- June 13, 2024
Mich. Co. Claims Mexico Owes $2.7B For Illegal Land Grab
A Michigan consumer products manufacturer has asked an international tribunal to order Mexico to pay it $2.7 billion, saying the country wrongfully seized 700 acres of the company's agricultural land in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
- June 13, 2024
NYC Sued Over Policy Targeting Unlicensed Pot Stores
More than two dozen New York City retailers have launched a proposed federal class action against the city alleging that enforcement of a new policy targeting stores for selling cannabis without a license has resulted in the unconstitutional closing of hundreds of businesses.
- June 13, 2024
Monsanto Can't Plead Ignorance On PCB Pollution, Cities Say
Chicago suburbs looking to hold Monsanto and related businesses accountable for their financial share of reducing pollutants in water that flows into Lake Michigan urged an Illinois state court to keep their case alive, arguing the companies should have known about the dangers of the chemicals in products.
- June 13, 2024
NJ Justices Create New Liability Rule For Property Owners
The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday voted 4-3 to craft a new rule stating that owners of commercial vacant lots have a duty to maintain the public sidewalks abutting the lots, and reinstated a woman's trip-and-fall injury suit.
- June 13, 2024
Indicted Ex-Conn. Official Missed Gun Sale Deadline, Feds Say
Former Connecticut state budget official Konstantinos Diamantis has missed deadlines to remove guns from his residence and claimed he couldn't locate his passport despite orders to surrender it to federal authorities while he awaits trial on bribery and extortion charges, a U.S. probation officer reported Wednesday.
- June 13, 2024
Express Picks Stalking Horse Bidder As Ch. 11 Buyer
A stalking horse bidder offering $136 million in cash for the assets of clothing retailer Express Inc. will be the buyer in the debtor's competitive sale process, after its offer was deemed to be the only qualified bid to acquire the assets as a going-concern.
- June 13, 2024
Tribes Fight BC's Consultation Policy On Aboriginal Rights
Indigenous nations along British Columbia's U.S. border want a say in projects they claim will threaten the environment and their quality of life after the Canadian province announced plans earlier this year to develop a policy to clarify how tribes located outside the country are consulted on such endeavors.
- June 13, 2024
NexPoint Asks Investors To Shake Up REIT After Ponzi Case
In a letter to shareholders Thursday, an investor accused four incumbent trustees of repeatedly acting against their fiduciary duties in overseeing United Development Funding, a Texas-based firm controlled by four executives now serving time for running a Ponzi scheme.
- June 13, 2024
Data Center Developer Secures Upsized $9.2B Investment
Hyperscale data center campus company Vantage Data Centers on Thursday announced that it secured a $9.2 billion equity investment from DigitalBridge Group Inc. and Silver Lake, which is nearly $3 billion more than anticipated when the investment was first announced back in January.
- June 13, 2024
Red Roof Had 'Revolving Door' For Trafficking, Ga. Jurors Told
A former Red Roof Inn Inc. employee and the leader of a nonprofit testified Thursday about sex trafficking they saw take place at two metro Atlanta Red Roof Inn locations as part of a landmark civil trial in which 11 women allege the company knew trafficking was taking place at the locations and did nothing to stop it.
- June 13, 2024
Pryor Cashman Aided Developer Fraud, Owes $5.7M, Cos. Say
New York-based law firm Pryor Cashman LLP has been hit with a $5.7 million lawsuit in state court accusing it of aiding and abetting fraud while representing a real estate developer by allegedly providing false information to another party in a transaction involving a Manhattan property.
- June 13, 2024
Blackstone's $10B AIR Buy Gets Nod From Top 2 Proxy Firms
Denver-based Apartment Income REIT Corp.'s shareholders have recommendations from the two leading proxy advisory firms to approve an agreement to sell off the real estate investment trust to private equity giant Blackstone for $10 billion, the company announced Thursday.
- June 13, 2024
Bond Denial Upheld For Army Construction Project
An Illinois federal judge affirmed an arbitration award relieving two insurers of covering a $1.8 million bond issued to a subcontractor retained for a U.S. Army construction project, upholding the arbitrator's finding that the status of the project wasn't accurately represented at the time of bond procurement.
- June 13, 2024
Conn. Justices Side With Ritzy Borough In Legal Notice Case
The borough of Fenwick, Connecticut, provided adequate legal notice of zoning changes that would allow for short-term home rentals, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting arguments that officials published their decision in a newspaper that does not substantially circulate in the affluent community.
- June 13, 2024
Polsinelli Opens In Fort Worth With 4-Atty Texas Firm Combo
Polsinelli PC has stepped into its third Lone Star State city by bringing on the four-attorney team from Commercial Law Advisors PLLC in Fort Worth, Texas.
- June 12, 2024
$18.8M Theft Coverage Suit Must Be Heard In State Court
A Texas federal judge ruled that a lawsuit brought against an insurer over $18.8 million in theft and vandalism at a Georgia shopping center belongs in state court, refusing to create diversity by removing a plaintiff.
- June 12, 2024
Judge Tells Embezzling Atty To Focus As Sentencing Looms
An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday again denied a former attorney's bid for a new trial or pre-sentencing release after a jury convicted him of misappropriating a now-shuttered bank's embezzled funds, saying he should concentrate on his upcoming sentencing instead.
- June 12, 2024
NJ Judicial Privacy Law Hit With Constitutional Challenge
Companies accused of violating Daniel's Law hit back in New Jersey federal court this week, calling the judicial data privacy protection measure unconstitutionally vague, harsh and riddled with loopholes, and arguing it is being "cynically" misused by the plaintiff, a data privacy company.
- June 12, 2024
Saul Ewing, Atty Allowed 'Unconscionable' Lease, Suit Says
A former Saul Ewing LLP client who is considered a vulnerable adult is suing the firm and one of its partners, claiming the lawyer failed to negotiate the "unconscionable terms" of a lease that required the client to take out a $400,000 loan and allowed his stepbrother tenant to pay rent one-seventieth the property's market value.
- June 12, 2024
Ore. Tax Court Affirms No Retroactive Fix To Home Value
The tax valuation of an Oregon residence erroneously assessed at a larger square footage cannot be retroactively reduced, the Oregon Tax Court said, upholding the state tax department's rejection of the request.
- June 12, 2024
First 'Survivor' Winner Wants $3M Tax Case Tossed
The winner of the first season of the TV series "Survivor" asked a Rhode Island federal court to toss the government's case against him seeking nearly $3.3 million in unpaid taxes, saying the liabilities stem from his flawed criminal conviction for tax evasion nearly 20 years ago.
- June 12, 2024
Pillsbury Adds Aviation-Focused Bankruptcy Partner In NY
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has hired a corporate restructuring partner with aviation expertise for its insolvency and restructuring group in New York.
- June 11, 2024
2nd Circ. Cites Macquarie In Booting Suit Over Go-Private Deal
The Second Circuit refused to revive a proposed class action accusing a real estate services provider of artificially depressing share prices, applying apparentlyfor the first time the U.S. Supreme Court's Macquariedecision on alleged failures to disclose certain information.
- June 11, 2024
Ariz. Wants To Oppose Its Legislature In Monument Lawsuit
The state of Arizona wants to intervene in a lawsuit by its Republican House and Senate lawmakers that challenges President Joe Biden's proclamation designating an Indigenous site in the Grand Canyon region a national monument, arguing that the legislative body lacks authority to assert those claims in federal district court.
- June 11, 2024
Listing Co. Urges Court To Ignore DOJ's Broker Deal Issues
A multiple listing service that has struck a $3 million settlement over broker commission rules told a Massachusetts federal court the changes proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice go far beyond what's required and would create an antitrust problem in the real estate industry.
