Features

Construing Separate Contractual Instruments As One
At times, disputes arise among parties in commercial transactions as to whether multiple contracts involving a common matter should be read as a single, integrated contract, or as separate and distinct agreements. This issue often surfaces where one or more such agreements contain arbitration clauses, but other related contracts do not.
Features

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Empowers Developers and Property Owners to Challenge Excessive or Unjustified Impact Fees
The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado will cause many local governments to revisit the defensibility of their impact fee regimes.
Features

Mediation of Commercial Lease Disputes: A Collaborative Approach to Resolving Disputes
In the view of many experienced practitioners, arbitration has morphed into a time-consuming process, often as expensive as litigation and has other shortcomings such as the non-appealability of the arbitrator's decision. Not so mediation which may be a materially better form of ADR.
Features

Applying Merger By Deed Doctrine to Real Estate Transactions
Since a deed is a subsequent writing between the parties, there is some logic to the terms of the deed taking precedence over the terms of the prior contract of sale, at least as to the subject matter of the deed.
Features

Approving Attorney Opinion Letters In Lieu of Title Insurance Is Trending, But Use With Caution
Despite being more affordable than title insurance, attorney opinion letters should be used with caution when replacing title insurance. The costs savings associated with this practice might not justify the additional risk associated with it.
Features

The Top Rated Bull and Bear CRE Markets
Trepp named its top choices for bull and bear CRE metro markets and did the same for the single most property type and metro combination, during July 2024. The firm is trying to identify what drives positive and negative investor sentiment.
Features

Warehouse Liability: Know Before You Stow!
As consumers continue to shift purchasing and consumption habits in the aftermath of the pandemic, manufacturers are increasingly reliant on third-party logistics and warehousing to ensure their products timely reach the market.
Features

Cap Rate Misery Impacts CRE Investors
The low cap rate regime became a game of musical lifeboats on the Titanic and the big question was, who would get stuck without a lifeboat as the mighty ship sank?
Features

Big Law In NYC Looking for Smaller, New Class A Spaces
Overall this year, law firms have been more likely to leave their current spaces and relocate, but they continue opting for smaller spaces.
Features

Strategies for Commercial Lease Agreements In Florida
This article explores several key clauses and negotiation strategies that are beneficial to the parties in general but in particular may help landlords protect their investments and optimize returns.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- 'Customary Operations' or A Vacant Building?Many times, courts are faced with the question of whether a loss location is 'vacant' under a commercial property policy when trying to determine if the building owner or lessee is conducting customary operations. This article explores various decisions across the United States as to what is considered 'customary operations,' thereby rendering the property 'vacant.'Read More ›
- Redefining Attorney-Client Collaboration with Technology That Delivers Greater ValueIf savvy law firm attorneys haven't done so yet, they should take this time to adjust their expectations and increase their comfort levels with new technologies, processes, and workflows. Going forward, their clients will expect the emphasis to be on relationships and outcomes, not billable hours.Read More ›
- Mixed Ruling in Jefferson Starship Band Name SuitWhat's in a rock band's name? Plenty, if you are talking about Jefferson Starship, which goes back more than 40 years, has had more than 30 members and was born from the 1960s psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane.Read More ›
- Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the RoughThere is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.Read More ›
- Authorship and Copyright In Hybrid AI-Human Collaborative WorksThe United States Copyright Office recently issued a letter ruling on the copyrightability of Kristina Kashtanova's comic book-like work, Zarya of the Dawn. The Kashtanova ruling indicates that the Copyright Office's determination of copyrightability of works involving use of AI will rely on whether the author is able to control and foresee with some measure of predictability the output of the authorial processRead More ›