Last week, an arbitrator ruled that the purchaser of a commercial real estate property could terminate its purchase agreement and recover its non-refundable deposit, even though it had previously waived all contingencies,...more
The Second Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal recently issued a decision in Constellation-F, LLC v. World Trading 23, Inc. finding that a holdover provision in a commercial lease providing for significantly...more
The United States Supreme Court recently issued a unanimous decision in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP holding that entities engaged in the principal purpose of enforcing security interests are not, with limited...more
A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit recently published a decision in Zabriskie v. Federal National Mortgage Association, in which the court addressed the question of whether Fannie Mae's use of proprietary underwriting...more
The Ninth Circuit recently issued an unpublished decision in Hoffman v. Markowitz, Case No. 17-56290 (C.D. Cal., Dec. 24, 2018), holding that referral fees paid from a Ponzi scheme are subject to avoidance under the...more
Lenders pursuing foreclosure of residential properties in California must satisfy the requirements of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR), set forth at Cal. Civ. Code Sections 2920, et seq. HBOR's requirements...more
With the ongoing drought in California, multifamily and residential subdivision developers who encounter difficulties in obtaining water service commitments for their projects from existing water suppliers may consider...more
Voter-driven initiatives meeting California Elections Code requirements may be adopted directly by local governments without first conducting a full review under the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"), according to...more
The ASTM standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments was recently revised by ASTM International and, on August 15, 2013, in a direct final rulemaking likely to become effective this November, the new standard was...more
California's Legislature responded to the residential foreclosure crisis by, among other things, enacting new statutes aimed at clarifying the rights of borrowers facing foreclosure and imposing new restrictions on...more