Residential
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November 21, 2024
Data Co. Gets Remand Of Suits Over Judicial Privacy
A federal judge sent 39 lawsuits alleging violations of a New Jersey judicial privacy law back to state courts, finding the district lacks subject matter jurisdiction.
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November 21, 2024
Suit Against Mortgage Co. Axed Despite Atty's Bad Faith Claim
A Texas state court judge has dismissed for good an attorney's lawsuit against the mortgage company she formerly worked for in-house, despite a dispute over whether the matter should have ended with or without prejudice.
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November 21, 2024
La. Parishes Can't Change Property Values After Court Rulings
Louisiana parish assessors lack the authority to unilaterally change a property's assessment if they become aware of an error in the assessment after a local board or the state Tax Commission sets the property's value, the state attorney general's office said.
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November 21, 2024
PierFerd Adds Fla. Transactions Partner From Taylor English
Pierson Ferdinand LLP just got a bit larger with the addition of a partner in Miami from Taylor English Duma LLP, bringing expertise in real estate, banking and financial services that is expected to bolster the firm's ongoing growth.
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November 20, 2024
2nd Circ. Doubts Error In Tenant Screener's FHA Suit Win
A Second Circuit panel appeared skeptical Wednesday that a Connecticut federal judge used the wrong analysis to find that a tenant screener's criminal history reporting practices do not violate the Fair Housing Act, grilling counsel for the federal government about the lower court's process.
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November 20, 2024
Split Ohio Supreme Court OKs Power Co.'s Herbicide Use
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed an early win for landowners in a case against Ohio Edison Co. that had sought to stop the company from using herbicide on their property to clear space for power lines.
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November 20, 2024
Manhattan Landlords Fight Rent Regulation Clawback
In what may be their last chance to escape rent stabilization, a group of Manhattan landlords argued before a panel of New York Court of Appeals judges Wednesday that a state agency unfairly clawed back their right to deregulate their apartments.
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November 20, 2024
NJ Court Must Revisit Assessor's Workplace Retaliation Claim
A New Jersey trial court must revisit a municipal tax assessor's workplace retaliation claim as the case used by the court in its decision doesn't exempt assessors from the state's employee protection law, an appellate panel ruled Wednesday.
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November 20, 2024
Extell To Tear Down Madison Ave. Office For Mixed-Use Tower
Extell Development plans to demolish an office building on Manhattan's Madison Avenue and erect a mixed-use tower with apartments on the site, according to New York City records filed this week.
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November 20, 2024
UK Biz Owes Taxes On £200M Sale Of Lease, Court Affirms
A U.K. property company owes tax on its intragroup purchase of a lease for a 50-story apartment tower in central London for £200 million ($253 million) despite its tax advisers' promise of a tax-free step-up in basis, the Upper Tribunal said Wednesday.
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November 20, 2024
Boston Mayor Touts Property Tax Relief Bill Before Panel
Massachusetts lawmakers should allow Boston to adjust its property tax calculations to stabilize the share borne by residences, mitigating an impending tax hike, and boost a business personal property tax exemption, Boston's mayor told a legislative panel Wednesday.
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November 20, 2024
DACA Recipient Fights To Keep NJ Apartment Bias Suit Alive
A Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient urged a New Jersey federal court not to toss her suit alleging a landlord wrongly refused her housing application, saying she was rejected because she didn't turn over documentation that is unavailable to DACA recipients.
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November 20, 2024
McCarter Partner, Former Miami Official On AI In Land Use
From planning for mega storms to streamlining zoning approvals, artificial intelligence tools are bringing efficiency and new modeling capabilities to local governments.
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November 20, 2024
MVP: Latham's Michelle Kelban
Michelle Kelban, co-chair of Latham & Watkins LLP's real estate group, helmed a $2 billion construction financing for Cain International and guided Ares Management's blockbuster purchase of GCP International, earning her a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Real Estate MVPs.
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November 19, 2024
Online Lenders, Contractor Face Service Members' Fraud Suit
California-based contractor Multitaskr Construction Inc. and several online lending companies were hit with a consumer lawsuit in California federal court alleging they conspired to originate lucrative fraudulent loans for home improvement projects that were never completed.
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November 19, 2024
DOJ Hits Pennsylvania With Bias Suit Over Building Code
A Pennsylvania building code with an automatic sprinkler requirement for community homes for autistic people or those with intellectually disabilities is discriminatory, as it doesn't apply to "similarly sized" homes for people who aren't disabled, the federal government alleged Tuesday.
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November 19, 2024
Condo Says Insurer Underpaid By $19M After Hurricane Ian
A Florida condo association said its insurer underpaid it by nearly $19 million after Hurricane Ian destroyed its property in 2022, according to a suit that was removed to federal court.
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November 19, 2024
'Survivor' Winner Needs To Pay $3.3M Tax Bill, Judge Advises
The winner of the "Survivor" television series who evaded taxes on his $1 million in prize money and served time in prison should pay $3.3 million of his civil liabilities, including fraud penalties, a federal magistrate judge said.
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November 19, 2024
Tarter Krinsky Adds CRE Transaction Atty
An attorney with experience across the spectrum of commercial real estate transactions has joined Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP's real estate practice from Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco PC, the firm announced.
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November 19, 2024
Fannie, Freddie To Buy $146B In 2025 Multifamily Loans
The Federal Housing Finance Agency raised the multifamily loan purchase caps for government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $73 billion each — totaling $146 billion in 2025 — the agency announced.
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November 18, 2024
Brokerage Startup Defends Suit Over NAR Listing Rules
A residential brokerage startup defended its antitrust lawsuit from dismissal motions filed by the National Association of Realtors and multiple brokerages, arguing in Utah federal court that it has standing to bring its suit "as an excluded competitor" and that it's not required to make specific claims about the roles of the defendants in the alleged antitrust conspiracy.
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November 18, 2024
HUD Ducks Homeowner's Insurance Overpayment Suit
A Florida federal judge dismissed a homeowner's proposed class action alleging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development failed to refund mortgage insurance premium overpayments, finding the suit seeks sweeping relief that exceeds the court's power.
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November 18, 2024
Treasury Finalizes Tougher Foreign Investment Law Penalties
The Treasury Department on Monday finalized a rule sharpening its enforcement authority to stop or demand additional information regarding foreign-investment deals that the U.S. deems potential threats to national security.
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November 18, 2024
Trump Co. Seeks Coverage Of Wage Theft, Discrimination Suit
The Trump Corp. asked a New York federal court to force an insurer to defend it in a more than $500,000 wage theft and age discrimination dispute brought by a former employee of a company-managed luxury condo in Manhattan.
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November 18, 2024
Wash. Court Asked To Eye Renewal Docs In Fire Damage Row
A Washington couple and two Progressive units urged a federal court to issue a pretrial ruling on whether the couple is entitled to up to $750,000 for a fire they said "destroyed" their home, after Progressive denied coverage for failure to pay the homeowner policy's premium.
Expert Analysis
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A Closer Look At Feds' Proposed Banker Compensation Rule
A recently proposed rule to limit financial institutions' ability to award incentive-based compensation for risk-taking may progress through the rulemaking process slowly due to the sheer number of regulators collaborating on the rule and the number of issues under consideration, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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The FTC And DOJ Should Backtrack On RealPage
The antitrust agencies ought to reverse course on their enforcement actions against RealPage, which are based on a faulty legal premise, risk further property shortages and threaten the use of algorithms that are central to the U.S. economy, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.
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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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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.
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SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.