Real Estate & Property Law

Apartment owner axes controversial lease provision that allowed $10K fine for social media criticism

Managers of a Florida apartment complex quickly backed down following controversy about a lease addendum. According to the addendum, residents could be fined $10,000 for critical social media comments. A Windermere Cay representative said the complex would not enforce the Social Media Addendum, which had been developed by a former…

Mar 12, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

Judge says man can’t smoke in his own home due to neighbor’s 2nd-hand smoke concerns

The Washington, D.C., home in which Edwin Gray lives has been owned by his family for 50 years. But that doesn’t mean he can smoke there. Responding to a lawsuit by a new neighbor concerned about second-hand smoke, a D.C. Superior Court judge has issued a temporary order requiring Gray,…

Mar 10, 2015 1:30 PM CDT

Homeowners association OKs playhouse for sick girl, 6, after dad appeals to court of public opinion

A 6-year-old Missouri girl can’t leave her home to play with other children in her neighborhood because she is seriously ill with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. So the little girl, Ella Joe Schultz, dreamed of having a playhouse in her back yard. Make-A-Wish Missouri, with the help of donated materials and…

Mar 6, 2015 3:30 PM CST

Rent-stabilized lease can’t be sold to satisfy bankruptcy creditors, says 2nd Circuit

A New York City rent-stabilized lease cannot be seized and sold to satisfy bankruptcy creditors, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. According to Reuters, the lease is held by Mary Santiago-Monteverde, and she’s lived in the East Village apartment for more than 40 years and currently pays…

Mar 2, 2015 11:15 AM CST

Chicago lawyer pieces together a missing couple’s story to obtain a court ruling that they died

When Malaysia Airlines flight 370 vanished after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, it never occurred to Richard Campbell that he'd be involved in some of the earliest litigation over the disaster—or any missing-plane-related litigation, for that matter.

Mar 1, 2015 6:20 AM CST

Lawmen swiftly solve case of missing log cabin; was its removal from homesite a crime?

In what may be a unique crime in the local vicinity, an Oregon sheriff’s department was asked this week to investigate the case of a missing log cabin. Someone had jacked up the 1,500-square-foot modern structure, including a deck, off its foundation and removed it to an unknown location. But…

Feb 27, 2015 2:30 PM CST

Felony Franks reopens in Chicago suburb after sign dispute leads to closing of city operation

The creator of the Misdemeanor Wiener, the Italian Job and the Parolish is back in business again. The fast-food business, that is. Discouraged by a sign dispute from operating–and employing convicted felons as workers–at its former location at Jackson Boulevard and Western Avenue in Chicago, the hot dog joint known…

Feb 24, 2015 2:25 PM CST

Former general counsel is at forefront as last 4 defendants in massive Vegas HOA case head to trial

After seven years of investigation, 37 guilty pleas and the suicides of three key targets, four remaining defendants are headed to trial this week in a massive federal investigation of homeowner associations in the Las Vegas area. Foremost among the quartet is Keith Gregory, one of two lawyers indicted in…

Feb 23, 2015 12:20 PM CST

Federal judge nixes TRO on new Chicago Cubs signs sought by rooftop seating companies

A federal judge has declined to issue an injunction on behalf of operators of rooftop bleachers on buildings adjacent to Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Several contended in a lawsuit filed last month against the team owners and chairman Thomas Ricketts that their renovation of Wrigley Field and purchase of other nearby…

Feb 19, 2015 12:20 PM CST

Ex-clients sue Winstead contending ‘countless mistakes’ on loan workout cost them $20M

A Texas bank and private investment group say they paid top dollar to have Winstead handle a realty company’s anticipated default on a $62 million interest-only loan. However, for rates as high as $620 an hour, Highland Capital Management and NexBank say in a malpractice suit, they got not the…

Feb 19, 2015 10:00 AM CST

Facebook will allow users to name ‘legacy contact’ in case of death

For nearly a decade, Facebook has responded to notification that an account holder is deceased by verifying the death and freezing the account so no changes could be made. However, on Thursday the social media giant said it will now allow account holders to name a “legacy contact” who will…

Feb 12, 2015 9:35 AM CST

Owner sues for custody of ‘zombie cat’ who returned from grave after being hit by car and buried

The owner of a now-famous kitty, who was assumed dead after being struck by a car and buried but returned home hungry and dehydrated, is now fighting to regain custody of his pet. Originally named Bart, but dubbed as the “zombie cat,” the feline is being treated for his injuries…

Feb 11, 2015 4:10 PM CST

Fight fraudulent foreclosure rescue practices, House of Delegates urge governments

After a false start last August, the Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities was able to pass its resolution condemning “foreclosure rescue” fraud. According to delegate Estelle Rogers, who presented Resolution 111C, the resolution ran into trouble with the Standing Committee on Professional Discipline, which is wary of resolutions that…

Feb 9, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Judge says funeral home couldn’t sell Lee Harvey Oswald casket, awards brother $87K plus coffin

When the body of the man accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy was exhumed in 1981, it was reburied in another coffin after the identity of the corpse as Lee Harvey Oswald’s was confirmed. Baumgardner Funeral Home kept the original pine coffin, which was purchased by Oswald’s brother in…

Jan 30, 2015 3:45 PM CST

Does takings clause apply to personal property? SCOTUS to consider the issue in raisin case

Raisin growers who are contesting a federal set-aside requirement will be back before the U.S. Supreme Court to press their claim that the program constitutes an unconstitutional taking. In a 2013 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had jurisdiction to…

Jan 20, 2015 8:50 AM CST