Real Estate & Property Law

Appeals court denies bid by Outlaws biker club for return of 3 forfeited leather vests

After more than a year of litigation, the Outlaws Motorcycle Club has again been rebuffed in its efforts to reclaim three black leather vests seized from members who were involved in a 2012 bar fight in Wonder Lake, Illinois. In particular, the patches on the vests are important to the…

Feb 25, 2016 1:30 PM CST

Suspect and lawman dead in gun battle sparked when sheriff’s officers tried to serve eviction notice

A political activist accused of firing a rifle at three Colorado sheriff’s deputies as they arrived Wednesday morning to serve an eviction notice at his Bailey home is dead, along with one of the lawmen, authorities said. Martin Wirth, 58, also shot the two other deputies in the gunfight, inflicting…

Feb 24, 2016 4:00 PM CST

Jury awards $183M to firefighters’ families in fatal ‘Black Sunday’ blaze; NYC owes $140M

After a decade of courtroom battle over a fatal “Black Sunday” blaze that resulted in the immediate deaths of two New York City firefighters and severely injured four others, a state-court jury on Monday awarded $183 million to five of the victims and their families. The family of the sixth…

Feb 23, 2016 4:05 PM CST

Founder of collapsed law firm to give up license

Updated: The founder and CEO of one of the largest mortgage foreclosure firms in Florida prior to its collapse last year has agreed to give up his state law license. In a petition (PDF) he filed with the Florida Supreme Court, Robert Hill Hosch, 54, acknowledged that he is accused…

Feb 23, 2016 2:00 PM CST

Three generations honored claimed oral promise of lifetime rental, but now woman, 97, faces eviction

Harry Truman was president when Marie Hatch moved into her California home and the landlord, her friend Vivian Kruse, told her she could live there until she died. When Kruse predeceased Hatch, her daughter honored that promise. And, when she passed on, so did Kruse’s granddaughter, reports the San Francisco…

Feb 22, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Los Angeles sues developer for $20M, says building was unprotected against fire caused by arson

Corrected: The city of Los Angeles filed a $20 million lawsuit Thursday against the developer of an apartment building then under construction that was burned to the ground in a massive 2014 fire. Taxi driver Dawud Abdulwali, 56, has been charged with setting the Da Vinci Apartments fire. However, the…

Feb 18, 2016 2:55 PM CST

Neighbor didn’t have standing to challenge modern house in historic district, appeals court says

A homeowner in a historic district didn’t have standing to challenge design approval of a modern home built across the street, the North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled. The appeals court opinion said Gail Wiesner didn’t have standing because she didn’t establish “special damages” that differ from those suffered…

Feb 18, 2016 10:47 AM CST

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is charged in 2014 cattle-graze standoff as he heads to Oregon protest

After Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and militia supporters prevailed in an armed 2014 standoff concerning cattle trespassing on federal land, the government wasn’t in any hurry to bring criminal charges. However, when Bundy traveled this week to Portland, Oregon, in a reported plan to support two of his sons after…

Feb 12, 2016 11:20 AM CST

Doctor gets 30 years to life in landmark prosecution over patient OD deaths

A former California physician was sentenced Friday to 30 years to life in a landmark Los Angeles drug prosecution. Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng, 46, gave up her license to practice medicine in 2012, after she was charged in three patient overdose deaths. Prosecutors say her second-degree murder case is the…

Feb 5, 2016 5:00 PM CST

16 are federally indicted in takeover of Oregon wildlife refuge

Four remaining occupiers of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon have been indicted over the monthlong armed takeover, along with a dozen others. In an indictment (PDF) unsealed Thursday, they are charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers through intimidation, threats or force, a felony, the Oregonian reports. The defendants…

Feb 4, 2016 4:10 PM CST

Group goes undercover at 13 law firms to show how US laws facilitate anonymous investment

Fifteen out of 16 Manhattan lawyers captured on video in a group’s undercover operation—including a then-ABA president—offered advice on how an African official could buy pricey Manhattan real estate without revealing his identity. An investigator for a group called Global Witness posed as an adviser to an African minister of…

Feb 1, 2016 5:00 PM CST

SCOTUS to hear takings case of Wisconsin cabin owners

Four siblings who own a vacation cabin by Lake St. Croix in Wisconsin will have their takings case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court agreed to hear the case earlier this month, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The siblings are represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation. The cabin…

Jan 26, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Snowboarder who survived avalanche could be charged with trespassing

Snowboarder Christian Michael Mares says he survived an avalanche at Northern California’s Sugar Bowl Resort last week by swimming to the top. Now, blamed for venturing into a closed area of the ski resort and setting off the snowslide, he faces a potential trespassing case, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.…

Jan 22, 2016 10:25 AM CST

Seattle mayor OKs ‘safe lots’ where those living in vehicles can park them

Using emergency powers that allow him to bypass some planning and zoning approvals that ordinarily would be required, Seattle’s mayor has ordered two “safe lots” to be established on public property that will provide parking spaces for those living in their vehicles. Up to 50 spaces will be available at…

Jan 20, 2016 4:40 PM CST

9th Circuit blasts judge who ruled for rancher, boots him from grazing-rights case

A federal appeals court not only vacated and reversed portions of a judgment in a high-profile Nevada grazing-rights case on Friday but booted the trial judge from the case on remand. Saying that U.S. District Judge Robert Clive Jones had displayed bias against the federal government and grossly abused his…

Jan 19, 2016 12:10 PM CST