NEWS - Forchelli Deegan Terrana Law

June 21, 2019

Center for Biological Diversity v US Forest Service: To What Extent Does Failure to Take Steps that Might Mitigate Environmental Harm Caused by a Third Party Make Someone Responsible for that Environmental Harm?

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Center for Biological Diversity v US Forest Service, 2019 WL 2293425 (May 30, 2019) raises important questions about the extent to which someone might be held liable for failing to prevent someone else from causing environmental harm. The Center for Biological Diversity alleged that the Forest Service violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (also known as…

June 21, 2019

Limitations of Section 253-b on commercial line of credit

"Section 253-b of the New York State Tax Law is relied upon by many commercial lenders and their counsel as a safe haven exempting re-advances from the payment of additional mortgage tax under commercial credit line mortgages made for a face amount of less than $3 million. That reliance is often misplaced as the benefits under Section 253-b of the tax law are actually very…

June 13, 2019

Who’s Who in Real Property & Tax Certiorari Law – John V. Terrana

"In January 2019, Nassau County completed the first county-wide reassessment in eight years,” Terrana said. “Since then, I have been reviewing assessments, estimating taxes based on the new assessment and challenging same for existing, and many new, clients,” he said. “Laura Curran recently appointed me co-chair of the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission’s (ARC) 6-40 Review Committee, which will make recommendations to update and streamline…

June 4, 2019

Jane Chen of Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP Recognized by the Huntington Chamber

Jane Chen, an associate in the firm's Corporate & Commercial and Real Estate practice groups, was recognized at the Huntington Chamber's 'Celebrate Long Island's Young Professionals' event. A reception was held at Crest Hollow Country Club on May 7, 2019. Click here to read the story, which was published on page 15A of the June 4, 2019 paper. Reprinted with permission from the New York…

June 4, 2019

Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP’s Danielle Tricolla Recognized by Hofstra University

Danielle E. Tricolla, an associate in the firm's Litigation practice group, was a recipient of Hofstra University's 'Outstanding Women in Law' award. A reception was held at RXR Plaza in Uniondale on April 22, 2019. Click here to read the story, which was published on page 17C of the June 4, 2019 paper. Reprinted with permission from the New York Real Estate Journal.

May 21, 2019

Dispelling 5 Misconceptions About Environmental Issues

I am starting to prepare course materials for a course entitled “Environmental Law for Non-Environmental Lawyers.” The purpose of the course would be to dispel many of the misconceptions that people have about environmental issues. As a starting point, here are 5 easy ways to tell that the person talking about the environmental issue has no clue: 1. “There are no hazardous substances in the…

April 18, 2019

Freedom of Information: How Transparent is Government Decision Making?

The federal Freedom of Information Act (5 USC 553 et. seq.) and New York’s Freedom of Information Law (Public Officers Law section 87) require government agencies to provide records to the public upon request. There are exemptions, but the basic policy is that government records should be open to the public. A recent decision by the federal district court for the District of Columbia addresses…

March 14, 2019

Neighbors Win on Imminent and Substantial Danger Claim and Court Grants Them No Remedy

In Lijam, LLC v General Electric Company, 2019 WL 1011021 (March 2019), neighbors of a contaminated site sued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), claiming the site “may present an imminent and substantial danger to health or the environment.” The neighbors won on summary judgement, with the court concluding that General Electric was liable under RCRA. The court then denied the neighbors’ request…

February 1, 2019

What Developers and Land Use Practitioners Need to Know About the New SEQRA Amendments

by Andrea Tsoukalas Curto and Jessica A. Leis The first major State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”) revisions since 1996 will be taking effect January 1, 2019. For the complete article click: The New York Environmental Lawyer . Reprinted with permission from: The New York Environmental Lawyer, Fall/Winter 2018, Vol. 38, No. 2, published by the New York State Bar Association, One Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207.

January 18, 2019

A Closer Look at Nassau’s Reassessment: What the County’s Reassessment Really Means

Nassau County recently completed the first county-wide reassessment in eight years. The results of the reassessment were published earlier this month on the 2020/21 Tentative Assessment Roll. The goal of the reassessment is a laudable one in that it aims to provide a fair assessment for every property owner in Nassau County. Unfortunately, based upon our review of the reassessment, we do not believe the…