Residential
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August 13, 2024
NYC Developer Lands $72M For Luxury Condo Project
The developer behind a 117-unit luxury condominium development under construction in Queens, New York, secured $72 million in construction financing from Naftali Credit Partners and Axos Bank.
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August 13, 2024
New Realtor Complaint Challenges NAR's Membership Rule
The National Association of Realtors is facing a new proposed class action, this time from Michigan real estate brokers and agents challenging state and local requirements that they be members of local and national Realtor organizations to use the association's multiple listing services.
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August 13, 2024
Fried Frank Guides Howard Hughes' $40M Air Rights Deal
Howard Hughes Corp. has purchased $40 million worth of air rights from New York City for two Manhattan properties in a deal guided by Fried Frank, as the real estate company presses forward with the redevelopment of a Seaport lot.
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August 13, 2024
Goetz Fitzpatrick Adds New Partner To Roster Ahead Of Merger
As it prepares to merge with a Northeastern law firm at the start of next year, New York-based construction and real estate firm Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP announced the addition of a name partner from another Empire State firm Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Coschignano PLLC.
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August 13, 2024
SCALE Lending Inks $75M Loan For NJ Multifamily Project
A New Jersey developer will wrap up construction of a 294-unit apartment community and begin leasing after SCALE Lending provided $75 million in bridge financing, refinancing its earlier construction loan, the lender has announced.
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August 13, 2024
Connecticut Justices Restore City's Lien On Burned Building
The city of Hartford can place a lien on an apartment building that was heavily damaged in an arson fire to make sure that it recoups the funds that paid for 39 families to relocate, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in overturning a trial court's decision to discharge the lien.
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August 12, 2024
New York Appeals Court Revives NYU's Zoning Suit
A New York appeals court revived and remanded New York University's suit against the city over an amended zoning law that the university claimed would wrongfully restrict it from building dorms and classrooms in a rezoned area of Manhattan.
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August 12, 2024
Claims Trimmed In Goldman Family's NYC Property Battle
A New York state judge has tossed several claims that inheritors of the late Sol Goldman's real estate empire filed in a dispute over control of the family business, while keeping mismanagement claims against the deceased billionaire's daughter alive.
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August 12, 2024
Construction Co. Says Tribe Can't Escape $1.9M Wage Suit
A New York construction company is fighting a bid by an entity created by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to dismiss a $1.9 million wage dispute for work done on an $11.75 million Cape Cod, Massachusetts, housing project, arguing that sovereign immunity can't protect it from the litigation.
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August 12, 2024
Co. Says Title Insurer Acted In Bad Faith Over Deed Dispute
An owner of two adjacent parcels of land in Philadelphia accused its title insurer in Pennsylvania state court of ignoring its repeated requests to settle an underlying deed dispute and basing its coverage position on an "obviously nonsensical and unsupportable" appraisal.
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August 12, 2024
2nd Circ. Nixes 'Excessive' $5M Award For Housing Nonprofit
The Second Circuit on Monday overturned a $5 million award to a nonprofit that faced pushback from a Connecticut town while trying to open a group home for individuals with disabilities, finding that it was unconstitutionally excessive, but at the same time castigated the municipality's officials for "highly reprehensible" conduct.
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August 12, 2024
Ind. Tax Board Reverses Valuation Of Rental Property
An Indiana tax board must reconsider the use of a single-family property that is rented out by its corporate owner, since the local assessor valued the home like an owner-occupied residence, the state's tax court said.
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August 12, 2024
'Survivor' Winner Is True Owner In Property Dispute, US Says
The winner of the first "Survivor" television season is the true owner of disputed property that should be sold to pay down his $3.3 million in tax liabilities, the government told a Rhode Island federal court, rejecting claims that his sister is the owner.
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August 12, 2024
Trump Co.'s Condo Tower Project Advances In Florida
Doral, Florida, officials on Wednesday advanced a revised request from a company owned by former President Donald Trump to build a series of condo towers with high-end retail after the city signed off on a zoning change for the project last year.
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August 09, 2024
Fed. Circ.'s Eviction Ban Ruling A Big Win For Landlords
Attorneys believe the Federal Circuit's Aug. 7 decision to reverse a ruling on the COVID-19 federal eviction moratorium is part of a growing trend to consider whether landlord-tenant regulations are a physical taking, and it could change the way federal agencies weigh new programs.
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August 09, 2024
Cos. Say Insurer Owes Coverage For Penn. Building Collapse
A Philadelphia residential building owner and its affiliate accused Trisura Specialty Insurance Co. on Friday of wrongfully denying coverage after part of the property collapsed in September 2022.
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August 09, 2024
Home Sellers Get Approved For $250M HomeServices Deal
A Missouri federal judge granted preliminary approval for a $250 million class action settlement to end an antitrust suit filed by home sellers who accused the National Association of Realtors, HomeServices of America Inc. and other companies of conspiring to artificially inflate broker commission fees.
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August 09, 2024
Restoration Worker Can't Shake Employment Deal Claims
North Carolina's Business Court has pared down a lawsuit between a restoration company and a former employee centered on allegations of breaking employment agreements and misusing licenses, with the court ruling most of the worker's claims had to be tossed, while some of the company's accusations can head toward trial.
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August 09, 2024
Colony Ridge Mortgage Co. Says It Was 'Office Geek' For Site
A Texas mortgage company pushed Friday to be released from a lawsuit accusing a Houston-area real estate developer and lender of predatory lending practices, telling a federal judge that it never met with the Hispanic consumers allegedly preyed on through the scheme and that the company was "just doing paperwork."
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August 09, 2024
Property Plays: Blackstone, Stack Infrastructure, Vornado
Property Plays is a weekly roundup of the latest loans, leases, sales and projects around the country. Send your tips — all confidential — to realestate@law360.com.
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August 09, 2024
Colo. Judge Rejects Hedge Fund's Bid To Toss Developer Suit
A Colorado state judge has denied a hedge fund owner's attempt to toss claims in a lawsuit accusing it and related entities of violating a term sheet for a commercial housing project, finding a real estate development company's breach of contract and fraud claims were specific enough to survive dismissal.
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August 09, 2024
Phillips Lytle Adds Ex-Benderson Development In-House Atty
An attorney who started his career at Phillips Lytle LLP has returned to the firm as special counsel on its real estate industry team in New York state after five years as in-house counsel at Benderson Development.
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August 08, 2024
Judge OKs $18.2M Settlement For Assisted Living Residents
A California federal judge preliminarily approved an $18.2 million class action settlement for a suit that accused two assisted living companies of defrauding current and former residents and their relatives by misleading them about promised care services.
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August 08, 2024
Equifax Not Responsible For Mortgage Denial, 7th Circ. Rules
A split Seventh Circuit on Wednesday refused to revive an Illinois woman's suit claiming she was denied a mortgage because Equifax didn't accurately report her credit history, finding Equifax could not be held liable for errors in another company's report combining data from all three major credit bureaus.
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August 08, 2024
Real Estate Agents Not Liable In Death Suit, Ga. Court Says
The Georgia Court of Appeals said for the first time that real estate brokers or agents could be held responsible for injuries sustained by visitors during property showings, just not in the case of a man suing over his wife's deadly fall in 2019.
Expert Analysis
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Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief
As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
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In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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What's New In Kentucky's Financial Services Overhaul
Kentucky's H.B. 726 will go into effect in July and brings with it some significant restructuring to the Kentucky Financial Services Code, including changes to mortgage loan license fees and repeals of provisions relating to installment term loans and savings associations, say attorneys at Frost Brown.
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A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches
Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.
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Tax Assessment: Recapping Georgia's Legislative Session
Jonathan Feldman and Alla Raykin at Eversheds Sutherland examine tax-related changes from Georgia’s General Assembly — such as the governor’s successful push to accelerate income tax cuts — and suggest steps to take before certain tax incentives are challenged in the state's next legislative session.
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11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes
The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in In re: Talal Qais Abdulmunem Al Zawawi has introduced a split from the Second Circuit regarding whether debtors in foreign proceedings must have a domicile, calling attention to the understudied nature of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs
The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking
With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.
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How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers
Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.
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2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.