Real Estate & Construction

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A short, but published, opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In Archbold-Garrett v. New Orleans, No. 17-30692 (June 22, 2018), the court held that the plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and Fourteenth Amendment claims (search and seizure, compensation, and procedural due process) were ripe for federal court, even though the plaintiffs had not sought compensation in a Louisiana court under Louisiana law.  Quick background: the city demolished a building the plaintiffs owned which they had purchased from the city at a lien sale. View Full Post
Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) announced settlement of a disability discrimination Fair Housing Act (FHA) case from San Francisco, CA.  A family filed a fair housing complaint asserting their apartment community failed to transfer them in violation of the FHA as their infant son had a disability and management was required to transfer them to a non-smoking unit. View Full Post
Louisiana and Parishes Considering How to Realize Benefit from Scotus’ Wayfair Decision – Working to Change Effective Date of Enabling Legislation By Jason Brown, Jaye Calhoun, and Willie Kolarik The Louisiana Legislature is considering last minute legislation to change the effective date of legislation allowing the State to tax remote sellers but has not acted to make other centralized collection legislation operative.  View Full Post
Suddenly Everything Has Changed: United States Supreme Court Adopts an Undefined Uniform Substantial Nexus Standard, Overturns Quill, and Fundamentally Alters the State Tax Landscape in Historic Wayfair Decision By the Kean Miller State and Local Tax Team On June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its opinion in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., Dkt. No, 17-494, 585 U.S. __ (June 21, 2018).  In addition to overturning the physical presence substantial nexus standard applicable to use tax collection requirements articulated by the court in Quill[1] and Bellas Hess[2], the Court’s far reaching opinion in Wayfair creates an undefined sufficiency test for determining when a taxpayer has substantial nexus with a state for purposes of the dormant Commerce Clause.  View Full Post
According to Scott, Sheffield, the Chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources Co., capacity to transport oil out of the Permian Basin is expected to reach capacity in the next three to four months.  Mr. Sheffield indicated that some companies may have to shut in production or move rigs away given existing pipeline constraints. View Full Post
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued perhaps the most significant and far-reaching decision affecting state sales and use tax collection since its Quill v. North Dakota decision in 1992.  The high court expressly overruled the Quill decision, stating that the decision’s “physical present rule…is unsound and incorrect.”  As a result of today’s ruling, each state is now generally free to require that online retailers having no physical presence in the state (i) register with the state for sales/use tax purposes; and (ii) collect sales/use tax on a retailer’s sales of products or services into the state. View Full Post
Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals Holds that the Individual Net Capital Gain Exclusion Applies to a Multi-Step Transaction By Jaye Calhoun, Jason Brown and Willie Kolarik In Camp v. Robinson, No. 10609D, (La. Bd. Tax App. June 13, 2018), the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals (the “Board”) held that Louisiana’s Individual Net Capital Gain Exclusion applies to a multi-step transaction.  View Full Post
U.S. Treasury Approves Capital Tax Break Zones in U.S. Virgin Islands This April, the United States Treasury announced it approved 14 different neighborhoods on St. Croix and St. Thomas as being Qualified Opportunity Zones, meaning they are eligible for federal tax breaks under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in December. View Full Post
Facts. The documents required the consent of the first floor unit owner if the second floor unit owner wanted to erect a terrace above a first floor unit.  When the first floor unit owner refused to give consent, the Board waived the consent requirement and allowed the second floor unit owner to construct a terrace, after determining that it would have no impact on the value of the first floor unit.  View Full Post