Residential
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May 07, 2025
Venable Adds Construction Pro As Partner In Chicago
Venable LLP hired veteran construction attorney Charles "Cully" H. Wahtola III as a partner for the firm's construction law group in its Chicago office, the firm announced.
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May 07, 2025
NYC Developer Conned Investors Out Of $10M, Feds Say
A real estate developer involved in several projects in New York City was charged by federal prosecutors with misappropriating about $10 million in investor funds and using the money to finance a lavish lifestyle and cover gambling losses.
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May 07, 2025
Wells Fargo Forced Short Sales Despite CARES Act, Suit Says
Wells Fargo forced the short sale of a North Carolina woman's home by denying her forbearance on her mortgage as mandated under federal law at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she alleged in a proposed class action filed in California federal court.
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May 07, 2025
3 Firms Guide $135M Loan Deal For Brooklyn Condo Project
Charney Cos. announced Tuesday that it secured a $135 million construction loan for the development of a 45-story, 182-unit Brooklyn condominium building.
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May 07, 2025
Big Brokers Say Tariff Effects Mostly Missed CRE In Q1
Commercial real estate executives largely shrugged off the effects of trade disputes this spring in reporting first-quarter results, even as they acknowledged more murkiness ahead for the rest of 2025.
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May 07, 2025
MoFo Real Estate Leader Eyes Surge In New Debt Funds
As some banks have pulled back or hit the pause button on commercial real estate lending, nonbank debt funds have been jumping in with full force to fill that lacuna, one of MoFo's real estate leaders told Law360 in a recent interview.
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May 07, 2025
Developer Fights NJ Power Broker's Bid To Nix Civil RICO Suit
A Camden, New Jersey, real estate developer is fighting to keep alive his civil racketeering suit against South Jersey power broker George Norcross, arguing in New Jersey state court the recent dismissal of a related indictment against Norcross "changes nothing" in the civil litigation.
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May 07, 2025
NJ Justices Deem Town Liable For Frivolous Lawsuits
Frivolous litigation by local government officials is not constitutionally protected and carries financial consequences, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a 5-0 decision reining in baseless legal battles.
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May 07, 2025
Contractor Skanska Promotes Two Civil Division GCs
Construction and development firm Skanska has said it promoted two employees to vice president and assistant general counsel, with both advising separate civil engineering divisions.
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May 07, 2025
DLA Piper Adds Morgan Lewis Commercial Real Estate Pro
DLA Piper hired a partner for the firm's real estate practice group, a commercial real estate attorney who joins the firm from Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
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May 07, 2025
Conn. Town, State End Feud Over Affordable Housing Credits
The Connecticut town of New Canaan has agreed to drop its suit against the state's Department of Housing, which was accused in state court of wrongfully rejecting the town's bid for affordable housing credits and a development moratorium.
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May 07, 2025
Vornado Signals Residential Foray Into NYC's Penn District
Vornado Realty Trust executives hinted on a first-quarter earnings call at an embrace of residential development in Manhattan's Penn District, where the real estate investment trust owns a 10 million-square-foot portfolio.
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May 06, 2025
HUD Says Suit To Block Fund Cuts Belongs In Claims Court
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development urged a Washington federal judge on Tuesday to reject emergency relief sought by San Francisco, Boston, New York and King County, Washington, to block the Trump administration from slashing millions of dollars of homelessness assistance grants, saying federal court lacks jurisdiction.
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May 06, 2025
PennyMac Wins Quick 9th Circ. Appeal Of Libor-Rate Ruling
A California federal judge on Monday allowed PennyMac entities to pursue their quick appeal in a proposed class action alleging they illegally imposed a lower fixed interest rate instead of a variable rate on preferred-stock dividends, asking the Ninth Circuit to clarify whether the Libor Act bars such fixed rates.
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May 06, 2025
DR Horton Sued In Del. Over Property Deal Conflict Claims
Stockholders of residential land developer Forestar Group Inc. sued national homebuilding giant and Forestar controller D.R. Horton derivatively late Monday for hundreds of millions in potential damages tied to billions' worth of allegedly conflicted, below-market sales to Horton of Forestar-prepared lots.
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May 06, 2025
Fair Housing Org. Fights Landlord's Counterattack In Bias Suit
An Ohio fair housing organization urged a federal court to toss a landlord's counterclaims in the group's disability bias suit, arguing that the counterclaims "are a transparent attempt" to avoid complying with federal law.
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May 06, 2025
Irish Developer To Settle With Ex Amid $942M Conn. Ch. 7
The Chapter 7 trustee overseeing the $942 million estate of Irish real estate developer Sean Dunne will settle claims of more than €3.6 million ($4 million) from a woman who alleges to be Dunne's first wife, the parties told a Connecticut bankruptcy judge Tuesday.
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May 06, 2025
Tax Court Erred In Slashing $23M Easement, 11th Circ. Told
A partnership told the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court erred in substantially reducing its claim to a $23 million conservation easement tax deduction, arguing the decision was tainted by error-riddled criteria used by the IRS to value the property.
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May 06, 2025
Atty's Derisive Comments Warrant New Trial, NJ Panel Says
A New Jersey appellate panel on Monday said that an attorney's comments during her opening and closing arguments in a trial over a real estate transaction gone wrong went way too far, vacating a jury's $420,000 verdict in favor of her clients.
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May 05, 2025
NC AG Vies To Force MV Realty CEO To Cooperate With Probe
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson urged a state court to force Antony Mitchell, the CEO of real estate brokerage MV Realty, to cooperate with his office's investigative demand order relating to a home-selling agreement offered by another one of Mitchell's companies, the state's Department of Justice announced Monday.
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May 05, 2025
Ex-NY Gov. Aide Can't Ax Foreign Agent Charges
A Brooklyn federal judge said Monday that a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul can't ditch charges of money laundering and acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government, saying prosecutors sufficiently alleged she knowingly used her position to advance that nation's interests.
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May 05, 2025
Ky. Property Owner Sues Liberty Mutual For Arson Coverage
The owner of an apartment building in the Louisville, Kentucky, metro area accused a Liberty Mutual unit of denying property coverage in bad faith for a May 2023 arson incident that rendered the building a total loss, telling a federal court Monday the insurer wrongly invoked a raft of exclusions.
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May 05, 2025
Single-Family Housing Co. Sees Q1 Market 'Resilience'
Invitation Homes saw "solid" first quarter results that showcased "the resilience of the single-family rental market and the strength of our operating platform," the CEO of the single-family homes company said in an earnings call.
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May 05, 2025
5 Firms Pilot Pershing Square's $900M Howard Hughes Deal
Hedge fund Pershing Square will grow its ownership stake in Howard Hughes Holdings and expand the company's business lines beyond real estate development in a $900 million deal put together by five law firms, the companies said Monday.
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May 05, 2025
8-Atty Shumaker Community Association Team Joins Becker
Becker & Poliakoff PC announced Monday an eight-person team of community association law attorneys joined the firm's Tampa, Florida, office from Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP.
Expert Analysis
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Bankruptcy Ruling Shifts Lease Rejection Claim Calculation
A New York federal court’s recent ruling in In re: Cortlandt provides guidance on how to calculate a landlord's damages claim when a bankruptcy debtor rejects a lease, changing from an approach that considers the remaining rent due under the lease to one that considers the remaining time, say Bethany Simmons and Noah Weingarten at Loeb & Loeb.
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Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact
A close look at the unique language at issue in Avila v. Biscayne, in which a Florida appellate court deemed a condo termination to be invalid, shows that the case is unlikely to significantly affect other potential terminations, say Barry Lapides and Edward Baker at Berger Singerman.
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Takeaways From FDIC's Spring Supervisory Highlights
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s spring 2024 consumer compliance supervisory report found that relatively few institutions had significant consumer compliance issues last year, but the common thread among those that did were inadequacies or failures in disclosures to consumers, says Matthew Hanaghan at Nutter.
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What Calif. Eviction Ruling Means For Defaulting Borrowers
A California appellate court's recent decision in Homeward Opportunities v. Taptelis found that a defaulting borrower could not delay foreclosure with an improperly served notice of pendency of action, but leaves open a possibility for borrowers to delay eviction proceedings merely by filing lawsuits, say Anne Beehler and Krystal Anderson at Holland & Knight.
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How 3D Printing And Prefab Are Changing Construction
The growing popularity of trends like 3D printing technology and prefabrication in the construction industry have positive ramifications ranging from reducing risks at project sites to streamlining construction schedules, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.
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Wave Of Final Rules Reflects Race Against CRA Deadline
The flurry of final rules now leaping off the Federal Register press — some of which will affect entire industries and millions of Americans — shows President Joe Biden's determination to protect his regulatory legacy from reversal by the next Congress, given the impending statutory look-back period under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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A Deep Dive Into High Court's Permit Fee Ruling
David Robinson and Daniel Golub at Holland & Knight explore the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that a local traffic impact fee charged to a California property owner may be a Fifth Amendment taking — and where it leaves localities and real estate developers.
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The Case For Overturning Florida Foreclosure Ruling
A Florida appellate court's recent decision in Desbrunes v. U.S. Bank National Association will potentially put foreclosure cases across the state in jeopardy, and unless it is reconsidered, foreclosing plaintiffs will need to choose between frustrating and uncertain options in the new legal landscape, say Sara Accardi and Paige Knight at Bradley.
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Bracing For The CFPB's War On Mortgage Fees
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau homes in on the legality of certain residential mortgage fees, the industry should consult the bureau's steady stream of consumer lending guidance for hints on its priorities, say Nanci Weissgold and Melissa Malpass at Alston & Bird.
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DOJ Consent Orders Chart Road Map For Lending Compliance
Two recent consent orders issued by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its efforts to fight mortgage lending discrimination highlight issues that pose fair lending compliance risks, and should be carefully studied by banks to avoid enforcement actions, says Memrie Fortenberry at Jones Walker.
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Reverse Veil-Piercing Ruling Will Help Judgment Creditors
A New York federal court’s recent decision in Citibank v. Aralpa Holdings, finding two corporate entities liable for a judgment issued against a Mexican businessman, shows the value of reverse veil piercing as a remedy for judgment creditors to go after sophisticated debtors who squirrel away assets, says Gabe Bluestone at Omni Bridgeway.
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Calif. Housing Overhaul May Increase Pressure On Landlords
Two recently enacted California laws signal new protections and legal benefits for tenants, but also elevate landlords' financial exposure at a time when they are already facing multiple other hardships, says Laya Dogmetchi at Much Shelist.
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New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS
Last week's proposed rule aimed at broadening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' enforcement authority over foreign investments and increasing penalties for violations signals that CFIUS intends to continue expanding its aggressive monitoring of national security issues, say attorneys at Kirkland.