Stores Now Have To Follow New Gender-Neutral Pricing Laws. Just in time for the holidays. Let's see how this spreads throughout the country and learn the new criteria to avoid major fines for service providers and product retailers.
Thursday, December 03, 2020
Dan Donovan, a security consultant for sports arenas and convention centers gives us an update on what to expect in 2021 for stadiums, live concerts and corporate events.
Listen to this podcast segment HERE.
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
There is an EXPLOSION of 2 fundamental rights: Personal freedom and societal regulation. On #theLIEBCAST podcast, we review the substantive due process right to personal liberty and public health.
We look at a previous case from the 1905 smallpox public health crisis and discuss religious and disability exemptions. We discuss how the government has historically limited our liberties in regard to the safety of water quality, transportation, sewage and disease control. What does the country need to get herd immunity from COVID19 and get back to a new normal? #ListenToLieb
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Today, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced the simultaneous commencement and settlement of antitrust and anticompetitive practice complaints against the National Association of Realtors.
In its press release, found HERE, the DOJ identified four areas of anticompetitive practice which they allege "result[ed] in decreased competition among real estate brokers":
- Prohibiting local MLSs from disclosing to prospective buyers the amount of the commission earned by buyer brokers;
- Permitting buyer brokers to misrepresent to buyers that their buyer brokerage services are free;
- Enabling buyer brokers to filter MLS listings by the amount of buyer broker commission offered; and
- Preventing non-NAR brokers from accessing key lockboxes for homes listed on MLS.
The settlement will directly address these four issues in order to "enhance competition in the real estate market, resulting in more choice and better service for consumers." The proposed settlement can be found HERE and will be open for public comment once posted to the federal register.
NAR has routinely found itself under antitrust scrutiny due to its overwhelmingly popular MLS platforms, which often are the only multiple listing platforms available in local markets. Three recent federal lawsuits filed against NAR have focused on NAR's policies regarding compensation for buyer brokers, alleging that buyer brokers are unable to compete on price due to the requirement that all listings on MLS offer some form of cooperating brokerage commission. It is alleged that these anticompetitive practices have driven up the overall cost of brokerage services for consumers by eliminating competition on the buyer broker side of the market.
The announcement by the Department of Justice was silent with regard to whether any additional investigations into NAR were ongoing.
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Starting on December 11, 2020 there will be time limits to remedy any determinations of building code violations in NYS per new law.
The Real property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) 777(a) has been amended to ensure that no code violations or dangerous conditions remain outstanding for "more than sixty days from the date of the order of the court" if the owner (or mortgagee or liener) enters into a consent order to remedy the issue upon the petition being granted against such owner.
We expect that this sixty day period will be applied by the various town / city / village attorneys in plea agreements as well.
Now, there is a rush to fix unless good cause for delay can be shown.
