Residential

  • December 10, 2024

    NC Law Firm, Insurer Drop Phishing Coverage Row

    A law firm specializing in real estate transactions and its cyber insurer told a North Carolina federal court Tuesday they've agreed to settle their dispute over coverage for a phishing scam the firm said caused it to unwittingly wire roughly $647,000 to the hacker's bank account.

  • December 10, 2024

    Wash. HOA Can't Get Early Win Bid In Water Damage Row

    A homeowners association for a Seattle-area condominium complex can't yet prevail on its bad faith claims against its insurer over coverage for extensive water damage, a Washington federal court ruled, finding a material factual dispute over whether the association filed its coverage action within its policy's two-year suit-filing deadline.

  • December 10, 2024

    Ore. Real Estate Agent Underreported Income, Court Says

    An Oregon real estate agent and investor failed to report nearly $188,000 in income, including the profits from two property sales, the state's tax court ruled, rejecting her appeal of the state tax department's findings except for small adjustments.

  • December 10, 2024

    Sheppard Mullin Guides Slate Property On $70M Queens Loan

    Sheppard Mullin represented Slate Property Group in connection with a $70 million Queens construction loan the company acted as co-lender on, the law firm told Law360 Real Estate Authority on Tuesday.

  • December 09, 2024

    RealPage Says DOJ's Ended Multifamily Rental Criminal Probe

    RealPage said the U.S. Department of Justice had ended a criminal probe into the multifamily rental housing industry's pricing practices, adding that the algorithmic pricing company was never identified as an investigation target.

  • December 09, 2024

    Insurer Asks 7th Circ. To Review Faulty Work Coverage Ruling

    An insurer urged the Seventh Circuit on Monday to review a ruling requiring it to defend an architectural design firm and its owner against faulty work claims seeking more than $3.4 million in damages, saying the ruling is contrary to an Illinois Supreme Court decision involving the same issues.

  • December 09, 2024

    Supreme Court Won't Review Ex-HUD Official's Conviction

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a former staffer in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General who was convicted of failing to disclose a loan from a friend who was later hired as a government subcontractor.

  • December 09, 2024

    NYC Real Estate Week In Review

    Fried Frank and Tannenbaum Helpern are among the law firms that handled work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw three residential unit trades at one Manhattan building.

  • December 09, 2024

    Offit Kurman Adds Landlord Attorney In Bethesda Office

    Offit Kurman Attorneys At Law said it has added Shelbie Cook as a landlord representation attorney in the firm's Bethesda, Maryland, office.

  • December 06, 2024

    Billionaires Show New Interest In Texas' Intermediate Courts

    Billionaire-backed funding in Texas helped push a wave of Republican judges who swept races for intermediate appellate courts across the state, representing a new level of corporate spending in judicial races often marked by underfunded campaigns and low voter awareness.

  • December 06, 2024

    J&J Seeks New Talc Trial As Developer Seeks $30M More

    As Johnson & Johnson seeks to toss the underlying verdict, a real estate developer and cancer patient who was awarded $15 million in compensation from a talc trial jury has asked a Connecticut state judge to award another $30 million to punish the company for allegedly putting "profits over people."

  • December 06, 2024

    Property Plays: Valley, GSA, A's Stadium

    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.

  • December 06, 2024

    Advocates Shine Light On Rash Of Deficient Evictions In NJ

    A new report from a team of New Jersey housing experts found that as many as 29,000 tenants and tenant families may be evicted in the Garden State every year based on legally deficient complaints. Now they’re calling for greater oversight in the state’s landlord-tenant courts.

  • December 06, 2024

    CMBS Lending Is Higher Than It's Been In Years

    The comedown of interest rates this past year has been a boon for the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, with the amount of issued CMBS up roughly 172% year-to-date as of November, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency LLC.

  • December 06, 2024

    $29.75M Deal Proposed To End Del. Latch Inc. SPAC Suit

    Attorneys for investors who bought into Latch Inc.'s Tishman Speyer-led, $1.5 billion take-public deal only to see their shares nosedive have tentatively settled consolidated class damage claims for $29.75 million, according to a Delaware Court of Chancery filing.

  • December 06, 2024

    Huizar's Big Brother Avoids Jail In LA City Hall Bribery Case

    The older brother of former Los Angeles City Councilor José Huizar on Friday avoided prison for lying to investigators about his role laundering bribes for the disgraced politician, with a California federal judge crediting the defendant's cooperation after he "finally decided to tell the truth."

  • December 06, 2024

    NYC Council OKs Mayor's Affordable Housing Plan

    The New York City Council passed a package of zoning reforms designed to spur housing production, greenlighting Mayor Eric Adams' City of Yes for Housing Opportunity plan after the city and state agreed to earmark $5 billion in funding to accompany the zoning overhaul.

  • December 05, 2024

    Property Insurance Policyholders See Hope Amid Headwinds

    In a year filled with property insurance challenges ranging from rising rates to limited availability, some policyholders saw gains in favorable state high court decisions, easing regulatory landscapes and insurer accountability.

  • December 05, 2024

    Rocket Mortgage Sues HUD, Hits Back At DOJ Race Bias Suit

    Rocket Mortgage, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, has punched back against housing discrimination claims brought by the U.S. government, countersuing in Colorado federal court to challenge what it argues are "conflicting and irreconcilable" mandates at play.

  • December 05, 2024

    Freddie Mac Beats Suit Over Payoff Statement Fees, For Now

    A Washington federal judge has tentatively let Freddie Mac off the hook in borrowers' proposed class action alleging loan servicer Nationstar Mortgage illegally charged fees for payoff statements, ruling Thursday that Freddie Mac can't be liable for conduct it didn't authorize — even if it did own one loan at issue.

  • December 05, 2024

    Yardi Must Face Rent-Fixing Suit With Tough Standard

    A Washington federal court has refused to dismiss an antitrust case accusing multifamily building owners of conspiring to use Yardi's revenue management software to inflate rental prices and found the claims should be treated as classic price-fixing allegations.

  • December 05, 2024

    Ohio Court Affirms Nix Of Bid To Double $42M Property Value

    An effort to nearly double the $42 million taxable value of a property to its recent sale price was correctly dismissed, an Ohio state appeals court said, upholding a state law barring complaints based on the untimeliness of a sale.

  • December 05, 2024

    Real Estate Fintech Co. Lands $350M Blue Owl Investment

    Real estate fintech company Splitero announced Thursday that it inked a deal with asset management firm Blue Owl Capital, which will use its managed funds to buy up to $350 million worth of home equity investments.

  • December 05, 2024

    Detroit Needs More Evidence In Census Row, Judge Says

    A Michigan federal judge gave the city of Detroit another chance Thursday to prove the U.S. Census Bureau undercounted the city's population and negatively impacted its federal funding, telling the city it wouldn't have standing to sue the federal government without such evidence.

  • December 05, 2024

    Airbnb Customers Drop 'Assistance Fee' Suit Against Insurers

    A proposed class of Airbnb customers permanently dropped a suit accusing two of the company's insurance providers of violating Washington state law by charging an "assistance fee" when selling travel coverage.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools

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    A comparison of traditional algorithmic pricing models and those powered by generative artificial intelligence can help regulators and practitioners weigh the pros and cons of relying on large language models to price products or services, say Maxime Cohen at McGill University, and Tim Spittle and Jimmy Royer at Analysis Group.

  • Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls

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    Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

  • What To Know About CFPB Stance On Confidentiality Terms

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    A recent circular from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a growing effort across government agencies to address overbroad confidentiality agreements, and gives employers insight into the bureau's perspective on the issue as it relates to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, say Holly Williamson and Elizabeth King at Hunton.

  • What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

  • Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks

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    Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.

  • Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis

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    There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.