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My Real Estate Law Update for February has been posted in the publications section at my firm’s web site. It’s a bit of an editorial about a change in home mortgages.
There’s also a short item about keeping cash and documents safe. Your feedback is welcome in the comments here.
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It doesn’t make much sense to me, but an item at forbes.com says that the EPA has issued regulations imposing a nationwide ban on wood-burning stoves that produce more than 12 micrograms of particulate emission per cubic meter of air. That might make sense in Maricopa County, for example, but does it make sense in rural Maine or Alaska, where there are probably a significant number of households that depend on wood-burning stoves for heat?
Via Instapundit. At least, according to a column in the Weekly Standard, the commissioners of Mora County, New Mexico didn’t come up with their way-out no-drilling ordinance entirely on their own. They had the help of someone who sounds like a possibly somewhat more sophisticated version of the people who say that the income tax is legally unenforceable.
Via Overlawyered (again). That would be really gross, right? Actually, I’m not sure which would be more gross (grosser?).
Anyway, you can read about it at Lowering the Bar, if you really want to. It’s an amusing post, if you can ignore how obviously disgusting the whole discussion is. The BBC has an interesting report, including background on driverless technologies that are being developed, and steps in other countries to facilitate the introduction of driverless cars.
Did the NFL (or whoever decides who the MVP is) really change their minds about who was the MVP of the Super Bowl? If so, then ok, the prize is income to Malcolm Butler, not Tom Brady, and Brady doesn’t have any potential gift tax liability for giving it to Butler.
They’re really doing Brady a favor. They certainly aren’t doing Butler a favor. Brady is probably in a much better position than Butler to pay the income tax. It’s hard to tell if this county legislative body thought they could actually do what they did, or if they knew they couldn’t but did it anyway to make a statement. I don’t think you have to be too well educated about the political structure of the United States to recognize that there might be a problem with a law that says this: The New Mexico Constitution’s Bill of Rights, and the United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights and amendments thereto, shall be recognized as preemptive law within the County of Mora only to the extent that their interpretation and application are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance regarding the powers and “rights” of corporations, and to the extent that they do not otherwise elevate property interests over rights secured by this Ordinance. In other words, they are saying that if the law they passed violates either the New Mexico or United States constitution, their law wins. I don’t think that’s how it works, no matter what the subject matter.
Via Overlawyered. I just didn't get to blogging about Tom Brady giving Malcolm Butler his Super Bowl MVP prize until after someone at Forbes wrote about it. Of course the truck Tom got was a taxable prize (sorry, Tom, the outcome might be different if you had won it in the Olympics), and the gift to Malcolm might be taxable as well.
Via Tax Prof. I posted about the elected official who threatened to sue a newspaper reporter for using his name in an articles without permission.
Here’s a link to one more blogger piling on. That blogger also notes that the elected official apologized and seemingly acknowledged that he was wrong. |
AuthorThe contents of this blog, this web site, and any writings by me that are linked here, are all my personal commentary. None of it is intended to be legal advice for your situation. Archives
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