Residential
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June 20, 2024
Ohio Landlord Settles DOJ's Sexual Harassment Suit
A Youngstown, Ohio, landlord and a property management company settled a sexual harassment suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which had claimed the landlord repeatedly sexually harassed his female tenants while working for the management company.
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June 20, 2024
JP Morgan Borrows $165M To Refinance Chelsea Tower
An entity connected to JP Morgan Investment Management Inc. borrowed $165 million from The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. in order to refinance a 39-story, 387-unit residential tower in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, according to official property records.
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June 20, 2024
Housing Crisis Needs 'Silver Buckshot' Policies, Panel Says
It will take more than a silver bullet to confront a chronic undersupply of housing in the U.S. that's only made shelter less affordable since the pandemic, a panel of experts said June 20.
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June 20, 2024
Fla. Property Owner, Insurer Settle $1.2M Ian Coverage Fight
A QBE Insurance unit and a property owner settled their coverage dispute over the owner's claims it suffered roughly $1.2 million in losses due to Hurricane Ian, the parties told a Florida federal court.
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June 20, 2024
Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Asks To Pull 5th Amend. Assertions
McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLC's former chief financial officer, who pled guilty to embezzling over $1.5 million from the firm in May, moved Wednesday to withdraw Fifth Amendment assertions he made in the firm's civil case against him.
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June 20, 2024
Landlord Group Vows To Challenge NY Town's Rent Regs Vote
The common council of Poughkeepsie, New York, has unanimously voted to declare a housing emergency and adopt rent stabilization citywide, prompting the Hudson Valley Property Owners Association's immediate promise to file suit.
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June 20, 2024
Cadwalader Guides $450M Refi Deal For NYC Properties
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP advised a $450 million refinancing transaction for multiple apartment buildings located in New York City's Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, according to official property records.
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June 20, 2024
Tenn. Tenants Agree To End Wrongful Eviction Class Action
A proposed class of Crossville, Tennessee, tenants permanently dropped their claims accusing the city and several of its officials in Tennessee federal court of wrongfully evicting them from their apartments without notifying them or issuing court orders.
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June 19, 2024
CBRE Economist Sees 'Extend And Pretend' Through 2025
Despite a real estate environment heavy with affordability issues, high interest rates and sluggish movement, CBRE global chief economist Richard Barkham at this week's National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Austin forecasted a relatively soft landing.
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June 18, 2024
Judge Skeptical Of Houston Developer's $2M DIP Bid In Ch. 11
The insolvent developer of an almost-finished apartment building in Houston hit a hiccup Tuesday during its first-day hearing in a Texas bankruptcy court, where a judge indicated the company did not present enough evidence to support a nearly $2 million debtor-in-possession package from an affiliate of its subordinate lender.
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June 18, 2024
With New Tax Break, NYC Developers Eye Office Conversions
Converting empty New York City office buildings into housing, in practice, is more than a little complicated, but a city-run "concierge" program for would-be developers, as well as new tax exemptions at the state level, aim to make such conversions more feasible.
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June 18, 2024
Condo's Historic Location Doesn't Bar Bombing Coverage
The insurer for a Nashville, Tennessee, condominium owners association cannot use a historic structures exclusion to dodge covering the repair costs associated with damage caused by a bombing on Christmas Day 2020, a federal court ruled Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
CFPB Tags Reverse-Mortgage Servicers With Permanent Bans
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Tuesday it had permanently banned Sutherland Global and NOVAD Management Consultant from reverse-mortgage servicing activities and hit Sutherland with $16.5 million in fines.
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June 18, 2024
Home Builders Sued For Non-FHA-Compliant Apartments
A group of home building and financing companies including the Toll Brothers were sued by Manhattan federal prosecutors Tuesday for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act by building residential units that weren't accessible to people with physical disabilities.
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June 18, 2024
Split Pa. High Court Finds Rental Registry Suit Moot
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out landlords' appeal of Pittsburgh's 2015 ordinance requiring them to list their rental units in a public registry, because it had been replaced by a newer, narrower law, but two justices said they should have ruled on the case anyway to settle whether other governments could pass similar measures.
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June 18, 2024
Sterling Bank Ex-CEO Won't Face Charges Over Loan Program
The founder and former CEO of Sterling Bank and Trust, who has been investigated in connection with a fraud-plagued loan program, will not face criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice, according to Michigan federal court documents filed Monday.
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June 18, 2024
Blue States And Enviro Groups Back DOE Furnace Rule
Several blue states and environmental and consumer groups have thrown their support behind the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that challenges to the new rules are meritless.
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June 18, 2024
Oak Row Pays $39M For Downtown Miami Site
Oak Row Equities bought a site in downtown Miami for $38.5 million for its upcoming 70,000-square-foot luxury multifamily housing project, the real estate developer announced Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
NY High Court Backs Manhattan Housing On Garden Site
A proposed seven-story, mixed-use, 123-unit affordable housing project in Manhattan's Nolita neighborhood shouldn't be blocked from development after New York City's government "rationally determined" that it won't negatively impact the environment in a significant way, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
DOJ Says DC Circ. Shouldn't Rethink Realtor Antitrust Probe
The U.S. Department of Justice has told the D.C. Circuit that its April decision allowing it to reopen an investigation into the National Association of Realtors doesn't conflict with any U.S. Supreme Court or circuit court decisions and that the NAR's rehearing petition should be denied.
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June 18, 2024
NYC Board Votes To Raise Rents For 1M Households
New York City's Rent Guidelines Board has voted to increase rents for the nearly 1 million households living in rent-stabilized units by 2.75% for one-year leases and by 5.25% for two-year leases.
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June 18, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Katten Muchin, Wachtel Missry and Rosenberg & Estis are among the law firms that landed work on the largest New York City real estate deals to hit public records last week, a slow period that saw only four transactions north of $10 million become public.
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June 18, 2024
McElroy Deutsch Says Exec Embezzled Money For Home
McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP has doubled down on its bid for a constructive trust on the home of two former executives accused of stealing from the firm.
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June 18, 2024
Mich. AG To Pursue Deadlocked Charges In Carhartt Atty Case
Prosecutors will continue pursuing embezzlement charges against a Michigan attorney accused of stealing from his client, a former leader of the Carhartt workwear company, after a Wayne County jury couldn't reach a decision on those claims but acquitted the attorney on other charges.
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June 18, 2024
Ariz. Developer Stuck With $467K Bill For City's Builder Tax
An Arizona developer who built 22 homes qualifies as an "owner-builder" for purposes of Phoenix's speculative builder tax and is liable for $467,000 in tax, interest and penalties, the state's tax court said.
Expert Analysis
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New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS
Last week's proposed rule aimed at broadening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' enforcement authority over foreign investments and increasing penalties for violations signals that CFIUS intends to continue expanding its aggressive monitoring of national security issues, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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Climate Disclosure Mandates Demand A Big-Picture Approach
As carbon emissions disclosure requirements from the European Union, California and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission take effect, the best practice for companies is not targeted compliance with a given reporting regime, but rather a comprehensive approach to systems assessment and management, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.
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Illinois EV Charging Act Sparks Developer Concerns
A recent state law in Illinois requiring multifamily housing to provide facilities for electric vehicle charging raises significant concerns for developers over existing infrastructure that isn't up to the task, says Max Kanter at Much Shelist.
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What NAR Settlement Means For Agent Commission Rates
If approved, a joint settlement agreement between the National Association of Realtors and a class of home sellers will likely take the onus off home sellers to compensate buyers' agents, affecting considerations for all parties to real estate transactions, say attorneys at Jones Foster.
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Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
The first quarter of the year brought the usual onslaught of new regulatory developments in California — including a crackdown on junk fees imposed by small business lenders, a big step forward for online notarizations and a ban on predatory listing agreements, says Alex Grigorians at Hanson Bridgett.
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2nd Circ. Ruling Clarifies When Demand Letters Are Claims
The Second Circuit’s decision last week in Pine Management v. Colony Insurance, affirming that an insurer had no obligation to defend an insured for claims made before the policy period, provides clarity on when presuit demands for relief constitute claims — an important issue that may be dispositive of coverage, says Bonnie Thompson at Lavin Rindner.
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Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Preparing For Possible Calif. Criminal Antitrust Enforcement
Though a recent announcement that the California Attorney General's Office will resume criminal prosecutions in support of its antitrust enforcement may be mere saber-rattling, companies and their counsel should nevertheless be prepared for interactions with the California AG's Antitrust Section that are not limited to civil liability issues, say Dylan Ballard and Lillian Sun at V&E.
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Conn. Loan Law Tweaks May Have 3 Major Effects On Lenders
Recently proposed minor amendments to Connecticut’s consumer protection laws could nonetheless mean major and unexpected changes to state consumer financial services regulations that dictate how lenders and their customer-facing service providers handle fee payments, mortgage servicer licensing and private student loans, says Jonathan Joshua at Joshua Law Firm.
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Document Retention Best Practices To Lower Litigation Risks
As new technologies emerge and terabytes of data can be within the purview of a single discovery request, businesses small and large should take four document management steps to effectively minimize risks of litigation and discovery sanctions long before litigation ensues, says Kimbrilee Weber at Norris McLaughlin.
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Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face
Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.