More Real Estate Coverage
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February 16, 2024
Florida Loses Wetland Permitting Authority In D.C. Court Case
A D.C. judge has stripped Florida of its federally delegated authority to permit wetlands development, ruling that U.S. environmental regulators failed to analyze the impact of their decision on endangered and threatened species and handing a victory to conservation groups challenging the program.
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February 16, 2024
Gov't Wants More Alaskan Native Reps On Subsistence Board
The U.S. government has plans to strengthen Alaskan Native tribal representation on its Federal Subsistence Board, saying the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have proposed a new rule to add board members with personal experience of subsistence living in rural Alaska.
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February 16, 2024
Feds Tell 1st Circ. Mass. Wind Farm Approval Was Sound
The federal government has said a Massachusetts federal judge properly dumped a challenge lodged by commercial fishing groups seeking to upend federal approvals of the Vineyard Wind project, telling the First Circuit that the record shows federal agencies thoroughly studied the project's potential impacts.
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February 15, 2024
Software Company Seeks $10M Policy Limit For Bad Deal
A software company told a California federal court that its insurer breached its contract by failing to cover $10 million in damages suffered because of misrepresentations made by a property and casualty insurance software company it bought.
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February 15, 2024
New York Says Thruway Doesn't Cut Through Cayuga Land
New York state officials are asking a federal district court to dismiss litigation by the Cayuga Nation that seeks a cut of the tolls collected on the New York State Thruway, arguing that the tribe can't prove it had possession of the land over which the highway was being built.
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February 14, 2024
Navajo Say Hopi Tribe Bid To Join Land Trust Suit Is Untimely
The Navajo Nation has said the Hopi Tribe's attempt to intervene in its lawsuit against the U.S. government over a land trust and casino road easement dispute is untimely, coming after nearly four years of litigation.
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February 14, 2024
Mass. Court Doubts Northeastern Vowed To Keep Land Public
Massachusetts Appeals Court justices appeared Wednesday to question a claim by the town of Nahant and a group of residents that Northeastern University had implicitly dedicated oceanfront land it acquired in the 1960s as a wildlife preserve and park by allowing public access for decades.
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February 13, 2024
Calif. Clean Energy Storage Secures $350M From Blackstone
Arevon Energy Inc. said Tuesday that it closed on financing for a California renewable energy storage facility, including $350 million from a Blackstone unit in the form of preferred equity, with guidance from three law firms.
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February 13, 2024
DC Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To FERC Pipeline Powers
The D.C. Circuit has reinstated its prior judgment affirming a lower court's dismissal of Virginia landowners' constitutional challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case.
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February 12, 2024
Utah Defends Standing In Monument Cases Before 10th Circ.
The state of Utah has doubled down in urging the Tenth Circuit to reverse a Utah federal judge's decision dismissing the state's challenge of the Biden administration's redesignation of large swaths of land as part of two national monuments, saying its case should have readily survived the motions to dismiss that led to its downfall.
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February 12, 2024
Tree Removal Mixup Merits Coverage, Homebuilder Tells Court
A homebuilder's insurer must defend it in litigation over the accidental removal of 66 trees in an adjacent lot, the homebuilder told a Texas federal court, arguing the tree removal was accidental and thus an occurrence under its commercial general liability policy.
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February 09, 2024
State Farm Defends Pricing Setting Insured Says Shorted Her
State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. renewed its bid to toss a Mississippi homeowner's proposed class action over allegations it intentionally underpaid fire damage claims, arguing it was correct to use a "new construction" setting in its pricing software that led to lower recoverable labor costs.
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February 09, 2024
Property Plays: MCR, Black Spruce, Willow Bridge
MCR has landed $333 million in refinancing for a multistate hotel portfolio, Black Spruce Management has scored $146 million in financing for a Manhattan multifamily property, and Willow Bridge Property has landed $175 million in financing for three multifamily properties.
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February 09, 2024
DOI Accused Of Delaying Coal Mine Enviromental Review
Signal Peak Energy has slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a complaint in D.C. federal court accusing the agency of unlawfully delaying an environmental impact statement needed for the approval of its expansion of the Bull Mountains coal mine in Montana.
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February 09, 2024
Iowa House Bill Would Cancel Growth Assessment Limitation
Iowa would eliminate a limitation used in the calculation of assessments for agricultural and residential properties under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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February 09, 2024
Owens Corning To Buy Door-Maker Masonite In $3.9B Deal
Ohio-based construction materials manufacturer Owens Corning said Friday it has inked a $3.9 billion agreement to buy Tampa, Florida-based door-maker Masonite International Corp., just weeks after the latter company's earlier effort to buy PGT Innovations Inc. fell through.
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February 08, 2024
Jackson Walker Adds Real Estate Pro In Austin From Winstead
Jackson Walker LLP has strengthened its land use practice group in Austin, Texas, with the addition of a senior counsel who came aboard from Winstead PC.
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February 07, 2024
5th Circ. Pressed To Rethink Wipeout Of LNG Air Permit
Developers of a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast told the Fifth Circuit that project opponents are wrongly asserting federal law in opposing requests for the appeals court to reconsider a panel's ruling that scrapped an emissions permit issued by state environmental regulators.
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February 07, 2024
Mass. Residents Want High Court To Undo Tribe's Land Grant
A group of Massachusetts residents are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that allowed the U.S. Department of the Interior to take 321 acres into trust for the development of a billion-dollar tribal hotel and casino, arguing that a lower court ignored precedent in determining that the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is under federal jurisdiction.
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February 07, 2024
Ohio County Accused Of Extorting New Property Owners
Montgomery County, Ohio, unlawfully denies water and sewage service to new property owners if the previous owner had an outstanding debt for those services, forcing them to pay off another party's debt through "extortion" and "coercion," according to a new proposed class action filed in federal court.
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February 06, 2024
DC Circ. Unsure FERC Can't Order NextEra To Cover Plant Costs
NextEra Energy's request to be made whole for upgrades to its New Hampshire nuclear power plant's circuit breaker seemed to get a frosty reception from the D.C. Circuit during oral arguments Tuesday.
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February 06, 2024
NC Panel Backs $5M Win For Developers In Water Fee Fight
The North Carolina state appeals court on Tuesday backed a $5.3 million judgment developers won in their suit accusing the city of Greensboro of imposing illegal pre-service water fees, finding the fees were charged late in the construction process but before volume-measuring water and sewer services were available on the properties.
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February 05, 2024
Md. Jury Set To Decide If Ex-State's Atty Lied On Loan Apps
The legal team representing former Baltimore state's attorney Marilyn Mosby said during closing arguments Monday that she mistakenly placed her trust in her then-husband to address tax debts the couple owed to the IRS, while federal prosecutors accused Mosby of shifting the blame for allegedly lying on mortgage loan applications.
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February 05, 2024
FERC Says It Followed Court's Orders With LNG Reapproval
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission defended its reapproval of a Texas liquefied natural gas terminal Monday, telling the D.C. Circuit it addressed the appeals court's concerns after the court ordered the agency to revise its environmental reviews of the project.
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February 05, 2024
States, Businesses Push To Sink Feds' Amended WOTUS Rule
Texas, Idaho and more than a dozen industry groups are asking a Texas federal judge to throw out the U.S. government's latest rule to define the "waters of the United States," arguing that it oversteps federal authorities under the Clean Water Act, is overly vague and flies in the face of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Expert Analysis
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Sackett's US Waters Redefinition Is A Boon For Developers
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent landmark ruling in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should reduce real estate project delays, development costs and potential legal exposures — but developers must remain mindful of how new federal and state regulations governing wetlands could affect their plans, say attorneys at Morris Manning.
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SEC Form PF Amendments Show Private Fund Adviser Focus
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted amendments to Form PF that will establish new event-reporting requirements for private equity and large hedge fund advisers, reflecting the SEC's increased attention on the private markets also seen in its stated examination priorities and latest rule proposals, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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What Tax-Exempt Orgs. Need From Energy Credit Guidance
Guidance clarifying the Inflation Reduction Act’s credit regime, expected from the U.S. Department of the Treasury this summer, should help tax-exempt organizations determine the benefits of clean energy projects and integrate alternative energy investments into their activities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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As Sackett Trims Feds' Wetlands Role, States May Step Up
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency extinguishes federal authority over many currently regulated wetlands — meaning that federal permits will no longer be required to discharge pollutants in affected areas, but also that state regulators may take a more active role, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.
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How Fla. Tort Reform Will Shift Construction Defect Suits
Recent modifications to Florida's private statutory action rules for building code violations and to the statute of limitations and repose for defect claims significantly clarify ambiguity that had existed under previous rules, and both claimants and defendants should consider new legal arguments that may become possible, say Ryan Soohoo and George Truitt at Cole Scott.
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The Nuts And Bolts Of IRS Domestic Content Tax Credit
Recent IRS guidance provides specifics on how renewable energy projects can qualify for bonus tax credits by meeting U.S. domestic content rules, but also creates a qualification framework that will be complicated for project developers to navigate, say Scott Cockerham and Wolfram Pohl at Orrick.
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Biden's Enviro Justice Focus Brings New Business Risks
A recent executive order from President Joe Biden continues the administration's whole-of-government approach toward environmental justice, and its focus on transparency may increase the risk of permit challenges, enforcement actions and citizen suits, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Attorneys Should Have An Ethical Duty To Advance DEI
National and state bar associations are encouraging attorneys to apply diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the legal profession and beyond, and these associations should take it one step further by formally recognizing ethical duties for attorneys to promote DEI, which could better the legal profession and society, says Elena Mitchell at Moore & Van Allen.
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EV Chargers Can Bring Benefits For Calif. Property Owners
California property developers and owners face growing pressure to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure — but this can be a unique opportunity to add value to real estate assets, and can be accomplished in multiple ways, say Riley Cutner-Orrantia and Eurie Hwang at Crosbie Gliner.
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Brownfield Renewables Guidance Leaves Site Eligibility Murky
Recent IRS guidance sheds some light on the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for renewable energy development on contaminated sites — but the eligibility of certain sites for brownfield status remains uncertain, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Water Infrastructure Crisis Requires Private Investment
The federal government is in the process of distributing billions of dollars recently allocated for upgrades to U.S. water infrastructure — but capital, beyond what government can provide, is needed to fully address decades of neglect, meaning that private investment must be a part of the solution, says Damian Georgino at Womble Bond.
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Ambiguity In 'Buy America' Implementation May Slow Projects
The White House Office of Management and Budget's most recent guidance, which builds on a complex patchwork of Buy America restrictions that vary by federal agency, would perpetuate government contractors' uncertainty regarding product and material classification and could delay infrastructure projects, say attorneys at Miles & Stockbridge.
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La. Suit Could Set New Enviro Justice Litigation Paradigm
Inclusive Louisiana v. St. James Parish, a lawsuit filed recently in Louisiana federal court that makes wide-ranging and novel constitutional and statutory claims of environmental racism based on centuries of local history, could become a new template for environmental justice litigation against governments and businesses, say attorneys at King & Spalding.