Residential
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June 03, 2025
The Law360 400: A Look At The Top 100 Firms
A rebound in client work sent the nation’s largest law firms into growth mode last year, driving a wave of hiring, mergers and strategic moves that reshaped the top tier of the Law360 400. Here's a preview of the 100 firms with the largest U.S. attorney headcounts.
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June 03, 2025
Text To Sanctions Trial Witness Just An 'Error,' Judge Agrees
A Manhattan federal judge declined on Tuesday to revoke bail for a businessman accused of helping a Russian banker evade sanctions on assets worth nearly $150 million, after his lawyer said his text to a trial witness was merely a phone flub.
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June 03, 2025
Real Estate Lawyers On The Move
Vedder Price, BakerHostetler and Clifford Chance are among the law firms that have made recent real estate or construction hires.
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June 02, 2025
Rocket Cos. Board Beats Investor's $500M Insider Trading Suit
Delaware's Court of Chancery on Monday dismissed a derivative shareholder suit accusing Rocket Companies Inc.'s board, chairman and controlling stockholder of breaching their fiduciary duties by liquidating $500 million worth of stock allegedly based on material nonpublic information, saying the plaintiffs have failed to show a motive.
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June 02, 2025
Budget Bill Would Deepen Residential Solar's Woes
A Sunnova unit's bankruptcy declaration — the latest among dozens of solar companies that have struggled to stay afloat — adds to evidence of a floundering residential solar industry, which now faces further diminishing prospects under the federal budget reconciliation bill.
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June 02, 2025
Landlord To Quit Pricing Software To Escape Antitrust Suit
William C. Smith & Co. will be stepping out of litigation accusing the company of using property management platform RealPage to conspire with other landlords and fix the price of rentals in the D.C. area, after agreeing to reform its business practices and shell out over $1 million.
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June 02, 2025
Seattle Owner Questions Insurer's $8.5M Water Damage Denial
A Seattle building owner urged a Washington federal court to grant it a partial early win in a coverage dispute over $8.5 million in water damage, telling the court that under state law, none of the four exclusions its insurer cited when denying coverage are applicable to the water intrusion loss.
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June 02, 2025
Sacramento County Inks Encampment ADA Settlement
The county of Sacramento and a proposed class of residents with disabilities told a California federal court on Monday they have reached a tentative deal amid a suit alleging the city and county violated various state and federal laws by allowing homeless encampments to block sidewalks.
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June 02, 2025
Squire Patton Boggs Advises US Land Banking Partnership
Squire Patton Boggs LLP guided Walton Global on a partnership with GoldenTree Asset Management to make investments in lot banking transactions in high-growth U.S. markets.
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June 02, 2025
Tax Court Cuts $21M Off Former Ga. Quarry's Deduction Value
A donated 85-acre land plot in Georgia originally valued at nearly $22 million should have been valued around $193,000, the U.S. Tax Court found Monday, agreeing with the Internal Revenue Service.
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June 02, 2025
PG&E, Lenders Hit With Suit Over Solar Panel 'Scheme'
Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. and several other companies were accused in California federal court of running a "bait-and-switch" scheme in which they saddle homeowners with hidden fees after tricking them into financing solar panel installations through zero-interest loans.
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June 02, 2025
Insurer Not Liable For $8.5M Florida Condo Defect Damages
A Florida federal judge freed an insurer from paying any of the $8.5 million in damages connected to shoddy work at a Florida condo, finding there wasn't an allocation accounting for which claims were covered and which claims were not in an agreement between the condo and a contractor.
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June 02, 2025
Healthcare REIT Lands $94M In Mortgages For Senior Housing
Diversified Healthcare Trust announced Monday that it closed on two mortgages secured by six properties totaling $94.3 million, which it plans to use to pay down high interest rate senior notes due in June.
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June 02, 2025
McGuireWoods Guides Bronx Multifamily Portfolio Loan
McGuireWoods LLP advised financing secured by a 2.1 million-square-foot affordable housing portfolio in the Bronx that was acquired last month by Longacre Group from Related Fund Management.
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June 02, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Greenberg Traurig and Schulte Roth are among the law firms that landed work on the largest New York City real estate trades that hit public records last week, with a nine-figure Brooklyn deal topping the list.
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June 02, 2025
Texas Voters To Decide On Fire-Ruined Homestead Tax Break
Texas voters will decide whether to amend the state's constitution to authorize a temporary property tax exemption for homesteads destroyed by fire under a joint resolution approved by state lawmakers and filed with the secretary of state.
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May 30, 2025
Rocket Mortgage Class Asks Justices To Scope Decertification
Rocket Mortgage borrowers who saw their class action against the lender decertified have told the U.S. Supreme Court that another pending case before it will resolve the question that undid their own class standing, and their litigation should be put on hold until that case is resolved.
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May 30, 2025
Feds, AGs Scoff At Landlords' Bid To Toss Antitrust Case
Landlords embroiled in an antitrust suit misconstrued the law and agreements at the heart of the case, the federal government and state enforcers said on Thursday as they urged a North Carolina federal court to reject the landlords' bid to dismiss.
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May 30, 2025
Missouri Judge Rejects Berkshire Unit's Transfer Appeal Cert. Bid
A Missouri federal judge on Friday denied a Berkshire Hathaway unit's motion to certify the company's denied transfer bid for a consolidated antitrust broker fees class action.
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May 30, 2025
Praying Or Parking? Religious Land Use Fights Head To Court
Local zoning and planning boards, usually unelected decision-making bodies, often operate with sweeping discretion that can provide cover for discrimination against religious communities. But backed by pro bono attorneys, religious groups are leaning on a 2000 federal law in their bid for court intervention.
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May 30, 2025
Atlanta Seeks Win In Ex-Building Officials' Age Bias Suit
A former Atlanta building official has failed to show his age was the deciding factor in not being promoted to a chief inspector role, the city told a federal court, urging it to toss the man's discrimination lawsuit.
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May 30, 2025
Cleary Helping Cushman & Wakefield On Move To Bermuda
Cushman & Wakefield's parent company is seeking to move its place of incorporation from England and Wales to Bermuda, with the assistance of counsel from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, the real estate brokerage firm said in a regulatory filing.
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May 30, 2025
Bravo Property Trust Lands $400M From Middle East Investor
Real estate financing company Bravo Property Trust announced on Friday that a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund manager will invest up to $400 million in the firm to support its bridge and construction loan offerings.
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May 29, 2025
NY Landlord LLC Transparency Bill Advances
The New York State Senate passed a bill on May 28 to require landlords of rent-stabilized properties to disclose members of their limited liability companies.
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May 29, 2025
Real Estate CFO, Mogul's Daughter Dodge Two Trustee Claims
The chief financial officer of bankrupt construction services company Gateway Development Group Inc. and the daughter of the company's chair have escaped a Chapter 7 trustee's claims that they helped the chair breach his fiduciary duties, with a judge ruling the claims aren't recognized under Connecticut law.
Expert Analysis
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4 Key Types Of Coming FHLBank Reforms To Watch
Though the Federal Housing Finance Agency's recent report on the Federal Home Loan Bank System has received relatively little attention, the regulatory and legislative changes it proposes in four categories herald the start of a significant effort by the agency to reform the system’s structure and operations and overhaul requirements for member banks, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Property Owner Considerations Around Electric Vehicle Bans
In light of a property management company's recent ban on electric vehicles in Canada, it's worth considering how similar bans might fare in Florida and other U.S. states, and the legal ramifications that could potentially arise, say Gerardo Ortega and Gary Kaleita at Lowndes.
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Trump NY Fraud Trial Shows Civil, Criminal Case Differences
Former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial currently unfolding in New York provides a reminder that civil bench trials can be just as damaging, if not more so, than criminal prosecutions, due to several key elements of civil litigation procedure, says retired attorney David Moskowitz.
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Why NYC Building Owners Shouldn't Ignore Emissions Rule
New rules from the New York City Department of Buildings clarify the previously vague good faith efforts that building owners may make to mitigate penalties for not complying with a major carbon emission law that takes effect in January, and should discourage owners from simply paying the fines instead of decarbonizing, says William McCracken at Moritt Hock.
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What NJ's Green Remediation Guidance Means For Cleanups
Recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection promoting greener approaches to restoring contaminated sites demonstrates the state's commitment to sustainability and environmental justice — but could also entail more complexity, higher costs and longer remediation timelines, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.
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A New Path Forward For Surplus Land Owners In Calif.
A new California law signed last month enables some religious institutions and nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on surplus land, and its requirements — which are more manageable than they may appear — will support long-term benefits including good housing and the survival of worthy institutions, says Stephen Wilson at Withers.
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Inside Bank Regulators' Community Lending Law Overhaul
The federal banking agencies' recently finalized changes to the Community Reinvestment Act not only account for the gradual shift to an environment where lending and deposit-taking are primarily conducted online, but also implement other updates such as diversity initiatives and a new series of lending tests, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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A Bird's Eye View Of NYC's New Parapet Inspection Law
Building owners in New York City should be ready for the city's new parapet inspection requirements going into effect in January, which will likely necessitate additional construction work for countless buildings not previously subject to formal inspections, says Benjamin Fox Tracy at Braverman Greenspun.
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AI Isn't The Wild West, So Prepare Now For Bias Risks
In addition to President Joe Biden's recent historic executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence, there are existing federal and state laws prohibiting fraud, defamation and even discrimination, so companies considering using or developing AI should take steps to minimize legal and business risks, says civil rights attorney Farhana Khera.
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AI's Baked-In Bias: What To Watch Out For
The federal AI executive order is a direct acknowledgment of the perils of inherent bias in artificial intelligence systems, and highlights the need for legal professionals to thoroughly vet AI systems, including data and sources, algorithms and AI training methods, and more, say Jonathan Hummel and Jonathan Talcott at Ballard Spahr.
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Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability
In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.
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5th Circ. Ruling May Beget Fraud Jury Instruction Appeals
The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Greenlaw decision, disapproving disjunctive fraudulent-intent jury instructions, will likely spawn appeals in mail, wire and securities fraud cases, but defendants must show that their deception furthered ends other than taking the victim's property, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.
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Considerations For Navigating Mixed-Use Developments
As mixed-use developments continue to rise in popularity, developers considering this approach to urban planning must be aware of key considerations ranging from title and zoning laws to proper engagement with stakeholders, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.