The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, or VARA, is a little known law that specifically recognizes the special rights of artists and seeks to protect the integrity of their work. While VARA applies only to certain limited and original edition works, it includes works placed on or incorporated into buildings. » Read More

The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990, or VARA, is a little known law that specifically recognizes the special rights of artists and seeks to protect the integrity of their work. While VARA applies only to certain limited and original edition works, it includes works placed on or incorporated into buildings. » Read More

The New Jersey Appellate Division recently heard argument in the case of Bianchi v. Ladjen as to whether an attorney hired to represent a purchaser in a residential real estate closing is obligated to advise his client about purchasing homeowner’s insurance. » Read More

One obvious reason for filing a real estate tax appeal is to obtain a lower assessment on your real property and thereby save significant tax dollars.  Another important reason to lower your assessment and taxes is to help maintain the value of the property by making it more  marketable to potential buyers. » Read More

Many commercial tenants that fail to pay rent because the premises are not “up to snuff” operate under the mistaken impression that they can continue to operate the business and defend their failure to pay rent by simply alleging that the landlord deprived them of the use of the premises. » Read More

In most commercial leases, there will be a reference to a waiver of subrogation, or similar concept. Usually, it is the landlord who requires the tenant to waive subrogation by procuring a policy that expressly waives any right of subrogation by the tenant’s carrier against the landlord. » Read More

Many times, a commercial landlord really does not want to evict a non-paying tenant – particularly in those instances where the landlord is trying to keep up appearances at a center – but is left with little choice when a tenant falls so far behind in rent that the landlord is compelled to sue for possession. » Read More

There are commercial tenants out there who operate under the mistaken belief that they can simply have another tenant take their place and ride off into the sunset. It doesn’t work that way in most instances. To have another tenant take its place, the original tenant must, in most circumstances, properly assign the lease to the new tenant and obtain the landlord’s consent. » Read More

One of the knocks against the legal profession is that it uses terms that are obscure or undecipherable by the rest of the population. One of those terms is “privity.” It gets thrown around in some circles with less than a full understanding of what the term means and how it may apply. » Read More

Since the inauguration, it appeared that the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT), otherwise known as the 3.8% Medicare Surtax, which passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, was going to disappear.   However, with the gridlock in Congress and the failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, it now seems that the NIIT is here to stay, at least for now. » Read More