In Perpetual Wealth (Hong Kong) Ltd v Be Solutions Company Ltd, HCA 1905/2018, the Court emphasised that for construction cases, the starting point for expert directions is that single joint expert (SJE) evidence is preferred, as it assists to narrow the scope of the issues in dispute, shortens the trial, facilitates settlement of issues and often leads to global settlement of the action ...
Commercial real estate professionals live in a world where single-asset entities (SAEs) are ubiquitous. In this respect, the niche market of HUD-affiliated health care facilities follows suit. Skilled nursing or assisted living facility owners seeking HUD-insured financing and the operators overseeing day-to-day functions at those facilities generally need to be SAEs to participate in the HUD programs ...
This week, Schwabe and the Portland and Puget Sound Business Journals hosted PNW Predictions: Retail Real Estate Reimagined, a discussion on the impacts from the last 18 months and predictions for the direction that retail real estate is moving. The panel delivered a variety of perspectives via guests Kemper Freeman, Chairman & CEO, Kemper Development Co ...
In 1997, misguided individuals initiated a practice of recording liens against the homes of public officials and other public figures. Every county in Oregon has a system for recording information about property ownership rights. A lien is a limitation on the property ownership rights. A mortgage is an example of a lien and so is a contractor’s lien ...
Key Points California's First District Court of Appeal continued a recent pro-housing trend, reversing a City of San Mateo rejection of a multifamily housing development application. The court determined the denial was based on a subjective design guideline, therefore violating the Housing Accountability Act. Ambiguous guidelines may still be utilized in limited circumstances if there is a long-standing and consistent local government interpretation ...
The hosting of COP26 in Glasgow this year shines a spotlight on the UK in relation to sustainability performance, applying more pressure on organisations to demonstrate their green credentials and to encourage the development and usage of sustainable technologies in the race to net zero. One sector in particular that is leading the charge on decarbonisation is the affordable housing sector, but barriers exist and challenges endure ...
Key Points Opponents of the proposed Oakland A's stadium at Howard Terminal argued that the Governor missed a deadline to certify the project for an expedited environmental review pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 734, a special purpose bill. AB 734 contained no explicit deadline for certification, but it incorporated guidelines from AB 900, as amended, which did include a certification deadline ...
The effect of a successful application for a Certificate of Lawful Use is to regularise an historic, unlawful change of use of land without having to obtain planning permission ...
The real estate market in Dubai has been making significant improvements in 2021 after the successful handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by the UAE. March 2021 had the highest number of transactions in 16 months as well as the highest number of secondary/ready properties transacted for foreigners in a single month since June 2015. This boom in sales resulted in record increases (23 per cent annual increase between April to June for luxury villas) ...
Surfside Collapse – what we know so far: On Thursday, June 24, 2021, at approximately 1:25 a.m., Champlain Towers South, a twelve-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed. The collapse was reported as the third deadliest structural engineering failure in United States history. Ninety-eight people were confirmed dead, only four people were rescued from the rubble ...
Regulation 603/2021 was approved by the Governing Board of the Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction I.P. (“IMPIC”) and came into force on 5 July 2021. The aim of this regulation (“Regulation”) is to establish and regulate the procedures to be adopted in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in the real estate sector ...
[!<CDATA[ Multi-building condominium projects often raise unique legal issues as they do not squarely fall within the definitions used in state statutes. The Minnesota Supreme Court recently addressed the unique nature of multi-building condominium projects in Village Lofts at St. Anthony Falls Association v. Housing Partners III-Lofts ...
It will be news to few that the construction industry is experiencing a serious shortage of key materials. The Construction Leadership Council first warned of shortages (in timber, steel, pitched roofing, plastics, paints/coatings, some electronic components and cement – among other materials) early this year, and has reiterated its concerns since ...
The freeze partnership is an often overlooked estate tax planning tool. Unlike more common estate tax planning vehicles, the freeze partnership is not a trust and, as the name implies, is a closely-held partnership, limited partnership or LLC (in this article, the term partnership will be used to refer to partnerships, limited partnerships and LLCs) ...
Following the passage of its commercial eviction moratorium for certain qualified tenants in December 2020,[1] the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on August 4, 2021, provided additional assistance to the same class of “Covered Commercial Tenants” by establishing a new evidentiary presumption aimed at excusing payment of past due rent. To the extent applicable, the presumption applies to all past due rent as of March 16, 2020 ...
Petunia Products, Inc. owns the BROW BOOST ® trademark, under which it sells a “Billion Dollar Brows” eyebrow primer and conditioner. Petunia recently asserted trademark infringement claims against a skin care products company, which Petunia alleges infringed on its BROW BOOST mark in connection with the name of its product that competes with Petunia’s product, and by using the hashtag #BROWBOOST on social media to promote its product ...
The manufacturer of the official facemask for the Brazilian Football Confederation filed a court action against an e-commerce company, accusing it of offering similar items allegedly manufactured by third parties. The manufacturer of the official facemask for the men’s and women’s teams of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) filed a court action against an e-commerce company, accusing it of offering similar items allegedly manufactured by third parties ...
When I was a young lawyer working for the Norwegian Competition Authority, a complaint was received that gave rise to some amusement among the staff at the authority. The complainant argued that the Norwegian football club Viking FK’s signing of the half-decent footballer Ragnvald Soma from rivalling club SK Brann constituted an infringement of Norwegian competition law. Nowadays, competition law in football is no longer a laughing matter ...
On August 12, in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order enjoining the portion of a New York State statute which provided that tenants could establish that they had suffered COVID-related economic hardship by means of self-certification. Under the New York law, eviction actions based on non-payment of rent could not go forward if a tenant submitted such a self-certification. Under the law, landlords could not contest the tenant’s declaration in court ...
On July 30, 2021, the Central Administrative Court rendered its verdict against, among others, the Director of Wattana District, Bangkok Metropolis; the Governor of Bangkok Metropolis; and the Governor of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, revoking all governmental authorizations with respect to the construction of Ashton Asoke Condominium Project ...
On August 6th of 2021, Law No. 21,363 (hereinafter the “Law”) was published in the Official Gazette. The Law introduces modifications to Law No. 19,925 about expenditure, commercialization and production of alcoholic beverages, and other associated Laws, establishing different limitations to the advertising of alcoholic beverages, as well as the obligation of including warnings about harmful consumption in the container of these kind of products ...
Background In its ruling of June 15, 2021 (Case No. VI ZR 576/19), the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) for the first time took a comprehensive position on the scope of the right to access pursuant to Article 15(1) GDPR. Article 15 GDPR standardizes the right of access of a data subject vis-à-vis a controller ...
