Public Trust Doctrine Thwarts Willets Point Redevelopment
July 02, 2017
In <i>Matter of Avella v. City of New York,</i> the Court of Appeals enjoined development of a retail mall on what is now Citi Field's parking lot, holding that the development proposal would constitute an impermissible alienation of parkland by the City of New York.
Do <b><I>Daubert</I></b> Motions Really Work?
July 02, 2017
<b><I>Part Two of a Three-Part Article</I></b><p>Like baseball batters in a lineup, the home run potential of any given <I>Daubert</I> motion varies greatly. Players without a good eye for the fast ball usually do not make it to the big leagues; lawyers without the skill set to deconstruct and demonstrate the methodological flaws in a disclosure of opinion testimony may get to play in the big leagues, but they have terrible batting averages.
Drafting an Effective Commercial Lease Default Lease: Two More Secrets
July 02, 2017
<b><I>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</I></b><p>Last month, the authors outlined three types of provisions that can ease a commercial landlord's efforts to enforce the terms of a lease when a tenant defaults: clauses related to additional rent, rent acceleration and late charges. They continue here with two more lease-drafting ideas for minimizing the effects of tenant default.
Third Circuit Sides With Creditors in EFIH Make-Whole Dispute
July 02, 2017
At the end of last year, the Third Circuit added to several recent decisions addressing whether a creditor was entitled to payment of a "make- whole" premium in connection with a Chapter 11 case. The court's opinion is the most creditor-friendly decision issued to date on this topic.
Equipment Lessors and Bankruptcy
July 01, 2017
Much has been written about the risk that a transaction denominated and documented as an equipment "lease" may be recharacterized a security interest. Equipment lessors seem to understand. Interestingly, equipment lessors commonly seem to not understand all of the rights and remedies they have in the absence of recharacterization. So, what's a true equipment lessor to do in the face of the Chapter 11 of its lessee?
Case Notes
July 01, 2017
In April, the Court of Appeal of Florida, First District, determined in that condominium owners who rented their properties to vacationers through the online service VRBO2 had not violated restrictive covenants not to conduct business in their units. Here's an analysis of the case.
Financing Rolling Stock: Luxembourg Rail Protocol Steams Ahead
June 02, 2017
Cross-border trade and international law regimes are all affected by the Luxembourg Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention (the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (the Convention)), which is well known to those experienced in aircraft financing. Like the Hague Securities Convention, the Cape Town Convention was sponsored by UNIDROIT (the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law), an intergovernmental organization whose mission is to harmonize international laws.
