Jaleesa Smith, Author at SGR Law

May 2, 2019

Failure to Provide Proper Itemization Under Section 38 of the New York Lien Law Fatal to Maintaining a Mechanic’s Lien

The New York Lien Law provides broad rights to contractors, subcontractors and materialmen who improve real property. However, the right to file a mechanic’s lien is not without obligation on the lienor who must, within five days of receipt of a demand under Section 38 of the Lien Law, provide a verified, itemized statement detailing the value of the labor and materials that comprise its claimed lien amount. A property owner faced with a lienor who refuses or fails to adequately itemize its mechanic’s lien may bring a petition before the court to seek a proper itemization. If the lienor… Read more

May 1, 2019

Sluggish Response to Opportunity Zone Program

Response from renewable developers has been slow to the Tax Cuts and Job Act of 2017’s Opportunity Zone program, with only 11 Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs) focused on renewable energy since the program began. The program provides capital gains tax benefits for renewable investments in up to 8,700 federally designated areas. The program allows investors to defer taxes and gains put into QOFs, the vehicles used to invest in the zones, until December 2026. Investors who hold their investments for five to seven years can increase their basis on the investment by 10 to 15 percent, cutting taxes by an equal amount…. Read more

Apr 24, 2019

EPA Administrator Promises to Listen to Scientists

In an eight-page letter to the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (Board), EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler provided assurances to the Board that the EPA would continue to share information with the expert advisors in a timely fashion and be more transparent on key regulatory science issues by holding more rapid and frequent briefings. The Board is a panel of nearly four dozen outside researchers and experts who review the technical information used by the EPA to set policy and draft regulations. The assurance letter from Wheeler was in response to complaints from the Board that the agency was ignoring its own… Read more

Apr 17, 2019

Developments to Watch: State Chemical Regulation and Proposed Legislation

Toxic Chemicals & State Chemical Regulation

At least 22 States have had at least 97 pieces of legislation introduced in their legislatures for chemical regulation or bans, over and above regulatory actions taken by EPA under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In addition to complying with chemical registration requirements on the federal level under TSCA, manufacturers, importers, and users of chemicals must also be familiar with and remain in compliance with numerous State chemical regulatory requirements. California’s labeling requirements under its Proposition 65 are only one example. For that reason, it is prudent to monitor legislative developments in State legislatures around the country that… Read more

Apr 15, 2019

“Baseball is a game of inches.” And often so is construction.

Land Surveyor: Property Line Encroachment

A recent case illustrates the point: A Romanian Orthodox Christian Church in Elmhurst, Queens is adjacent to a construction site. Defendants were building a substantial residential apartment building next door. For construction to proceed, a retaining wall was built very close to the Church property line. The Church hired a professional surveyor who found that the steel piles encroached on the north end of the Church’s western property line by 2.5 inches and at the south end of its western property line by 3.25 inches. The survey also showed that the wood lagging encroached on the Church’s property at the north end of… Read more

Apr 3, 2019

EPA Risk Management Plan Rule Update

After losing a case in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on its attempt to delay the effective date of the Obama-era final rule strengthening EPA’s Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility accident prevention program, EPA issued a proposed rule last Fall largely scrapping the Obama-era rule’s requirements. However, EPA has not yet issued a final rule, yet it was compelled to comply with the mandate of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that invalidated its attempted delay of the Obama-era rule’s effective date. As a result, in December, EPA published a final rule in the Federal Register that the January… Read more

Mar 27, 2019

EPA Citation to Chemours Shows Enforcement Push Under TSCA

Last month, EPA issued notices of violation (NOVs) to Chemours, which manufactures per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), among other chemicals, for alleged violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) at two of its facilities located in Fayetteville, NC and Parkersburg, WV. The two NOVs, relatively rare under TSCA, may indicate an intent by EPA to step up enforcement under TSCA. The NOVs allege that Chemours failed to comply with a TSCA significant new use rule (SNUR) requiring GenX compounds (a form of PFAS) to be manufactured in an enclosed process; and failed to properly control effluent and emissions during… Read more

Mar 21, 2019

Behold the “Litigation Hold”

You are an officer, director/manager or agent for a corporation, limited liability company or residential cooperative/condominium. You occasionally receive garden-variety claims for personal injuries (e.g. slip-and-falls). And from time-to-time more threatening claims (e.g. discrimination, breach of fiduciary duty). First thing first: immediately notify your liability insurance carrier in writing. And second: preserve all hard copy and electronic documents and communications (including all audio and visual records) directly or indirectly relating to the claim. The first admonition of your obligation to preserve and protect relevant records may be a so-called “litigation hold”—a direction from either your attorney or the lawyer for the claimant to save… Read more

Mar 20, 2019

Groundwater Pollution Liability Under Clean Water Act to be Reviewed by U.S. Supreme Court

On February 19, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review a unanimous decision by a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that underground wastewater injection into a groundwater channel that flows to the Pacific Ocean requires a permit under the Clean Water Act. The Ninth Circuit decision, Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al v. County of Maui, 886 F.3d 737 (9th Cir. 2018), is one of two Circuit Court cases finding liability under the Clean Water Act for unpermitted discharges of pollutants to groundwater for which certiorari petitions are pending in the Supreme Court. The Order issued on… Read more

Mar 15, 2019

Court-Imposed Access for “Underpinning” Next Door

Underpinning - extension of the foundation of one's property

CUCS Housing Development Fund Corporation and several related entities sued under RPAPL § 881 for Court-imposed access, for the purpose of underpinning a neighboring property on West 12th Street owned by Clifford S. Aymes. Underpinning is the extension of the foundation of one property to below the foundation of a neighboring parcel. CUCS was trying to begin a construction project to provide New York City’s homeless population with affordable housing. Aymes owned the one-story, unoccupied building adjoining the project. The New York City Building Code required CUCS take careful measures to protect public safety and to prevent damages to Aymes’ property during the building’s construction. Where… Read more