As described in our earlier client alerts, since 1993, a central tenet in the structure of senior real estate lending documentation is the prevention of what is commonly referred to as “cram down ...
A case note by Abhilaash Subramaniam Introduction In the recent case of SWW v Ketua Pengarah Hasil Dalam Negeri, the High Court of Malaya granted the taxpayer leave to apply for judicial review, a stay of proceedings pending the disposal of the taxpayer’s application for judicial review and subsequently allowed the taxpayer’s judicial review application on the merits, ordering a prohibition on all collection and enforcement action relating to disputed taxes and assessments
The English case of Malcolm Newbury v Sun Microsystems Ltd, [2013] EWHC 2180 (Q8) illustrates the importance of carefully wording settlement offers. Although not a construction case, this of course applies equally to construction cases. Malcolm Newbury ("Mr Newbury") commenced legal proceedings against Sun Microsystems Ltd ("Sun") for just over US$2 million, being commission payable under a contract, and Sun counterclaimed for an alleged overpayment ...
Over the past several months, many disputes have arisen over whether the COVID19 pandemic or government responses to it provide, depending on the jurisdiction, an impossibility or impracticability defense for nonperformance under a contract. Now, we are beginning to see a flood of decisions addressing that defense. We previously wrote about two recent decisions from New York that are instructive on the defense of impossibility — the relevant standard under New York law ...
Whether you are a property professional or otherwise, you would have had to have lived in a hole to have missed the EWS1 saga. In the four years following the tragic Grenfell disaster, the industry and the government have been grappling with how to deal with a generation of potentially defective tall buildings ...
The Technology and Construction Court in Downs Road Development LLP v Laxmanbhai Construction (UK) Ltd [2021] EWHC 2441 (TCC) held that an Adjudicator’s decision not to consider a line of defence was a breach of natural justice and was not enforceable, nor could part of the decision be severed. The case also contained interesting commentary as to the ‘intent’ behind the issuing of a payment notice, and how this may affect the validity of the notice ...
The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) in Quadro Services Ltd v Creagh Concrete Products Ltd [2021] EWHC 2637 (TCC) held that a claim referred to adjudication with three separate payment applications was still considered a single dispute for the purposes of adjudication. The adjudicator therefore did have jurisdiction to consider all three payment applications to determine the sum due, and the adjudicator’s decision was enforced ...
Much has been written about the recent introduction of a right on the part of secure agricultural tenants to sell back their tenancies for value to the landlord. I want to have a look at another means by which some secure tenants can sell on the tenancy without involving the landlord at all. That the tenant’s interest in a secure traditional agricultural tenancy has a considerable value is now well established and the reasons easy to understand ...
Unlike the position in England, in Scotland there is virtually no statutory protection for a commercial tenant at the expiry of their lease.Provided sufficient notice has been given by their landlord, the lease will come to an end on the expiry date and, unless a deal can be struck with the landlord, the tenant is required to leave the property on or prior to that date ...
Constitutional Court, Gerald Camilleri et vs Advocate General et, 6th October 2020 The Maltese courts of Constitutional Jurisdiction were tasked with deciding a claim of violation of fundamental human rights as filed by the applicants, who had purchased a property in Sliema - in respect of which the provisions of the Housing (Decontrol) Ordinance, Chapter 158 of the Laws of Malta are applicable - and which the applicants knew was tenanted by third parties under a title of lease resulting from
In response to certified questions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Texas Supreme Court held that unintended construction defects are an occurrence and that allegations of loss of use or damage to a home may constitute property damage under a commercial general liability (CGL) contract. Lamar Homes, Inc. v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co., No. 05-0832 (Tex. Aug. 31, 2007) ...
Chapter 53 of the Texas Property Code just received major updates for the first time in years. On June 15, 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law HB 2237. This bill makes many notable changes to Texas’s lien laws. The construction industry and construction lawyers should take note of these changes to the complex and often confusing world of mechanic’s, contractor’s, and materialman’s liens in Texas ...
On 22 May 2021, SPV77 Co. Ltd., a special purpose entity set up to issue and offer Siri Hub Investment Digital Tokens (“SIRIHUB”) to investors secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for the country’s first Initial Coin Offering (“ICO”). The first ICO approval by the SEC follows three years of legal changes starting with the passage of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Business Operation B.E. 2561 (2018) ...
A complex system of laws, rules and regulations apply to real estate and real estate transactions in the Philippines. Key prohibitions on the ownership and disposition of lands are found in our organic law (i.e. the 1987 Philippine Constitution) while incentives and other regulatory mechanisms for the sale, purchase, lease and ownership of different types of real estate are scattered in various statutes and regulations ...
In the 1930s Duke Ellington wrote what was to become a jazz standard. The song was called "It don't mean a thing (if it ain't got that swing)". What is the connection with gas supply you may well ask? To explain, contracts to supply gas contain ‘swing’ - the term for the supply margin given to a buyer over their peak demand ...
The CARES Act provided historic, temporary relief to mortgage holders facing Covid-19-related financial troubles. R. Aaron Chastain, partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, looks at where mortgage lenders and servicers stand as the pandemic continues and federal agencies and state governments continue to adjust compliance requirements and rules ...
In an opinion written in under 1,000 words, Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal put foreclosure cases across Florida in jeopardy in Desbrunes v. U.S. Bank National Association in February ...
In recent times, the financial market has been abuss with discussions about the potential benefits of real estate tokenisation. Several initiatives worldwide, such as Propchain in Dubai, Vave and Equisafe in France, Propellr, Inveniam Capital Partners, and Fluidity in the United States, as well as Elevated Returns in the United States and Thailand, have taken the bold step of launching tokenised real estate projects ...
The pandemic has, if nothing else, demonstrated how much more needs to be done in the battle against climate change. Despite the worldwide economic slowdown and travel ban resulting from coronavirus, global carbon dioxide emissions reduced by just 6% (approximately 2.3bn tonnes) in 2020. But both governments and industry are responding to the challenge, however, with a renewed sense of urgency and collaborative spirit ...
A delay is “concurrent” is a delay to the critical path of the project caused by multiple events not exclusively controlled by one party. If you are impacted by a delay to the critical path that was not within your control but are responsible for another overlapping delay to the critical path, the delays are concurrent, and you may not be able to recover damages for the former delay ...
Renewable energy developers and contractors have been anticipating the Treasury Department and IRS’s initial guidance on what is required to satisfy the prevailing wage and apprentice requirements under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ...
West Virginia has seven "mechanic's and materialman’s lien" statutes to protect the interests of those performing or supplying construction-related work in the state.1 Although these statutes are interpreted by the courts to be inclusive in their application to protect a wide range of those performing services or supplying materials, they specifically provide protection to the following persons, firms or corporations:Contractor (W. Va. Code 38-2-1)Subcontractor (W. Va ...
The COVID-19 global pandemic continues to rage and tenants in Cambodia are now looking carefully at whether this situation can be considered a force majeure event in order to seek a cessation or reduction of their rental payments. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) officially declared the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) a global pandemic ...
Over the past couple decades, building codes have responded to disasters, rather than averting them. Resilience is now an essential design element needed to withstand our changing climate. In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a-changin’.” Intensified and more frequent hurricanes on the East and Gulf Coasts, more devastating wildfires on the West Coast and more frequent, powerful tornados in the heartland ...
