By Adam Leitman Bailey At the start of this new millennium, the most effective means to rob a bank no longer includes the use of a gun. The real estate closing table has replaced the gun and mask as the most favored and effective tool of theft from financial institutions. As the New York Times Full Article…
State High Court Decision Exorcises Ghosts of Liens Past, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Secured borrowing and the transfer of money are the bedrock of the global financial system. However, that system finds itself in crisis. Before the current malaise can end, the system must rebuild in a manner that ensures mutual trust between lenders and borrowers. Rapid repair of the economy Full Article…
Despite ‘Jones,’ Ambiguities in Title Chain Can Be Cured, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman When the Supreme Court decided Jones v. Flowers,1 it exacerbated a nagging problem for the title insurance industry – the necessity to do constitutional analysis when examining chains of title. With the current state of the economy, tax foreclosures are increasing. Thus, more properties have these ambiguities in Full Article…
Power-of-Attorney (POA) Changes Scramble Property Transfers, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman As of Sept. 1, New York has abolished its old easy single-sheet statutory power of attorney form (POA) and replaced it with a tremendously complicated new law1 describing a highly complex new document with a misleadingly named optional rider.2 The 1948 original form and its successors were designed Full Article…
Disabled Resident Parking Spaces: Issues for Condo/Co-op Boards, Developers, BNA Real Estate Law & Industry Report
Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio discuss the handicap laws that boards must follow and their obligations to proved disabled parking spaces.
Finding Individual Tort Liability for Board Members, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and John M. Desiderio Recently, the Appellate Division First Department, in Fletcher v. Dakota, Inc.,1 held that the business judgment rule does not protect individual condo and co-op board members from personal tort liability where a board acting in its corporate capacity has acted in bad faith, but where it is Full Article…
“Harnessing the Internet,” New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Colin E. Kaufman The World Wide Web has changed real estate law forever. Harnessing the massive amounts of information on the Internet to enhance the practice of real estate law has become essential for every dirt lawyer. New York’s state and city governments have created useful Web sites to assist Full Article…