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Real Estate
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January 08, 2025
Mortgage Firm Reaches $1.8M Redlining Settlement With Feds
A Florida-based mortgage company has agreed to pay $1.75 million to resolve U.S. Department of Justice lending discrimination allegations, making it the third nondepository institution to strike such a deal, the government has announced.
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January 08, 2025
Convicted Ex-Nomura Trader To Settle SEC's RMBS Action
Ex-Nomura Securities International Inc. trader Michael Gramins, who was convicted in 2017 of scheming to trick mortgage bond buyers, has reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle follow-on civil claims, according to an agency filing on Wednesday.
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January 08, 2025
DOI's Arctic Refuge Oil Lease Sale Yields No Bidders
The U.S. Department of the Interior reported Wednesday that it has received no bids from companies to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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January 08, 2025
Farm Owner Can't Claim $6.5M For Border Wall, 5th Circ. Told
The federal government argued Wednesday that a Texas woman isn't owed millions of dollars in compensation for a section of the state's border wall built on her land, telling the Fifth Circuit that a principle giving landowners rights to property improvements can't be equitably applied to the federal government.
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January 08, 2025
Judge Reverses His Own Ruling In Chicago Hotel Zoning Fight
An Illinois federal judge ruled against the owners of a historic Chicago hotel Tuesday, dialing back an earlier victory he had granted them last year in a zoning suit against the city.
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January 08, 2025
Madigan Denies Extorting Developers For Law Firm Business
Ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan testified Wednesday that he never wanted a Chicago alderman to leverage his chairmanship of a powerful city council committee to steer business to Madigan's law firm, saying he merely asked for introductions to developers and felt "surprise and concern" when the alderman referenced a quid pro quo deal.
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January 08, 2025
Calif. Tribe Has Standing To Block Casino Project, Court Told
A California tribe says it has constitutional standing to block the Interior Department from taking land into trust for a proposed casino project on its historic homelands, arguing that it suffered actual and concrete harm when the agency determined that no historic resources would be affected by the endeavor.
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January 08, 2025
Feds Again Deny Leaks In NYC Mayor's Corruption Case
Federal prosecutors again rejected the claim that they had leaked classified information about New York City Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case to the press, telling a judge that they were not the source that allowed the New York Times to identify a grand jury witness and that Adams hadn't shown how he was prejudiced by the disclosure.
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January 08, 2025
Mortgage Cos. Fined $20M Over Cybersecurity Breach
Bayview Asset Management LLC and three affiliates on Wednesday agreed to pay a $20 million fine and improve their cybersecurity programs to settle allegations from 53 state financial regulators that the mortgage companies had deficient cybersecurity practices and didn't fully cooperate with regulators after a 2021 data breach.
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January 08, 2025
Divisive Mass. Housing Law Can Stand With Administrative Fix
Massachusetts' top appellate court on Wednesday upheld a controversial law requiring towns in Greater Boston to add housing density near mass transit facilities, but found that the state must take additional procedural steps before the law can go into effect.
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January 07, 2025
Feds Say Adams' Bid For Indictment Info Would Hinder Probe
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is not entitled to more details about the charges in his corruption and bribery case, including the identities of alleged co-conspirators, federal prosecutors told a Manhattan federal court Monday, arguing that such information would prejudice the ongoing investigation and potentially lead to witness tampering.
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January 07, 2025
Fla. Real Estate Agent Gets Prison Time For $1M PPP Fraud
A Florida federal judge on Tuesday excoriated a real estate agent for fraudulently obtaining more than $1 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, sentencing the agent to six months in prison and lamenting that she was prevented by a plea agreement from ordering additional restitution.
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January 07, 2025
Bill To Protect Wounded Knee Massacre Site Reintroduced
A federal bill seeking to preserve a section of land at Wounded Knee Creek, where about 150 Lakota Indians were killed by the U.S. Army more than a century ago, has been reintroduced to the U.S. House for consideration during the Trump administration.
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January 07, 2025
Ex-Ill. Speaker Madigan Testifies In His Racketeering Trial
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan took the stand in his own defense Tuesday, testifying that he neither traded his public office for private gain nor demanded or accepted anything valuable in exchange for his official action, adding that he was "very angry" to learn that people who he'd recommended for jobs did little to no work.
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January 07, 2025
Dallas County Settles With Developer In Denied Permit Row
A Dallas developer and Dallas County buried the hatchet in a suit over the county's denial of a permit application for 11 residential lots in a subdivision, telling a Texas federal judge they had reached a settlement agreement in a Tuesday joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal.
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January 07, 2025
Mortgage Servicer Makes Borrowers To 'Pay-To-Pay,' Suit Says
Residential mortgage servicer Select Portfolio Servicing Inc. must face a customer's proposed class action alleging it breaks North Carolina state laws with $15 fees it charges borrowers who make monthly payments over the phone.
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January 07, 2025
Biden Designates Two New National Monuments In California
President Joe Biden on Tuesday designated two sites in California as national monuments amid years of calls from Native American tribes and state and federal lawmakers, in turn protecting 848,000 acres from development.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Floats Mine, Data Center Property Tax Changes
Montana would lower the property tax rate imposed on metal mines, certain agricultural land and railroads but raise the rate on data center property as part of a bill introduced in the state Senate.
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January 07, 2025
Mich. Town Tries To Ditch $5M Suit Over Dispensary Flip-Flop
A Michigan township accused of greenlighting, and then blocking, a developer's special-use permit for a marijuana dispensary said Tuesday the developer suing it for $5 million never actually got the required prequalification from the state.
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January 07, 2025
DOJ Revamps Process For Federal Real Estate Deals
The U.S. Department of Justice has replaced "outdated provisions" that guided how federal agencies acquired real property with 10 new federal provisions that have the goal of "promoting government efficiency and saving taxpayer funds," the DOJ said Tuesday.
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January 07, 2025
Property Owner Says Insurer Owes $16.2M For Fire Damage
A Colorado property owner is seeking to recover $16.2 million from its insurer for property damage caused by the 2021 Marshall Fire, telling a federal court the carrier wrongly concluded the properties did not sustain direct physical damage in order to justify replacement costs.
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January 07, 2025
NC Homeowners Certified In HOA Debt Collection Class Action
A federal judge has certified two classes of North Carolina homeowners who allege that a debt collector charged excessive fees and sent misleading notices to scare people into ponying up the cash, but the judge excluded a third proposed class that she said was too ambiguous.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Seeks Review Process For Tax-Exempt Property
Montana would require the state Department of Revenue to create a program to review property that is exempt from taxation under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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January 07, 2025
Developer Says Mass. Stalling $15M Brownfields Tax Credit
The developer of a 3.5-acre luxury condo and apartment complex in Boston's Seaport District is accusing the state of improperly second-guessing the work of its licensed environmental remediation consultant to deny a $15.3 million brownfields tax credit, then dragging its feet on an administrative appeal.
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January 07, 2025
NC Biz Court Limits MV Realty's Usable Trial Evidence
Embattled Florida real estate company MV Realty will not be allowed to introduce certain evidence at its upcoming fraud trial about its calls to consumers, as a punishment for providing the state inaccurate information during discovery, the North Carolina Business Court has ruled.
Expert Analysis
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Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys
Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.
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Opinion
Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code
As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.
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What To Make Of Dueling Corporate Transparency Act Rulings
Although challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act abound — as highlighted by recent federal court decisions from Alabama and Oregon taking opposite positions on its constitutionality — the act is still law, so companies should comply with their filing requirements or face the potential consequences, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan
Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.
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Colorful Lessons From NYC's Emotional Support Parrot Suit
A recently settled lawsuit in New York federal court concerning housing discrimination claims from a resident who had emotional support parrots highlights the importance of housing providers treating accomodation questions seriously even if they may appear unusual or questionable, say attorneys at Seyfarth.
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State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape
Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.
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8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney
A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.
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Recent Securities Cases Highlight Risks In AI Disclosures
Increasing public disclosure about the use and risks of artificial intelligence, and related litigation asserting that such disclosures are false or misleading, suggest that issuers need to exercise great care with respect to how they describe the benefits of AI, say Richard Zelichov and Danny Tobey at DLA Piper.
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Consider Best Legal Practices For Commissioning Public Art
Commissioning public art for real estate projects can provide many benefits to real estate developers and the public, but it's important to understand the unique legal and contracting aspects of the process to ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget, says Sarah Conley Odenkirk at ArtConverge.
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Applying High Court's Domestic Corruption Rulings To FCPA
After the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the domestic corruption statutes in three decisions over the past year and a half, it’s worth evaluating whether these rulings may have an impact on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, and if attorneys can use the court’s reasoning in international bribery cases, says James Koukios at MoFo.
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Climate Among Many Factors Driving Up RE Insurance Costs
A proactive approach to risk management may determine the viability of the U.S. commercial real estate sector as weather crises and other factors drive insurance costs higher, says Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner.
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Proposed Mortgage Assistance Rule: Tips For Servicers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent proposal to alter Regulation X mortgage servicing procedures to broadly construe requests for assistance, and stay foreclosure proceedings during loss mitigation review, will, if finalized, require mortgage servicers to make notable procedural changes to comply, says Louis Manetti at Locke Lord.
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How Multifamily Property Owners Can Plan For The EV Future
As the electric vehicle market expands, and federal and state incentives and mandates intended to promote EV use come into effect, owners and operators of multifamily residential properties should be prepared to meet the growing demand for onsite EV charging infrastructure, say Sydney Tucker and Andreas Wokutch at Frost Brown.