Custodia Bank (“Custodia”) filed a complaint against the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (“FRBKC”) in Wyoming federal court alleging that the FRB and FRBKC are unlawfully refusing to act on Custodia’s application for a master account. A Federal Reserve master account allows banks to directly access the Federal Reserve and utilize the Federal Reserve System’s payment, clearing and settlement services.

For decades, how Americans worked dictated where Americans lived. While everyone had their own conception of the "good life," our commutes pinned down the radius of our lives. But with the rise of remote work, as much as 40% of the American workforce will continue to have the opportunity to work from home on at least a part-time basis — allowing different folks to truly live out their different strokes.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce issued the following testimony by Michael O'Neal, vice president of corporate underwriting with First American Title Insurance Co., involving a hybrid legislative hearing on May 26, 2022, on the protection of consumers and strengthening the economy:

If you have Googled, “Virginia Pay If Paid” or “Virginia Pay When Paid” or “Pay if Paid Enforceable” or “best construction lawyer ever“, then you likely have found your way here (that last one is mere puffery). Let’s cut to the chase—Virginia has joined 11 other states that have expressly prohibited “pay if paid” clauses in construction contracts. If you have construction projects in Virginia, then read on. If you want know whether your state prohibits these clauses, then read on. If you want to know the difference between the words “if” and “when”, then read on.

Under Chapter 44A of the North Carolina Statutes, contractors that contract directly with a project owner have a right to assert a lien on the subject real property to secure payment for amounts owed for work performed. First-, second-, and third-tier subcontractors can enforce the claim of lien on real property of the contractor through subrogation. The lien on real property is a form of security for the debt. If a contractor prevails on its lien claim, the property can be sold to pay that debt.

On May 10, 2022, the Colorado Legislature passed SB22-208, titled “Concerning Just Compensation for the Condemnation of Property Encumbered by a Conservation Easement in Gross.” If signed, the bill ensures that if property encumbered by a conservation easement will be condemned, and the property will be acquired free and clear of the conservation easement interest, the condemning authority must value the property as if it is unencumbered by the conservation easement. The bill moves on to the governor’s desk for signing.

The tension between an individual’s right to own, use, exclude others from use, and dispose of property, and society’s ability to limit those rights, is as old as society itself. Its roots are literally biblical.

Most properties have three property lines setting the common boundary with adjacent properties owned by others. A fourth property line usually sets the frontage on a public right of way, such as a street. The location of the common property lines might be represented by an improvement which acts as a demarcation of the property line, called a common boundary improvement.

The owner claims the mortgage holder has a general duty to respond to their mortgage modification application which was breached since the owner was never informed of the status of the application before the foreclosure sale.

Future House Studios, a Utah Virtual Reality, and Metaverse company has shown its commitment to the future of blockchain technology by minting its office deed as an NFT, the first time an office building has been put on blockchain and the first time using a new legal model that promises to allow real property to remain and transact indefinitely on blockchains with substantially reduced transaction costs.

A New York City office building went on sale for $29 million two weeks ago, but with a Web 3 twist: The rights to purchase the property are being sold as a non-fungible token (NFT) on OpenSea. The listing’s price, however, was set in ether (ETH), which has plummeted over 40% since the start of June, taking the list price of the building with it.

The Ministry of Finance has proposed a regulation be brought in to ensure payments for all real estate transactions are carried out via bank transfers.

There are many myths about so-called squatter’s rights but what are the facts? Asks Andrew Fearn, consultant at Lincoln-based Knights PLC. This field of law is technically known as “adverse possession” which really means that a person occupies and has possession of land with the intention to exclude all others, especially the person who holds the actual title to the land.

Nearly a month after Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced a settlement with North Idaho contractor Alex Welstad, Welstad’s former clients are still seeking justice. The AG’s office accused Welstad of taking more than $790,000 from his customers and that he violated the state Consumer Protection Act and Idaho Rules of Consumer Protection.

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With an eye toward growing its commercial title services team, Proper Title, one of Illinois’ largest title insurance agencies, hired Michael Stump in March 2021 as Assistant Vice President of Commercial Business Development. 

For agents interested in growing their business by expanding into multiple states, we’re here to make the process simple and profitable. We offer you one point of contact to streamline your options and solutions.

In the early months of the coronavirus lockdowns, my wife shared with me a daily dose of cat videos. By shared, of course, I mean she flipped the screen of her phone and thrust it at me across the table: “Look!” And for the next 10 minutes, we’d scroll—cat taking a bubble bath, cat robbing a fishmonger, cat playing the piano to an audience of two cats and a dog. 

Like the white picket fence, the stainless steel fence — prevalent in New York neighborhoods densely populated by Asian homeowners — evokes a sense of making it, but it’s flashier.

In 1828, years before she took the name Sojourner Truth, a Black woman who had escaped slavery with her infant daughter won a court fight in New York’s Hudson Valley to bring her son, Peter, home from Alabama.

Read More [Contributed by Bill Collins, Frontier Abstract]

Anyone asking for directions through Columbia, Maryland’s residential neighborhoods could be forgiven for thinking a helpful local was pulling their leg. But this suburb between Baltimore and Washington, home to just over 105,000 people, really does have some of the wildest place names in America. 

Icelandic architect Arnhildur Palmadottir has revealed her "radical and gigantic" Lavaforming proposal at this year's DesignMarch festival in Reykjavík. Lavaforming would see controlled lava eruptions being used to create buildings, which according to the designer would be substantially more sustainable than those built with steel and concrete.

Read More  [Contributed by Bill Collins, Frontier Abstract]

When Chattanoogan Virginia Josephine Frazier Gilman was kidnapped as a two-year-old way back in March 1927 and held for four days before successfully being freed after a ransom was paid, thousands in Chattanooga and elsewhere followed the news with much concern.

Read More  [If you're interested in more details of the crime, the link to part 2 is at the end of this article and the link to part 1 is at the end of part 2]

Billy Milliken has listed Duck Ledges Island for $339,000. The 1.5-acre private island off the coast of Maine is nestled between the state’s Acadia National Park and the Canadian border in Addison.