Last month, I got a call from a title insurance company closer. Our client and the other parties to a real estate transaction had just instructed the title company to go ahead with the recording of documents and disbursement of funds in accordance with the settlement statement. We had sent an email to the closer with wire instructions for the funds—and the closer was calling to ask me to confirm those wire instructions, including the ABA routing number and the account number, over the phone.
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More Local Action on Construction Defects
The Denver Business Journal is reporting that, on Monday, Commerce City became the third city in the Denver metro-area to enact an ordinance addressing construction defects in condominium and other common interest community construction.
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Disparate Impact Liability Survives U.S. Supreme Court Review
In a 5-4 decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of disparate impact analysis in Fair Housing Act claims.
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California Supreme Court: Mandatory Affordable Housing Requirements Are Valid Land Use Regulations
Last week, in a case with national significance for multifamily housing developers, housing advocates, and local governments, the California Supreme Court upheld the City of San Jose’s inclusionary housing ordinance.
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U.S. Supreme Court Deals Significant Setback for Local Governments in Sign Case
Regulating signs in a content neutral manner satisfying First Amendment limitations may become more difficult for local governments following today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert. In today’s opinion, all nine Supreme Court justices agreed that the Town of Gilbert, Arizona’s sign code failed the First Amendment’s content neutrality requirement, although the justices came to that conclusion in different ways.
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