Court shuts down resale of digital music files

/ Intellectual Property

Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Southern District of New York held that owners of digital music have no right to sell that music to others. Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc., 2013 WL 1286134 (S.D.N.Y. 2013). The case involved a company named ReDigi that created a software program that allowed legally-owned digital music files to be transferred by sale from one owner to a buyer in a manner that insured that the file was not retained on the original computer. The service also only allowed this to happen one file or album at a time so that it would not become a general means of selling the same song to multiple buyers. The service was limited to files purchased on iTunes or from another ReDigi user. The goal was to create a market for used digital music files. The court found that the service resulted in a reproduction of the original file […]

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Los Angeles rent escrow program upheld under constitutional challenge

/ Consumer Protection, Leaseholds

The Ninth Circuit upheld Los Angeles’s Rent Escrow Account Program that enables tenants to pay rent to a public account rather than to the landlord if the landlord fails to repair habitability violations. Sylvia Landfield Trust v. Los Angeles, 2013 WL 4779664 (9th Cir. 2013). The court found that the program served the legitimate government goal of ensuring compliance with regulations ensuring safe and habitable housing for tenants and that the program had adequate procedural safeguards to ensure it was not applied arbitrarily.

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Photography business cannot discriminate against same-sex couples

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Consumer Protection, Religious Freedom

The Supreme Court of New Mexico has held that the state public accommodations law applies to a photography business that offers its services to the public. Because that law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, the business could not lawfully refuse to take pictures at a same-sex commitment ceremony because of the owner’s religious beliefs. Elane Photography v Willock, — P.3d — (N.M. 2013). The state public accommodations law does not violate the owner’s free speech rights since professions involving creativity or expression are not exempt from those laws. The court explained that “Elane Photography believes that because it is a photography business, it cannot be subject to public accommodation laws. The reality is that because it is a public accommodation, its provision of services can be regulated, even though those services include artistic and creative work. Nor did the owner’s religious beliefs offer a reason to engage in discriminatory conduct. “Under established law, the right of

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NJ Supreme Court holds that Governor Christie lacked authority to abolish the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH)

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Zoning

In 2011, Governor Chris Christie purported to abolish the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), an agency set up by legislation and designed to implement the state’s Mount Laurel obligations; he planned to transfer its responsibilities to the Department of Community Affairs. The Supreme Court of New Jersey had held in the Mount Laurel litigation that towns were required to implement zoning laws in a manner that made room for all kinds of housing, including housing affordable by low and moderate-income families. S. Burlington County, NAACP v. Twp. of Mount Laurel (Mount Laurel II), 456 A.2d 390 (N.J. 1983); S. Burlington County, NAACP v. Twp. of Mount Laurel (Mount Laurel I), 336 A.2d 713 (N.J. 1975). When the legislature created an agency to manage those obligations, the court held that it constituted a legitimate institutional mechanism for complying with those constitutional obligations. Hills Dev. Co. v. Twp. of Bernards, 510 A.2d 621 (N.J. 1986). In In re Plan for Abolition of Council

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New Jersey Supreme Court rules benefits of dunes in protecting homes must be counted against the losses from a partial taking in determining just compensation for a partial taking

/ Takings

The Supreme Court of New Jersey has ruled that benefits to the property from a partial taking must be counted against the losses in determining just compensation. Borough of Harvey Cedars v. Karan, — A.3d —, 2013 WL 3368225 (N.J. 2013). In this case, the borough government took part of the beachfront owner’s property to construct dunes to protect the property from erosion or loss during storms. The court held that just compensation for the partial taking “must be based on a consideration of all relevant, reasonably calculable, and non-conjectural factors that either decrease or increase the value of the remaining property.  In a partial-takings case, homeowners are entitled to the fair market value of their loss, not to a windfall, not to a pay out that disregards the home’s enhanced value resulting from a public project. To calculate that loss, we must look to the difference between the fair market value

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Massachusetts court enjoins company from preparing and selling deeds because it constitutes the unauthorized practice of law

/ Mortgages, Real Estate Transactions

The superior court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction against a company called ANADeeds, Inc. to stop it from preparing and selling deeds and other legal instruments for the conveyance of property in Massachusetts. Real Estate Bar Ass’n v. ANAdeeds, 2012 Mass. Super. LEXIS 380 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2012). Judge Lauriat explained that “[i]n Massachusetts, drafting a deed constitutes the practice of law,” citing Real Estate Bar Ass’n of Massachusetts (REBA) v. Nat’l Real Estate Info. Servs., 946 N.E.2d 665 (Mass. 2011).

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Court uses equitable considerations to give legal force to a forged deed to protect one of two innocent victims who had less ability to prevent the harm

/ Mortgages, Real Estate Transactions

In Pasqualino v. Washington Mutual Bank, 982 N.E.2d 72 (Mass. App. Ct. 2013), the court was forced to decide which of two innocent parties should bear the financial burden of a forged deed. Although the normal rule is that a forged deed is a nullity and conveys nothing, in this case, the court protected the party that relied on the forged deed because the original owner contributed to the problem by making the forger the trustee of the property. The property was originally conveyed by Salvatore Pasqualino to a trust controlled by his son Ronald. The father Salvatore knew his son used aliases in his real estate business and the recorded documents listed the trust of the trustee of the trust as “Jonathan Pasqualino III,” an alias used by Ronald. Ronald subsequently forged a deed from the trust to a fictitious buyer who then took out a $166,600 loan from

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Lawyers held to be “debt collectors” that can be held liable for false statements in connection with a foreclosure

/ Consumer Protection, Mortgages, Real Estate Transactions

In Glazer v. Chase Home Finance, 704 F.3d 453 (6th Cir. 2013), the Six Circuit found lawyers who initiated a foreclosure may be “debt collectors” subject to the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. §§1692 to 1692p, if they regularly perform this function, and thus may be liable for making “false, deceptive or misleading representations” in connection with the foreclosure.

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Woman with muscular dystrophy may use Segway in Walt Disney World unless such use can be demonstrated to be unsafe

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Trespass

The Ninth Circuit held that the Americans with Disabilities Act grants a woman the right to use a Segway in Walt Disney World unless the park owners can show that its use is dangerous. Baughman v. Walt Disney World, Inc., 685 F.3d 1131 (9th Cir. 2012). The court found that allowing Segway use might constitute a reasonable modification of the park’s policies that were “necessary” to allow her to enjoy the facilities on an equal basis with others. Such modifications are not required if they cannot be consistent with safety requirements.

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Court holds that a seller has no duty to reveal that a murder/suicide took place in the house

/ Consumer Protection, Real Estate Transactions

A Pennsylvania trial court held that a seller had no duty to reveal that a murder/suicide took place in the house. Milliken v. Jacono, 60 A.3d 133 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2013). The court interpreted a state statute that required sellers to reveal “material defects” and found that events that had happened in the house were not a “material defect” in the physical structure of the property. The court declined to find any common law duty to reveal the information on the ground “an expansion of required seller disclosures from the physical to the psychological is a massive expansion in the character of disclosure. It requires the seller to warn not only of the physically quantifiable but also of utterly subjective defects.” Id. at 140. A dissenting opinion would have found such an obligation because “[r]eputation and history can have a significant effect on the value of realty.” Id. at 145 (Bender, J., dissenting).

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