Real Estate & Property Law

Lawyer Pleads in Appraisal Bribe Scheme; Prosecutors Seek $3.2M Restitution

A lawyer involved in an alleged scheme to obtain $21 million in appraisal contracts by paying Cuyahoga County officials $1.3 million in bribes has accepted a plea bargain. Attorney Bruce Zaccagnini, 48, pleaded guilty to a public corruption charge yesterday and agreed to cooperate with the feds, reports the Cleveland…

Oct 2, 2009 8:37 PM CDT

Tempted By Foreclosure Crisis, Some Lawyers Overcharge & Underwork

The foreclosure crisis has resulted in a lot of work for lawyers hired to try to help struggling owners hang onto their homes. But it has also resulted in a record number of complaints concerning claimed unscrupulous practices, some of which have already led to disciplinary action, according to a…

Oct 1, 2009 10:00 PM CDT

Real Estate Lawyer ‘Stacked’ Mortgages on Family Homes, Prosecutor Says

A former Massachusetts real estate lawyer and title company agent has pleaded guilty to criminal charges concerning what a prosecutor says was a “mortgage stacking” scheme in which he obtained new mortgages on family homes without paying off the old ones. Meanwhile, a Massachusetts real estate lawyer has been indicted…

Sep 29, 2009 11:34 PM CDT

Insurer Drops Discounts for Churchgoers in Fair Housing Settlement

The GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co. has agreed to drop special discounts for churchgoers as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department. The government complaint alleged the Iowa insurer violated the Fair Housing Act by offering the discounts to renters and homeowners who were “churchgoers” and “persons of faith,”…

Sep 29, 2009 6:24 PM CDT

Federal Judge Sides with LA City Council in Spat Over Supersize Signs

A federal judge has given Los Angeles some respite in the city’s ongoing battle with billboard companies seeking to put up super-sized signs. U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins today refused to grant an injunction sought by Liberty Media ordering the city’s building department to permit 16 new so-called supergraphics, reports…

Sep 28, 2009 7:54 PM CDT

Homeowner Faces Potential Jail Term Over Wedding Receptions

Neighbors of a 7,000-square-foot house in a well-to-do California community were steamed when they realized that the homeowner apparently was renting it out for wedding receptions this summer. Now some of the pain is shared: Homeowner Melahat Uzumcu has been charged with violating the Palos Verdes Estates zoning code, operating…

Sep 28, 2009 7:30 PM CDT

Wash. Lawyer Sues Suburb Over Planned Salmon Hatchery at His Own Home

Bill Weinstein says officials in the Seattle suburb in which he is building a waterfront home agreed he could have a salmon hatchery there, as part of a settlement of earlier construction litigation. But Bellevue officials say Weinstein is wrong. Now they are in court again, as the Washington state…

Sep 24, 2009 5:20 PM CDT

2 Lawyers Charged in Alleged Government Property Valuation Scheme

For almost a decade, attorneys at Armstrong, Mitchell, Damiani and Zaccagnini in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County helped government and commercial clients persuade the county’s Board of Revision that the assessed valuations on which their property tax is based were too high. The law firm was particularly expert at doing so, officials…

Sep 22, 2009 5:05 PM CDT

In Unusual Public Probe, Calif. Bar IDs 16 Lawyers in Loan Modification Case

In an unusual naming-of-names prior to any official determination of misconduct, the State Bar of California has publicly identified in a Sept. 18 press release 16 lawyers who are under investigation for alleged misconduct concerning loan modification services. Interim Chief Trial Counsel Russell Weiner said the public identification of the…

Sep 21, 2009 11:54 PM CDT

As More Laws Restrict Windmills, Some Homeowners Fight Back

Wendie Howland drives a Prius and uses solar panels to heat water, but she won’t be able to install a windmill to generate electricity for her home. The Bourne, Mass., resident took her case to court after the local planning board refused to allow her to install the 132-foot windmill.…

Sep 15, 2009 6:46 PM CDT

Bank Exec Accused of Just Moving Into $12M Beach Home Loses Her Job

A senior vice president responsible for commercial foreclosures at Wells Fargo & Co. has lost her job after being accused of making personal use of a $12 million bank-owned beachfront California home over the summer. The owners of the Malibu Colony home had to turn it over to the bank…

Sep 14, 2009 9:42 PM CDT

Calif. State Bar Prez Blasts Lawyers for Taking Advantage of Foreclosure Clients

The new president of the State Bar of California has a message for unscrupulous lawyers who took money from vulnerable clients facing foreclosure without doing anything to help: Your misdeeds will be a priority of disciplinary officials. New state bar president Howard Miller, a partner with the Los Angeles plaintiffs…

Sep 14, 2009 12:27 PM CDT

After Owners Lost $12M Beach Home, Bank Exec Just Moved In, Neighbors Say

A top commercial foreclosure executive at Wells Fargo Bank may be on the hot seat, after a claim by neighbors of a California couple who lost a lavish $12 million beach home to Wells Fargo. They say that she and her family used it as a weekend retreat over the…

Sep 11, 2009 7:46 PM CDT

Bonfire Could Return to Texas A&M, Following $2.1M Settlement

A 1999 accident at Texas A&M University that killed 11 students and one graduate and injured dozens of others ended a 100-year-old campus football tradition known as Bonfire. But the fire, which grew to bigger and bigger heights before a 60-foot-high stack of logs under construction collapsed a decade ago,…

Sep 9, 2009 11:55 PM CDT

Chapter 11 Filings By Wealthy Families Jump 73%; Real Estate Blamed

Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by wealthy families jumped 73 percent in the second quarter of 2009, compared to a year earlier, and the dismal real estate market may be a big part of the reason why. Like their less well-to-do counterparts, those counted in the National Bankruptcy Research Center statistics…

Sep 9, 2009 10:34 PM CDT