This year, I have presented at two continuing legal educations events sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law (RPTE). The first was an “eCLE” on selected issues in negotiation of hotel management and franchise agreements. For this first presentation, I shared the virtual “stage” (it was a webinar) with Tara GormanContinue Reading
It has been my privilege to work with Georgetown University Law Center and the American Hotel & Lodging Association to plan The 2012 Hotel & Lodging Legal Summit, a two-day continuing legal education conference to be held November 8 and 9, 2012 in Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area surrounding the nation’s capital has become homeContinue Reading
This afternoon, Rosemary O’Shea (of Baker & Hostetler LLP) and I presented an “e-CLE” (basically a webinar without a Powerpoint) titled, “Americans with Disabilities Act: Are You Surviving the Ides of March (2011 and 2012)?” The presentation was sponsored by the Hospitality, Timesharing and Common Interests Development Group of the ABA Section of Real PropertyContinue Reading
This September, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued its third opinion in a series of cases involving disputes among property owners of Fairfield Harbour, a coastal development in Craven County, NC, and MidSouth Golf, LLC, the owner of two golf courses adjacent to the development. The cases have pitted against one another three distinctContinue Reading
Last month, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida denied an injunction requested by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which would have compelled the owner of the Turnberry Isle Hotel & Resort, Turnberry Associates, to reinstate Fairmont as the resort’s manager after Turnberry had abruptly expelled Fairmont from the resort this summer. Continue Reading
This July, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen announced that he had reached a settlement with three hotel companies, to avoid a civil lawsuit or criminal prosecution for their participation in “call-arounds,” a practice in which competing hotels exchange information on their room rates and occupancy levels. In a press release announcing the settlement, the AttorneyContinue Reading
Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii certified a class of plaintiffs in an action seeking relief against Hilton Hotels Corporation (n/k/a Hilton Worldwide, Inc.) and its subsidiary Waldorf=Astoria Management LLC, which manages the Grand Wailea Resort, on Maui. The certified class consists of “all non-managerial food and beverage service employeesContinue Reading
Earlier this month, I attended the Midwest Lodging Investment Summit in Chicago. One of the speakers at the conference was Joe McInerney, the President and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. McInerney gave a “View from Washington”-type speech that touched on a few legislative issues that have impacted the hotel industry during theContinue Reading
I mentioned the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) in my last blog entry, and am going to mention it again here. Another presentation at this year’s Midwest Lodging Investment Summit featured an AHLA video titled, “If you see something, say something.” (If that wasn’t the title of the video, it was the central phrased usedContinue Reading
Last month, the Supreme Court of Iowa issued a strongly worded and unanimous opinion (with two justices abstaining) that reversed an intermediate appellate court’s decision to reinstate a $10 million judgment in favor if a company that manages casinos, against a developer that owns them. The court’s opinion offers insights for attorneys who negotiate assetContinue Reading