Monday
May 20, 2013

Law & Ethics: In Court Articles

  • Thu, 02/01/2001

    A 1999 decision that allowed landlords to refuse to rent to unmarried couples if doing so would offend their religious beliefs was reversed recently, when the U.S. Court of Appeals withdrew its opinion in Thomas v. Anchorage Equal Rights Commission.

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  • Thu, 02/01/2001

    The Court declared that the disclosure rules, which are intended to inform prospective tenants about the presence of lead-based paint, took effect in September 1996, the date set by HUD and the EPA in their rules implementing lead-hazard reduction laws.

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  • Fri, 12/01/2000

    Brokers aren’t liable for a seller’s failure to provide the buyers with a property condition disclosure form, a Nebraska appellate court has ruled.

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  • Sun, 10/01/2000

    A federal judge has ordered the city of Sunnyvale, Texas, a sprawling Dallas suburb, to revise zoning ordinances that discriminate against minorities and the poor.

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  • Fri, 09/01/2000

    RE/MAX, Realty One, and Smythe, Cramer have reached an out-of-court settlement regarding the federal restraint-of-trade lawsuit filed by RE/MAX in Ohio in 1994.

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  • Tue, 08/01/2000

    A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that a landlord who evicted a white tenant because she had black houseguests can be sued under the Fair Housing Act by both the tenant and the guests.

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  • Mon, 05/01/2000

    A recent Minnesota verdict sends a chilling message about the disclosure duties of real estate brokers and their salespeople. In February the parents of two children who died from carbon monoxide poisoning won $1.9 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against their home’s former owners and the real estate brokerage.

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  • Sat, 04/01/2000

    In New York, as in most states, real estate practitioners and homeowners are required by law to tell prospective homebuyers about a home’s known physical defects. But real estate practitioners working for the seller don’t have to disclose anything voluntarily about the neighbors.

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  • Wed, 03/01/2000

    In 1994 the Metropolitan Kansas City (Mo.) Board of REALTORS® voted to suspend one of its members. At the end of the disciplinary proceedings, the board filed a declaratory judgment action—as required by its bylaws--that sought a court judicial declaration that the board hadn’t violated the member’s rights during its disciplinary proceedings.

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  • Tue, 02/01/2000

    A large residential apartment complex is not a public forum, and constitutional free speech guarantees don’t extend to the activities of tenant associations, a California appellate court has ruled.

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