Justia Real Estate & Property Law Opinion Summaries

U.S. Bank appealed from an order granting the motion of debtor to value U.S. Bank's allowed secured claim pursuant to section 506(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, and valuing the claim at $3,500,000. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel held that the order was not final but that U.S. Bank's alternative request to grant leave to appeal it as an interlocutory order should be granted. The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel also concluded that low income tax credits that the owner of the property was eligible to claim, as well as the obligations they imposed, did affect the value of the property and should have been considered as part of the property's value. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "U.S. Bank Nat'l Assoc. v. Lewis & Clark Apartments, et al" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, property owners of the Subdivision, filed a declaratory judgment against defendants, alleging that defendants, who also own property in the Subdivision, violated certain restrictive covenants by renting their property to friends and others to use as a vacation home. The district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment. The court concluded that the Arkansas rule of strict construction favoring the "unfettered use of land" required that the court affirm the judgment of the district court. Accordingly, defendants' rental of the property did not violate the restrictive covenants. View "Dunn, et al v. Aamodt, et al" on Justia Law

Debtors appealed from the ruling of the bankruptcy court granting summary judgment to SunTrust and denying summary judgment to debtors, on debtors' adversary complaint that challenged SunTrust's standing to enforce a promissory note and deed of trust on debtors' property, and sought to remove the deed of trust from the chain of title to such property. The court affirmed the bankruptcy court's judgment and held that the promissory note was a negotiable instrument and that SunTrust was entitled to enforce it and the deed of trust. The bankruptcy court properly used evidence from the affidavit of SunTrust's representative and properly applied judicial estoppel. View "Knigge, et al v. SunTrust Mortgage, Inc." on Justia Law

LAC Minerals and plaintiff were bound by an agreement relating to 944 acres of property once targeted for mining development. Plaintiff filed suit, arguing that the agreement required LAC to assign to plaintiff certain portions of the property no longer needed for mining operations. LAC counterclaimed, seeking to quiet title. The court held that the district court did not err in holding that plaintiff retained an ongoing reversionary interest in the property. View "Fowler v. LAC Minerals (USA), LLC" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs brought this suit in Minnesota state court challenging the foreclosure of the mortgage of their home. The Bank defendants removed the case to federal court and filed a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), as did the PFB defendants. The district court granted the motions to dismiss and plaintiffs appealed. The court held that the lack of any factual allegations regarding PFB rendered plaintiffs' complaint deficient and the district court did not err in dismissing it for failure to state a claim. The court also held that the district court properly dismissed plaintiffs' claims against the Bank, finding no merit in plaintiffs' claims. View "Butler, et al. v. Bank of America, N.A., et al." on Justia Law

Plaintiff was the president and owner of Company. Plaintiff and Company were sued by an employee for sexual harassment, among other claims. Plaintiff retained Law Firm to represent him and Company. The district court entered judgment against Company. The court later granted Company's motion for a new trial, and the parties subsequently settled. Plaintiff was the personal guarantor on the loans and credit lines provided by lenders to Company. After the original jury verdict, banks and lenders refused to continue extending credit to Plaintiff. As a result, Plaintiff's real estate holdings crumbled, causing Plaintiff to lose dozens of commercial and residential properties. Plainiff then sued the attorney who acted as lead defense counsel and Law Firm (collectively, Appellees), contending that Appellees committed a series of negligent errors during their representation. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Appellees and dismissed Plaintiff's claims for legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty, holding that Plaintiff failed to show that his loss of net worth was proximately caused by the actions of Appellees. View "Hamilton v. Bangs, McCullen, Butler, Foye & Simmons, LLP" on Justia Law

Theodore Wolk filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and the trustee sought an order from the bankruptcy court authorizing the sale of the home Wolk owned as a tenant in common with his wife, Kathryn Tennyson. After several proceedings the bankruptcy court denied the motion to sell the home, concluding that the detriment of such a sale to Tennyson outweighed the benefit to the bankruptcy estate. Wolk appealed, and the bankruptcy appellate panel affirmed. The trustee appealed. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the bankruptcy court had not abused its discretion in denying the trustee's motion to sell the home, as (1) the court's findings with respect to the benefit to the estate and the detriment to Tennyson were not clearly erroneous, and (2) the court carefully balanced the equities in its judgment. View "Lovald v. Tennyson" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, successors in title to land located in Arkansas, brought a declaratory judgment action in Arkansas state court against AgriBank, FCB, seeking to quiet title to oil and gas rights that AgriBank held in Plaintiffs' land. AgriBank removed the case to federal district court. The district court granted AgriBank's motion to dismiss, identifying two bases on which to do so: (1) that a regulation promulgated by the Farm Credit Administration (FCA) specifically approved the sort of ownership interests held by AgriBank that Plaintiffs now attacked; and (2) that the challenge to AgriBank's oil and gas rights was based on a repealed act of Congress. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the district court correctly dismissed the case under its first rationale, as the reservations at issue enjoyed the FCA's approval. View "Nixon v. AgriBank, FCB" on Justia Law

Chapter 11 Debtor, an LLC, held certain parcels of undeveloped land that were included within property-owners' improvement districts (the Districts) formed in accordance with Arkansas law. After Debtor entered into bankruptcy, secured creditor National Bank of Arkansas (the Bank) filed a motion with the bankruptcy court seeking a ruling that a proposed state court action against the Districts would not violate the automatic stay. The bankruptcy court determined (1) the automatic stay applied to the Bank's proposed action and that relief from the stay was unwarranted, and (2) the Bank's motion was barred by laches. The bankruptcy appellate panel (BAP) affirmed. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding (1) the automatic stay did not apply to the Bank's proposed action against the Districts because the Districts were neither property of the Debtor nor debtors themselves, the Bank's action would only impact the value of the estate in some undetermined and indirect manner, and the action would not divest the Debtor of its property; and (2) the doctrine of laches did not apply in this situation because there was no showing of detrimental reliance by the Debtor upon the Bank's failure to raise this particular challenge in a more timely fashion. View "Nat'l Bank of Ark. v. Panther Mtn. Land Dev. " on Justia Law

Homeowners filed this lawsuit in Minnesota state court against Lender seeking legal and equitable relief from Lender's foreclosure and sale of their home. Lender removed the case to federal court and subsequently moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim, or, alternately, for summary judgment. The district court dismissed the suit, holding (1) the United States Department of the Treasury's Home Affordable Mortgage Program preempted Homeowners' state-law claims; and (2) Homeowners did not plead the claims with sufficient particularity. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that, in regard to the majority of Homeowners' claims, Homeowners failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.