Appellate Ruling Allows Betting
On Who Will Win Elections
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., cleared away legal obstacles last week to gamblers betting on next month’s election.
The court ruled that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission overstepped its authority by trying to block betting on the 2024 election.
The government agency that regulates the stock market argued betting could undermine the integrity of elections.
The ruling allows customers of prediction exchange platform Kalshi to bet on which political party will control the House and Senate after the election next month.
The appellate court, which upheld a lower court decision, said the betting was regrettable but still allowed under federal law.
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Crowell & Moring Will Not Get Refund
For Rent Paid During COVID Shutdown
Law firm Crowell & Moring lost out last week in its lawsuit to recover $30 million it paid in rent on its downtown Washington, D.C., office while most of its employees worked from home during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The firm cited the mayor’s COVID-related public safety orders severely limiting law firms and other non-essential businesses from working in office buildings to slow the spread of the virus.
Crowell & Moring argued in D.C. Superior Court that its lease grants rent abatements when the firm loses “use and enjoyment” of its office at 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW and access of its workers is interrupted.
It wants a refund for rent it paid landlord TREA 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue Trust from April 2020 and May 2021.
The firm said its use of the building was “curtailed, interfered with and interrupted” while 95 percent of its staff worked remotely.
The landlord was represented by Seyfarth Shaw LLP, which argued that the decision not to use its Washington, D.C., office was made by Crowell & Moring’s top management, not by The TREA 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue Trust.
Judge Donald Tunnage agreed with Seyfarth Shaw, saying in his decision, "There are no set of facts, nor is there a contention from the plaintiff, that any portion of the premises was physically unavailable to it.”
In addition, Crowell's landlord never denied “prompt access” to the office space, Tunnage said.
A Seyfarth Shaw statement after the court decision said, "The lease provided for a narrow right of abatement, and the undisputed facts showed that Crowell & Moring did not satisfy its requirements."
The case is Crowell & Moring LLP v. The TREA 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue Trust in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: tramstack@gmail.com or phone: 202-479-7240.
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Power the Civil Rights Work of Our Time
Each day members of our community are experiencing wage theft, the effects of gentrification, discriminatory policing, collateral consequences, marginalization in schools, and barriers to public accommodations.
We fight alongside people facing the effects of gentrification like Amira Moore. Our work empowers the people and communities who need it most, “We can do more than we think. There’s a path to equity, we just have to step to it.” –Ms. Moore
For more than 50 years, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee has been on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights in our community. We deploy the best legal talent, we tackle the tough cases, we fight, and we win.
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Legal Briefs
Democrats and Republicans Trade Insults
Over Legal Proceedings Against Rivals
Democrats and Republicans are accusing their rivals this week of using legal proceedings to undercut the credibility of top political candidates heading into next month’s election rather than to serve the interests of justice.
In one example, Donald Trump accused special counsel Jack Smith of trying to use a court filing in the former president’s election interference case to weaken his reelection campaign.
The filing is a rework of the indictment against Trump that alleges he illegally tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election that gave the victory to Joe Biden.
Trump lied to the public, election officials, and the vice president to hold on to power after losing the election, prosecutors alleged in the 165-page filing.
"When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office," the filing said. "With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost."
D.C. in Brief
Supreme Court to Hear Nuclear Energy Case
To Decide Where Wastes Can Be Stored
The Supreme Court agreed last week to review a plan for storing as much as 40,000 tons of radioactive nuclear plant waste at a temporary site in west Texas.
The case is likely to provide a pivotal decision on how to handle the nation’s nuclear waste.
A lower court ruled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacked authority to grant licenses for temporary storage of the waste.
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said only Congress could decide where to put it after fueling nuclear generators. So far, the waste has been stored mostly on-site at power plants.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the Texas license to government contractor Interim Storage Partners LLC.
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D.C. Council Limits Eviction Protections
For Residents in Affordable Housing
The District of Columbia Council approved emergency legislation last week that removes pandemic-era apartment eviction protections in an effort to save landlords from catastrophic losses.
Some of Washington’s affordable housing complexes are nearing bankruptcy after being prevented from evicting tenants who have not paid their full rent.
As the COVID-19 pandemic led to layoffs and personal finance crises, the D.C. Council approved the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which subsidized rent payments of affordable housing tenants and created procedural barriers for landlords in evicting them.
The legislation last week rolls back much of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
Tenants will no longer be able to self-certify their eligibility for the program.
In addition, judges no longer will be allowed to repeatedly delay eviction proceedings if a tenant has an Emergency Rental Assistance Program application pending. Instead, judges would be limited to granting one delay but only if tenants can show they are enduring an emergency.
Unpaid rent owed to affordable housing landlords has increased from $11 million in 2020 to $100 million this year, according to figures from the mayor’s office. About 14 percent of Washington’s residents live in rent-controlled apartments classified as affordable housing.
If the upward trend continues to $147 million next year, a city administration analysis shows some apartment buildings will face foreclosure, meaning low-income residents who live in the affordable housing units will be forced out with few alternatives.
Landlords complained to the city council they already are struggling to pay their own bills as well as maintain their properties according to local housing codes.
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