due diligence

In Wake of Sandy, NYC To Consider Retrofits For Existing Buildings

Environmental Due Diligence / By

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the New York City Council has commissioned a “building resiliency” task force to study potential changes in the building code to minimize damage from flood events.  In announcing the task force, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said flood protection was the “single most important infrastructure challenge of our time”. […]

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Bank Enters Into Settlement With EPA For Contaminated NY Site

CERCLA, Lender Liability / By

EPA entered into a settlement agreement with the Bank of India (Bank) as part of an innovative settlement to facilitate the sale and reuse of an abandoned facility in Cortland, NY. The settlement was published in the today’s Federal Register .The proposed settlement is subject to a 30-day comment period. The settlement involves the Buckbee-Mears

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Settlement Reached in Securities Class Action Suit For Inadequate Environmental Disclosure

bankruptcy, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Disclosure of Environmental Liabilities / By

The 2009 bankruptcy filing of Tronox, Inc. has spawned some interesting litigation. A trial commenced in May in the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York where a Litigation Trust formed as part of the Tronox reorganization plan is seeking $25B in damages from Kerr-McGee, a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum. Tronox, a manufacturer

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NJ Lawyers Raise Concerns About Transparency of LSRP Program

Disclosure of Environmental Liabilities, Environmental Due Diligence, NJ Spill Act / By

On May 7, 2012, the New Jersey Site Remediation Reform Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10C-1 et seq. (SRRA) became fully effective. With limited exceptions, all site remediation projects in the state of New Jersey regardless of when work began must proceed under the supervision of a Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) and without New Jersey Department of Environmental

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Environmental Liability and “Fractional” Property Interests

CERCLA, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

Last week, we discussed due diligence for transactions involving purchases of equity interests in entities that own property that are in technical default of the mortgages. This post discusses potential environmental liability for fractional ownership interests in the underlying property. First year saw students are taught in Real Property Class that property ownership consists of

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Due Diligence and “Recapitalization” Transactions

Environmental Due Diligence / By

Many real estate fortunes were amassed following the savings and loan (S&L) crisis of the late 1980s when the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) sold loan portfolios owned by defunct S&L entities at what later proved to be distressed pricing. At the depth of the Great Recession, distressed asset firms quickly raised huge amounts of capital

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Contamination at Heart of Litigation Over Failed Subdivisions

common law, Disclosure of Environmental Liabilities, Environmental Due Diligence, Hazardous Waste, Lender Liability / By

The Great Recession caused hundreds of residential development projects to ground to a halt. Not surprising, these failed projects have spawned lots of litigation. An interesting Maryland lawsuit involves allegations of fraud and misrepresentation of environmental issues at a development site, and has ensnarled a foreclosing lender. In U.S. Home v Settler’s Crossing, 2010 U.S.

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Bankruptcy Discharge Bars Claim of Purchaser Agst Former Oil Well Operator

bankruptcy, Environmental Due Diligence, oil spills / By

In Shelton Property Rural Acreage, LLC v Placid Oil Co., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 16681 (5th Cir. 8/10/11), Placid Oil operated oil wells on leased property from 1942 to 1956. In 1986, Placid filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. The bankruptcy court issued a confirmation order in 1988 that contained a discharge of all claims

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Acquisitions Bring CERCLA Liability to Banking Conglomerate

CERCLA, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence, Lender Liability / By

From a purely legal standpoint, the recent ruling In Tennessee v. Roane Holdings Ltd., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143703 (E.D.TN 12/14/11) was not unusual. The court ruled on a motion to dismiss that a party who had entered into an administrative order on consent could not bring a cost recovery action under CERCLA section 107

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A Lawyer, an Underwriter and an Appraisor-An Update

Brownfields, Disclosure of Environmental Liabilities, Environmental Due Diligence, Lender Liability / By

The title of this post sounds like a teaser to a bad joke but unfortunately it refers to the latest round of motions in two sprawling lawsuits involving a defunct planned community that was to be developed on what proved to be a part of a world war 2 bombing practice range. The defendants include

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