for residential real estate projects in North and South Carolina.

  • November 07, 2024

    Fla. Counties Say Notice Was Insufficient In $5B Bond Deal

    A group of Florida counties and tax collectors asked the Florida Supreme Court Thursday to reverse a decision that found they could not reopen a bond validation judgment issuing $5 billion in bonds for renewable energy and hurricane mitigation projects, arguing they were not given proper notice of the bond validation hearing.

  • November 07, 2024

    Insurance Litigation Week In Review

    Insurers sought to limit coverage for Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. in underlying securities claims, a proposed class of Washington Airbnb users accused the company's insurers of including undisclosed fees in their travel insurance and two Hartford units said Meta isn't owed coverage for numerous public nuisance lawsuits. Here, Law360 takes a look at the past week's top insurance news.

  • November 07, 2024

    Minn. Court Nudges $50K Off Tax Value Of St. Paul Home

    A Minnesota home was over-assessed and should have its valuation reduced by $50,000, according to the state's tax court, taking into consideration a comparable sales analysis presented by the owners.

  • November 07, 2024

    Ariz. OKs Property Tax Credits For Unattended Nuisances

    Arizona property owners affected by public nuisances that local governments fail to address could qualify for tax refunds under Proposition 312, a ballot measure approved by state voters.

  • November 07, 2024

    Mass. Court Affirms Nix Of Property Tax Appeal Citing Blight

    A Massachusetts homeowner's request for a property tax abatement because of local blight was properly rejected by a state tax board because the owner did not pay the tax at issue as required, the state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

  • November 07, 2024

    Property Co. Sues Insurer Over Late Coverage Rights Letter

    A company providing management services to homeowners associations accused its insurer in North Carolina federal court of acting in bad faith after it said the insurer only sent it a reservation of rights letter a year into its defense of a fire damage lawsuit.

  • November 07, 2024

    Transparency Act Should Exclude Housing Co-Ops, Court Told

    A group of housing cooperatives asked a Michigan federal judge to grant them an exemption from the "dragnet" Corporate Transparency Act, claiming the disclosure requirements will deter members from serving on boards that govern affordable housing developments.

  • November 07, 2024

    Canada's Competition Bureau Seeks Dye & Durham Docs

    Canada's Competition Bureau announced Thursday that it obtained a court order to gather information and advance an ongoing investigation into alleged anti-competitive conduct by legal technology company Dye & Durham Ltd., which has been scrutinized over the past year by activist investors and other national regulatory bodies.

  • November 07, 2024

    JLL Adds $100M To Dry Powder Stock For Affiliate REIT

    Commercial broker JLL said Nov. 7 that it put an additional $100 million into its own JLL Income Property Trust to support its investments at an "opportune" time in real estate market recovery.

  • November 07, 2024

    Indicted Power Broker Says Civil Suit Repeats Earlier Claims

    Indicted Garden State power broker George E. Norcross III and his attorney brother have urged a New Jersey state judge to toss the civil racketeering suit brought against them by a Philadelphia developer, arguing that the developer's claims are time-barred and should have been filed in previously litigated and resolved actions.

  • November 06, 2024

    Venue For Fla. County Suit Against Funder Getting New Look

    A Florida appellate court ruled Wednesday that Palm Beach County can't use the "sword-wielder" exception to deny a funding agency's choice of court in a lawsuit over the authority to levy property taxes, saying the agency has proved it's a governmental entity entitled to a home venue privilege.

  • November 06, 2024

    What Trump's Victory Portends For Commercial Real Estate

    President-elect Donald Trump's victory could clear up uncertainty for investors who had been waiting out the election, but the commercial real estate industry may see challenges ahead from some of his proposed "protectionist" policies, attorneys and experts said Wednesday.

  • November 06, 2024

    Developer Raises $171M For Affordable Housing Projects

    The Richman Group Affordable Housing Corp. announced that it has raised $171.5 million in equity, which will allow the company to acquire, rehabilitate and construct 15 affordable housing properties in as many states.

  • November 06, 2024

    JV Nabs $110M Refinancing For NYC Multifamily Portfolio

    A joint venture between Davean Holdings and Meadow Partners landed a $110 million refinancing of a New York City multifamily portfolio from Hudson Bay Capital, according to Walker & Dunlop, which facilitated the refinancing.

  • November 06, 2024

    Capital Markets Bounce Back For Big Four Brokers In Q3

    After predicting a return of capital markets activity in the second half of 2024, commercial real estate's big four brokers reported that buyers and sellers are finally returning to the market in announcing third quarter results recently.

Expert Analysis

  • Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures

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    Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.

  • Consider Best Legal Practices For Commissioning Public Art

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    Commissioning public art for real estate projects can provide many benefits to real estate developers and the public, but it's important to understand the unique legal and contracting aspects of the process to ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget, says Sarah Conley Odenkirk at ArtConverge.

  • Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.

  • Proposed Mortgage Assistance Rule: Tips For Servicers

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to alter Regulation X mortgage servicing procedures to broadly construe requests for assistance, and stay foreclosure proceedings during loss mitigation review, will, if finalized, require mortgage servicers to make notable procedural changes to comply, says Louis Manetti at Locke Lord.

  • How Multifamily Property Owners Can Plan For The EV Future

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    As the electric vehicle market expands, and federal and state incentives and mandates intended to promote EV use come into effect, owners and operators of multifamily residential properties should be prepared to meet the growing demand for onsite EV charging infrastructure, say Sydney Tucker and Andreas Wokutch at Frost Brown.

  • Fla. Insurer-Breach Cases Split On Unrepaired Property Issue

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision in Universal v. Qureshi is directly at odds with a 2020 decision from another Florida appellate court, and raises important questions for policyholders and insurers about the proper measure of damages in breach claims involving unrepaired property, say Andrea DeField and Yaniel Abreu at Hunton.

  • Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.

  • Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • In The CFPB Playbook: No Lazy, Hazy Days Of Summer

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is headed for a brisk fall season, on the heels of a heated summer, which included the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the CFPB funding structure is constitutional, and in advance of the November election, says Eamonn Moran at Holland & Knight.

  • Basel Endgame Rules: A Change Is Coming

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    The Federal Reserve Board's recently announced recalibration of the Basel endgame proposal begins a critical chapter in the evolution of not only the safety and soundness of U.S. banks, but also of banks' abilities to lend and support American businesses and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • Reassessing Lease Provisions To Account For ESG Initiatives

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    As companies seek to build ESG considerations into their businesses, it's crucial to understand how such initiatives can quickly become significant enough to compel reassessment of lease agreement provisions, and how best to modify leases accordingly, say Julian Freeman and Gabe Pitassi at Cox Castle.

  • Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight

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    Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.