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Litigation

The Magic City Harvard Lawyer

Developments in business litigation with a particular emphasis on Florida commercial, real estate, and condominium law.
By Jared H. Beck, Esq.

Post Frequency: 0.4/day

Last Entry: March 09, 2010 at 06:52:01

As The Condo Market Worsens, The Significance Of Buyers? Deposits Held In Escrow Grows

Posted on March 26, 2008
Two recent national news items track the ongoing crisis in the condo/residential real estate market, with a particular emphasis on the bad and worsening state of affairs which continues to envelope Miami and South Florida in general. From CNN, the S&P Case/Shiller Price index, which charts home prices in 20 major U...

Preconstruction Deposits: The Final Scraps On The Table In The Current Condo And Housing Market Crisis

Posted on March 16, 2008
This recent item from Miami realtor Lucas Lechuga’s blog caught my attention and prompted me to provide a brief commentary. In sum, Lechuga reports on a cancelled Miami Beach project where, allegedly, some buyers have requested through their brokers that their deposit monies be refunded, but the developer has taken the position that it will [...

Real Estate Contract Lawsuits In The Context Of Subprime Litigation And The Impending Battle Over Information

Posted on March 16, 2008
While lately this blog has focused on pressing issues in Florida real estate litigation, including the wave of lawsuits involving Florida condominium contracts, from time to time it can be insightful to frame the issues in a larger context. One such context is a buzzword heard frequently these days in reports on the current state of [...

New Federal Decision Provides Pro-Buyer Reading Of The Federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (ILSA)

Posted on March 04, 2008
A new opinion from the Middle District of Florida, Bush v. Bahia Sun Associates Ltd., 2008 WL 516825 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 22, 2008) is relatively short, but the result could be sweet for real estate buyers looking to cancel their contracts and obtain refunds of their preconstruction deposits...

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Can The Developer Sue Me To Close? Some Specific Thoughts About Specific Performance

Posted on March 04, 2008
One question I get frequently from individuals who have signed a purchase agreement for residential real estate in Florida, such as a condominium, is whether they risk being faced with a lawsuit from the developer in the event they don’t (or can’t) show up for closing...

Beyond The Numbers: Visualizing The Condo Crisis In Miami

Posted on February 25, 2008
As I’ve posted here and here, it seems that new case law under the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (ILSA) is being made in Florida courts on what might be a weekly basis, owing to the great surge of lawsuits brought by Florida condo purchasers looking to recover their preconstruction deposit money...

ILSA Case Law Alert: Southern District Of Florida Holds That A Violation Of The Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act Is Also A Per Se Violation Of The Florida Deceptive And Unfair Trade Practices Act

Posted on February 24, 2008
A hat tip goes out to Tim O’Neill, who brought a brand new and crucial opinion interpreting the federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (ILSA) to my attention. The case is Trotta v. Lighthouse Point Land Company, LLC, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10559 (S...

Recent Case Law Roundup: Some Key Decisions Interpreting The Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (ILSA)

Posted on February 18, 2008
As predicted, the current condo litigation wave in Florida is continually adding to the stock of judicial opinions interpreting the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, the primary federal law regulating sales of condominiums. Here is a summary of the most important decisions: Meridian Ventures, LLC v...

Singer Island Resort Buyers File Securities Class Action Against WCI Communities

Posted on February 10, 2008
Add a new breed of condo buyer lawsuit to the growing pile of cases which have been and are being filed under Florida condominium law and the federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act in Florida courts. As reported on CNN, troubled Florida homebuilder WCI Communities has been hit by a class action brought under federal [...

New Blog On California Condo And Real Estate Law

Posted on February 08, 2008
My law school classmate Greg Weston, whose firm is based in San Diego, California, has started a new blog that I know will be of interest to some of my readers. Greg has been taking a close look at some of the legal isses relevant to the housing market crash from a California perspective, including the California [...

A New Kind Of Condo Lawsuit: Related Group Sues Brokers To Claw Back Commissions On Defaulted Condo Units

Posted on February 01, 2008
The Miami Herald reports on the newest flavor of lawsuit directly attributable to the South Florida condo market crisis: a developer suing real estate brokers to claw back commissions for condo units on which the buyers failed to close. According to the Herald, Miami condo titan Related Group filed at least 15 lawsuits in the [...

The Short And Tricky Statute Of Limitations Framework For Claims Under The Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (ILSA)

Posted on January 15, 2008
Previously on this blog, I described the federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (”ILSA”) as a possible “land mine” for condominium developers, owing to the statute’s poorly understood exemption provisions which can be and are subject to competing judicial interpretations...

Big News On The U.S. Housing And Florida Condo Market Crises: Big Deal, Big Gamble, Big Foreclosures, And Big Buyers

Posted on January 11, 2008
The New Year is still relatively young, but the news on the troubled U.S. housing and Florida condo market is already coming fast and furious. Here are the latest highlights: 1. Everyone has their eyes on Bank of America’s takeover of Countrywide, which was announced today...

Blogging On Florida Condo Contract Law: A Look Back At 2007

Posted on January 03, 2008
With 2007 done and gone, and 2008 upon us, I thought it a good opportunity to review some of this blog’s highlights from last year. When I started blogging about condo contract issues under federal and Florida law in the summer of 2007, there was a noticeable void in the quality and availability of information on [...

?Buyer?s Remorse? Versus ?Developer?s Remorse? And The Continuing Saga Of The Florida Condo Market Tailspin

Posted on December 26, 2007
The notion of “buyer’s remorse” as applied to the Florida condo market downturn should be familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in the market trends of the past couple years. Here, by way of example, is a rather lengthy recent article from the New York Times entitled “This is the Sound of a [...

Sarnoff Memo Case Update: Third District Court Of Appeal Holds That Memo Is A Public Record

Posted on December 19, 2007
The Daily Business Review has the latest from the Marc Sarnoff/Related Group controversy (about which I posted previously here), including the infamous memo itself, which is a whopping one page long and recounts a conversation which Miami City Commissioner Sarnoff had with City Manager Joe Arriola concerning bribes allegedly sought by city officials for approval [...

Key Miami Condo Closing Rates: The Numbers Which Tell The Contract Cancellation Story

Posted on December 10, 2007
Miami realtor extraordinaire Lucas Lechuga has posted the latest closing rates for several key projects in Miami: Latitude on the River, Star Lofts on the Bay, Onyx on the Bay, Ten Museum Park, 2 Midtown, 50 Biscayne, and One Bal Harbour. Providing this kind of quality information has allowed Lechuga to make a name for [...

Choosing An Attorney For A Florida Condo Contract Case: It Pays To Do Your Research

Posted on December 07, 2007
The anonymous South Florida Lawyers Blog recently posted an article on one of the so-called “deposit recovery services” which have sprouted up in recent months among South Florida law firms and lawyers looking to “cash in” on the wave of condo purchasers seeking to cancel their contracts and get their deposits refunded...

Florida?s $14 Billion Investment Pool For Local Governments Is The Latest Casualty Of The Subprime Crisis

Posted on December 04, 2007
This report shows the gravity of the current subprime crisis, which has effectively shut down a $14 billion investment pool relied on by Florida towns and school districts for their routine expenditures. Apparently, 14% of the fund was placed in troubled investments, causing local governments to try to get their money out at the same [...

Pugliese v. Pukka Development, Inc.: The ILSA Quagmire Gets Thicker For Developers As A New Opening For Condo Contract Revocation Emerges

Posted on November 27, 2007
I’ve received a number of requests to address the Southern District of Florida’s recent decision in Pugliese v. Pukka Development, Inc., so it appears that the topic of this post will be of some interest to this blog’s readership. For those who are unfamiliar with the Pugliese opinion, Greenberg Traurig (the law firm, par excellence, for [...

The Battle For ?Material And Adverse?: A Tale Of Two Florida Appellate Courts, And Two Florida Condominiums

Posted on November 11, 2007
One of the more popular articles on this blog provides a short discussion of Florida case law on what constitutes a material and adverse change to a condominium purchase agreement sufficient for the buyer to rescind the contract and recover his or her deposit money...

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