Residential
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April 14, 2025
Expedia Defends Cuban Island Bookings In Helms-Burton Trial
The former manager of Expedia's Cuba group took the stand Monday to defend the travel company's actions offering reservations for resorts on an island off the coast of Cuba that a Cuban-American man says was stolen from his family by Fidel Castro's government, telling jurors the company worked to comply with constantly changing regulations related to travel to Cuba.
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April 14, 2025
Greystar Faces Consolidation Of Colo. Tenant 'Junk Fee' Suits
A Colorado multidistrict litigation panel on Monday recommended consolidating four tenant class actions against the property management company Greystar before a single state court, following a hearing where tenants argued that allowing the "junk fee" cases to proceed separately could draw conflicting court decisions.
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April 14, 2025
10th Circ. Revives Takings Suit Over Colo. Property Law
The Tenth Circuit revived a suit filed by Colorado residents who claimed the state unconstitutionally used its unclaimed-property law to take their properties, finding the residents sufficiently claimed the state failed to provide just compensation.
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April 14, 2025
FTC Joins DOJ In Targeting Anticompetitive Regulations
The Federal Trade Commission launched a public inquiry Monday to look into reducing regulations that are hindering competition, following a similar move by the U.S. Department of Justice last month.
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April 14, 2025
Top Court Ruling Dooms Suit Challenging Housing Grant Cuts
A federal judge in Boston on Monday vacated an earlier ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from cutting $30 million in housing anti-discrimination grants, saying a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in a similar case involving teacher training grants likely strips the court of jurisdiction.
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April 14, 2025
Pierson Ferdinand Adds Real Estate Litigator To Philly Office
Pierson Ferdinand LLP continued to grow its Philadelphia roster with the recent addition of a real estate attorney, the firm's second lateral hire in the city in less than a week.
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April 14, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Simpson Thacher and Seyfarth Shaw are among the law firms that landed work on the largest New York City real estate transactions that hit public records last week, a period that saw sizable transactions across three boroughs.
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April 14, 2025
Ala. High Court Says Condo Incorrectly Classified
An Alabama condominium unit owned by a limited liability company was put in the wrong property class by a trial court, the state's Supreme Court said, because it was not exclusively used as a dwelling by the LLC.
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April 11, 2025
Greystar Says Colo. Tenants 'Manufactured' Consolidation Bid
Greystar told a Colorado panel Friday that tenants seeking to consolidate four putative class actions alleging the property management company charged deceptive fees "manufactured the multidistrict nature" of the litigation, arguing the suits were filed by the same attorneys who could have picked one venue in the first place.
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April 11, 2025
Seattle Port Says Housing Project 'Poor Fit' In Industrial Core
The Port of Seattle has gone to court to block a rezoning ordinance that allows nearly 1,000 new residential units near the city's sports stadiums, a project the port said threatens to snarl the nearby movement of cargo from a seaport that is a key driver of the region's economy.
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April 11, 2025
Ala. Justices Nix Owner Property Tax Break For LLC
An Alabama condominium was correctly reclassified for property tax purposes because the couple who own the property had transferred ownership to a limited liability company, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.
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April 11, 2025
Landlords Look To Exit DOJ's RealPage Antitrust Case
The residential building owners accused by federal and state enforcers of violating antitrust law through their use of RealPage's software to set rental prices told a North Carolina federal court it's not against the law for companies to use the same software.
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April 11, 2025
Judge Won't Exit Broker Fee Case Over Donations To Wife
A Missouri federal judge said a real estate firm's bid to boot him from a class action over commission fees may have been driven more by litigation strategy than ethical concerns over campaign contributions made by opposing counsel to his wife, a Kansas City councilwoman.
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April 11, 2025
Mich. Top Court Won't Hear Appeal Of $217M Dam Repair Tax
The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday said it wouldn't hear an appeal from a host of homeowners challenging a $217 million special assessment to fund the repair of dams and restoration of lakes after 2020 floods that devastated mid-Michigan counties.
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April 11, 2025
Developer, Hedge Fund Settle Colo. Housing Project Dispute
A Colorado state judge permanently dismissed a real estate developer's suit alleging a hedge fund owner owed hundreds of thousands of dollars related to a Denver commercial housing project and misused grant funds, after the parties reached a settlement.
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April 11, 2025
Intapp Acquires Real Estate Software Co. TermSheet
Professional services company Intapp Inc. announced on Friday its first acquisition of the year, picking up TermSheet, a provider of software for real estate teams.
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April 10, 2025
Calif. FAIR Plan Denying Wildfire Smoke Coverage, Suit Says
California's "insurer of last resort" has been illegally underpaying or denying smoke damage coverage to homeowners affected by January's Los Angeles-area wildfires, leaving property owners with uninhabitable homes and at risk of serious health issues related to toxin exposure, homeowners alleged in a complaint filed Thursday in California state court.
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April 10, 2025
DeSantis Urges Relief For Condo Owners Amid New Fla. Laws
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis renewed calls for state lawmakers to provide condominium owners relief from financial burdens resulting from new state requirements, while slamming a proposal in the state House of Representatives that he said favors developers seeking to buy out associations.
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April 10, 2025
Parish Must Face Discriminatory Land Use Suit, 5th Circ. Says
A Fifth Circuit panel has revived a lawsuit accusing a Louisiana parish of steering hazardous industrial facilities into Black communities, holding that claims from a church and two resident groups in an area dubbed Cancer Alley were timely and alleged concrete injuries.
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April 10, 2025
Reps Intro Bill To Cap Conservation Easement Protections
Two Republican congresswomen have introduced a bill that would put a 30-year cap on conservation easements entered into by the U.S. Department of the Interior, saying the agreements shouldn't be allowed to hamstring future generations of landowners.
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April 10, 2025
Arbitration Stands In La. Condo's Hurricane Damage Case
A Louisiana federal judge has refused to reconsider his order compelling arbitration of a $4.9 million insurance claim over Hurricane Ida damage to a New Orleans condominium complex in light of new guidance from the state's top court.
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April 10, 2025
Terra, Fortune Team Up For $205M Fla. Village Buy
Developers Terra and Fortune International Group have purchased a former oceanfront resort property in the village of Key Biscayne, Florida, for $205 million, and they plan on developing a 56-unit "ultra-luxury" condominium building there, according to a Thursday announcement.
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April 10, 2025
Del. Justices Urged To Revive Gellert Seitz Malpractice Case
A homebuilder is asking the Delaware Supreme Court to undo Gellert Seitz Busenkell & Brown LLC's win in a legal malpractice case over damages the builder says it suffered due to negligent representation in loan restructuring disputes with a bank.
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April 10, 2025
Rocket Mortgage Says Feds Can't Scuttle Appraisal Suit
Rocket Mortgage LLC is fighting back against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's bid to dismiss the mortgage lender's suit, arguing in Colorado federal court that HUD is unlawfully forcing the company to change a residential appraisal that was allegedly discriminatory.
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April 09, 2025
Wave Of Algorithmic Pricing Laws Crashes Over Rental Market
Lawmakers at all levels of government are seeking to ban the use of algorithmic pricing tools in the rental housing market and beyond. As policies multiply, attorneys point to the risk of making significant changes to antitrust law before the legal standard is resolved.
Expert Analysis
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Ohio Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4
Ohio's banking and financial services sector saw several significant developments in the fourth quarter of 2024, including a landmark Uniform Commercial Code ruling, adjustments to the state's Homebuyer Plus Program and the launch of the state's first women-led bank, says attorney Alex Durst.
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In The CFPB Playbook: A Sprint To The Finish Line
The fourth quarter of 2024 was an impressive demonstration of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ability to regulate, enforce and supervise, even on borrowed time following the election results, and we should expect the current bureau to run nonstop until Jan. 20, say attorneys at Covington.
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The 6 Most Significant FCRA Litigation Developments Of 2024
From a key sovereign immunity decision at the U.S. Supreme Court to a ruling on creditworthiness out of the Seventh Circuit, several important Fair Credit Reporting Act cases wound their way through the courts in 2024, each offering takeaways for both plaintiffs and defendants, say attorneys at Shipkevich.
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10 Noteworthy CFPB Developments From 2024
In a banner year for consumer finance regulation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made significant strides in its efforts to rein in Big Tech and nonbank financial firms, including via rules regarding open banking, credit card late fees, and buy now, pay later products, say attorneys at Wiley.
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The Story Of 2024's Biggest Bank Regs, And Their Fate In 2025
U.S. federal bank regulators were very active in 2024 with initiatives ranging from antitrust and capital to proposals regarding controlling shareholders and incentive-based compensation, but many regulations face an uncertain future under the new administration, say attorneys at Latham.
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Conducting A 'Reasonably Expected Market Area' Analysis
Regardless of whether the incoming administration scales back on redlining examinations and investigations, lenders should take steps to understand how regulators define "reasonably expected market areas," and how to conduct analyses of such areas, say attorneys at Mitchell Sandler.
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Adapting Force Majeure To A Predictably Unpredictable World
As the climate and political landscapes get more complicated, force majeure provisions will likely be triggered increasingly often, demanding an evolving understanding of when events and their impacts are truly unforeseeable, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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Impact Of Corporate Transparency Act Ambiguity On Banks
Even though banks generally needn't file beneficial ownership information reports, financial institutions must continue to monitor the status of the Corporate Transparency Act and understand its requirements in case the nationwide injunction that was issued against the CTA earlier this month is overturned, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.
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Strategies For Home Equity Investment Providers In 2025
The home equity investment product market is thriving even amid consumer concerns, regulatory scrutiny and conflicting court decisions, setting the stage for a promising but challenging environment for providers in 2025, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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What Interest Rate Cuts Mean For Housing Markets
The Federal Reserve's recent reduction of interest rates may provide limited immediate relief for real estate sectors, but offers potential opportunities for commercial real estate investors and construction firms, which now face an environment ripe for new projects, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
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California Supreme Court's Year In Review
Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.
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How CFIUS' Updated Framework Affects Global Investors
The recent change to the monitoring and enforcement regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will broaden administrative practices around nonnotified transaction investigations, increase the scope of information demands from the committee and accelerate its ability to impose mitigation on parties, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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'Reverse Redlining' Suit Reveals Language Risks For Lenders
The Justice Department's case against consumer finance provider Colony Ridge highlights the government's focus on lending to consumers with limited English proficiency and the risks of generating marketing materials in other languages while conducting actual transactions in English, say attorneys at Goodwin.