Commercial
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November 14, 2024
NY Contractor Cops To Aiding Theft In Commercial Bribe Case
A New York contractor pled guilty on Thursday in the Manhattan district attorney's commercial bribery case alleging dozens of construction industry defendants conspired to steal from developers in a sprawling kickback scheme involving $100 million in contracts.
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November 13, 2024
Telecom Co. Lumen's Contract Breach Suit Survives, For Now
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday ruled that an engineering consulting firm is liable to telecommunications company Lumen Technologies for damages caused by a subcontractor's faulty structural analysis, but said she couldn't yet rule on whether Florida law and a two-year statute of limitation barred Lumen's claims against the firm.
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November 13, 2024
Detroit Fire Fee Ruling Concerns Mich. Justice
A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday said he was troubled by a lower appellate ruling he said seemed to imply that municipalities can work around a state law barring sneaky taxes, in this case by stating a charge for fire prevention services is really just the cost of a permit allowing property owners to do business in Detroit.
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November 13, 2024
NY Judge Questions Offices Ringing Penn Station
In a Tuesday hearing before a New York state appeals court panel, attorneys for New York's economic development agency and the real estate developer who would remake the area ringing Penn Station argued against an appeal by building owners who say the plan is not economically viable and will benefit a private developer, not the public.
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November 13, 2024
Meet The Atty, Developer Who'll Be Middle East Special Envoy
President-elect Donald Trump has named Witkoff Group CEO and former real estate lawyer Steven Witkoff as special envoy to the Middle East, a move that could portend an infrastructure-focused, pro-Israel policy stance as the war in Gaza persists.
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November 13, 2024
Goulston & Storrs Real Estate Attys Talk Distress Playbook
As commercial real estate distress continues to play out, attorneys are seeing lenders adopt new strategies to save or reduce their exposure to troubled assets, sometimes working in tandem with investors looking to purchase such loans.
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November 13, 2024
MVP: Fried Frank's Matthew D. Parrott
Matthew Parrott of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP secured a major victory for a big hotel property lender in Manhattan and Los Angeles in a foreclosure suit and clinched a win in a notable case over an eminent domain petition in Texas, earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Real Estate MVPs.
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November 13, 2024
Locke Lord Adds Real Estate Ace From Frost Brown In Dallas
A former Frost Brown Todd LLP attorney with diverse commercial real estate experience has joined Locke Lord LLP as a partner in Dallas, a reflection of the firm's focus on building out its real estate team "with top-tier talent."
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November 13, 2024
Jones Day Real Estate Ace Jumps To Greenberg Traurig In LA
Greenberg Traurig LLP is expanding its West Coast real estate team, bringing in a Jones Day real estate transactions pro as a shareholder in its Los Angeles office.
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November 12, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Sheppard Mullin and Fried Frank are among the law firms that steered the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, with the week's largest transactions including several trades of Manhattan residential units.
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November 12, 2024
2 Firms Advise $745M Prospect Managed Care Sale
California-based Astrana Health said it has agreed to pay $745 million to acquire a significant amount of Prospect Medical Holdings' managed care business, including a 177-bed acute care hospital, in a transaction advised by Russ August & Kabat LLP and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
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November 12, 2024
Fried Frank, Sheppard Mullin Wrap $100M Art Museum Sale
The Whitney Museum of Art has closed the sale of a Manhattan art museum building to an entity connected to broker Sotheby's in a $100 million deal worked on by Fried Frank and Sheppard Mullin.
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November 12, 2024
Holding Co.'s $6B CMBS Exposed By Bankruptcy, Report Says
Franchise Group Inc.'s $6.18 billion worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities are at risk of exposure after the retail-focused holding company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which has caused the company to close down more than 300 store locations, according to a report from the analytics team of credit ratings agency KBRA released Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
Treasury's Energy Tax Perk Regs On Track Despite Trump Win
The U.S. Treasury Department still plans to finalize remaining clean energy tax credit regulations by the end of this year despite President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise to unravel the 2022 climate law that enacted them, a Treasury spokesperson told Law360 on Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
SD AG Issues Explanation Of Property Tax Hike Limit Initiative
South Dakota's attorney general released a final explanation for an initiative that could appear on the state's 2026 general election ballot and would limit annual property tax assessment increases for nonagricultural property, according to a news release published Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
Paul Hastings Commits To Texas With New Office Leases
More than 12 years after first hanging a shingle in Houston and months after opening a Dallas outpost, Paul Hastings announced Tuesday that it had ambitious plans to continue its recent expansion in Texas with the signing of two commercial leases to boost the firm's capabilities in the Lone Star State.
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November 12, 2024
Goodwin Lands 2 Willkie Real Estate Finance Partners In NY
Goodwin Procter LLP announced Tuesday that it has added two partners from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP to join Goodwin's growing global real estate industry practice in New York.
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November 12, 2024
Bradley Arant Adds Real Estate Pro In Dallas Office
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is growing its real estate team in its 6-year-old Dallas office by bringing in a commercial real estate expert who previously ran his own boutique firm as a partner.
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November 08, 2024
Cannabis Shops Sue DC To Halt Enforcement Actions
A coalition of Washington, D.C., recreational marijuana shops has launched a federal lawsuit against a slew of District entities, including the mayor, cannabis regulator and police department, seeking to halt the government's enforcement actions against their stores.
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November 08, 2024
Investors Say REITs Misled Them Into Delaying Liquidations
A group of retail-focused, non-traded real estate investment trusts misled shareholders into approving charter amendments that stopped shares liquidation and prevented them from making money off their investments, a proposed class claimed in New Jersey federal court.
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November 08, 2024
Exec Exodus At Hospitality Platform Sonder Includes CLO
Hospitality platform Sonder announced Friday its chief legal officer will be resigning from her role later this month as one of three executives who have announced their plans to leave the company by the end of 2024.
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November 08, 2024
Cohen & Steers Names General Mills' GC To Its Board
Investment management company Cohen & Steers Inc. announced Friday that it has appointed General Mills' general counsel Karen Wilson Thissen to its board of directors.
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November 08, 2024
Steptoe & Johnson Adds Veteran Corporate Atty In Dallas
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC announced that a veteran corporate attorney who previously served as the top attorney for a major auto repair company has joined the firm's Dallas office as of counsel, in a move the firm said will help strengthen its private credit practice.
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November 08, 2024
GSA Weighs 2 Sites For New Connecticut Federal Courthouse
Federal officials are weighing two possible sites for a new $355 million federal courthouse to replace an aging one in Hartford, Connecticut.
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November 07, 2024
Trump Election Complicates Growing Insurance Climate Crisis
Donald Trump's election to a second term as president is a huge setback for global efforts to curb climate change, and his disregard for the environment will likely complicate efforts to better understand climate risks facing insurers and consumers, experts say.
Expert Analysis
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$175M Bond Refiled By Trump Is Still Substantively Flawed
The corrected $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump on Thursday to stave off enforcement of the New York attorney general's fraud judgment against him remains substantively and procedurally flawed, as well as inadequately secured, says Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen.
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Calif. Ruling Shows Limits Of Exculpatory Lease Clauses
A California court's recent decision in Epochal Enterprises v. LF Encinitas Properties, finding a landlord liable for failing to disclose the presence of asbestos on the subject property, underscores the limits of exculpatory clauses' ability to safeguard landlords from liability where known hazards are present, say Fawaz Bham and Javier De Luna at Hunton.
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Payment Provision Lessons From NJ Construction Ruling
A New Jersey appellate court's decision in Bil-Jim v. Wyncrest, holding that an American Institute of Architects contract was not an installment contract, highlights both the complexities of statute of limitations calculations and the significant consequences that can arise from minor differences in contract language, say Mitchell Taraschi and Zac Brower at Connell Foley.
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A Legal Playbook For Stadium Construction Agreements
As a new wave of construction in the professional sports arena space gets underway, owners must carefully consider the unique considerations and risks associated with these large-scale projects and draft agreements accordingly, say attorneys at Akerman.
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The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face
Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.
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How FinCEN Proposal Expands RE Transaction Obligations
Against a regulatory backdrop foreshadowing anti-money laundering efforts in the real estate sector, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's proposed rule significantly expands reporting requirements for certain nonfinanced residential real estate transfers and necessitates careful review, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Unpacking FinCEN's Proposed Real Estate Transaction Rule
Phil Jelsma and Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner take a close look at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recently proposed rulemaking — which mandates new disclosures for professionals involved in all-cash real estate deals — and discuss best next steps for the broad range of businesses that could be affected.
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New FinCEN Guide Provides Useful BOI Context For Banks
Financial institutions should review a new Financial Crimes Enforcement Network compliance guide for helpful details about how the agency's beneficial ownership information database should be used, though questions remain about the access rule and whether it will truly streamline bank borrowers' Corporate Transparency Act due diligence, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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DC's Housing Tax Break Proposal: What's In It, What's Missing
Proposed Washington, D.C., rules implementing the Housing in Downtown Tax Abatement program — for commercial property owners who convert properties into residential housing — thoroughly explain the process for submitting an application, but do not provide sufficient detail regarding the actual dollar value of the abatements, says Daniel Miktus at Akerman.
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Contract Disputes Recap: The Terms Matter
Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine recent decisions from the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which offer reminders about the importance of including contract terms to address the unexpected circumstances that may interfere with performance.
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Reducing Carbon Footprint Requires A Tricky Path For CRE
As real estate owners find themselves caught between rapidly evolving environmental, social and governance initiatives and complicated societal debate, they will need to carefully establish formal plans to remain both competitive and compliant, say Michael Kuhn and Mahira Khan at Jackson Walker.
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New CMS Rule Will Change Nursing Facility Disclosures
A new rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services significantly expands disclosure requirements for nursing facilities backed by private equity companies or real estate investment trusts, likely foreshadowing increased oversight that could include more targeted audits, say Janice Davis and Christopher Ronne at Morgan Lewis.
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What Shareholder Approval Rule Changes Mean For Cos.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved proposed rule changes to shareholder requirements by the New York Stock Exchange, an approval that will benefit listed companies in many ways, including by making it easier to raise capital from passive investors, say attorneys at Baker Botts.