Real Estate & Property Law

Laid-off law firm workers file WARN suit seeking back pay and benefits for some 700 employees

Two former employees of Butler & Hosch have filed a WARN suit seeking back pay and benefits from the dissolving law firm for themselves and nearly 700 other workers. Those in charge made layoffs in December and knew beforehand the foreclosure firm was folding but gave no notice, in violation…

May 22, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Dad of hurt girl sues home insurer: House guest’s chain saw prank a foreseeable cause of truck crash

The parents of a girl struck by a truck in an Omaha, Nebraska, street on Halloween 2011 have sued a home insurance company, among other defendants, seeking compensation for her injuries. The Douglas County Court complaint contends homeowner Hilda Martinez bears some responsibility for the accident, because she allowed guest…

May 22, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

Failed foreclosure firm that ‘grew way too fast’ leaves some 700 unpaid employees scrambling

A sudden announcement at the end of the day Thursday that a Florida real estate law firm would be closing its doors—and didn’t have enough money to issue final paychecks—has left some 700 employees scrambling. “I know we shouldn’t be living from paycheck to paycheck, but that’s the reality today,”…

May 20, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

Foreclosure law firm closes doors; 700 workers lose jobs, are told there’s no money to pay them

Updated: A real estate law firm handling 60,000 mortgage foreclosure cases nationwide abruptly closed its doors last week. On May 14, as the day neared its end, 700 employees of Butler & Hosch heard that the 200-attorney firm is closing—and that it lacked the money to cover the payroll and…

May 18, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

Lawyer removes Confederate flags from historic cemetery, sparking calls for disbarment

An African American lawyer is facing calls for his arrest and disbarment after removing Confederate flags from a cemetery in Union Springs, Alabama, on Mother’s Day weekend. Lawyer Myron Penn announced last Monday at a meeting of the Bullock County Commission that he had removed the flags and they were…

May 18, 2015 7:48 AM CDT

Judge says church protesters are trespassers, rejects their counterclaim for money spent on repairs

A Massachusetts judge has ruled that protesters who participated in an 11-year vigil at their shuttered church are trespassers who must leave by May 29. Judge Edward Leibensperger of Norfolk County ruled Thursday in a suit for declaratory judgment by the Archdiocese of Boston, which decided to close the church…

May 15, 2015 8:11 AM CDT

Lawyer’s tree house, rented online for $195 a night, is legal but may raise property tax bill

Civil rights lawyer Dan Alexander also has some carpentry skills. And, since he was a boy, he has wanted a tree house. So, seven years ago, he built one behind his suburban Chicago home, with the help of a friend, his son and a how-to book. The 196-square-foot structure was…

May 13, 2015 1:05 PM CDT

Lawyer accused of lying about malpractice coverage is disbarred by consent

A North Carolina lawyer accused of falsifying documents to claim he had malpractice coverage has been disbarred by consent. Edward McVey III of Greensboro, North Carolina, provided falsified documents to at least one mortgage lender to qualify as a lawyer approved to handle real estate closings, according to findings of…

May 12, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Dairies settle landmark cow-manure case after federal judge rules solid-waste law applies

For decades after Congress enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, dairy farmers didn’t think it applied to them. That changed early this year, when a federal judge in Washington state ruled in a lawsuit that RCRA did apply to dairies. Hence, said U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, the statute…

May 11, 2015 3:25 PM CDT

Suspended lawyer gets 12 months in federal prison for his role in $3.5M mortgage fraud

Add another real estate closing attorney to the annals of those sentenced to serve time for playing a role in a mortgage fraud. Suspended Connecticut lawyer Gabriel Serrano, 49, was sentenced Friday to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, according to…

May 11, 2015 12:45 PM CDT

TSA returns $100K watch forgotten by traveler, after investigating ownership claim

Travelers so frequently forget items at airport security checkpoints that the federal Transportation Security Administration has a routine procedure for logging and holding lost property. However, a watch left at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday apparently required some extra effort. Covered in gold and diamonds, the Cartier timepiece is…

May 8, 2015 7:30 AM CDT

Tenants win $2M midtrial settlement with landlord over condition of apartment building

Nearly 100 tenants at trial against their former landlord reached a $2.18 million settlement on Thursday, four days into a trial that was expected to last about 12 days. Their Los Angeles Superior Court suit alleged that in Franco Haiem’s apartment building between 2008 and 2012 there was breach of…

May 4, 2015 8:55 AM CDT

Law school offers a marijuana law class

Don't be fooled by the subject matter of "Representing the Marijuana Client," a new course being offered by the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law. Pot may give people the giggles, but professor Sam Kamin says his class is designed to meet a serious need.

May 1, 2015 6:30 AM CDT

Retired attorney indicted in claimed mortgage-fraud scheme

Suspended from practice in 2004 over his role in a kickback scheme that put a Congressman for whom he had worked behind bars, an Ohio lawyer again skirted the law. He operated a real estate business before he was reinstated in 2008, a federal indictment alleges. Over a period of…

Apr 30, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

$1.7M cemetery theft gets lawyer up to 13 years; he’s already serving federal time in tax case

A New York lawyer brought in to oversee a cemetery’s operations after an official stole $850,000, helped himself to $1.77 million more, the state attorney general says. Meanwhile, Timothy Griffin had allegedly embezzled nearly $1 million from money he held in escrow for real estate clients in his Westchester County…

Apr 28, 2015 2:45 PM CDT