Law firm adds partner to real estate practice: Manuel “Manny” Fishman has joined the law firm Cooley Godward Kronish as a partner in its real estate practice group. His practice focuses on office and industrial leasing, secured lending, the acquisition and sale of commercial properties and the intersection of land-line and wireless telecommunications and Internet-based services with commercial real estate. He joins from the San Francisco office of Stoel Rives where he was a partner. Fishman earned his law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1982.

Fines for housing kickbacks sought. U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson said last week he plans to ask Congress for authority to levy fines on real-estate professionals for giving or receiving kickbacks during home closings. “We are toothless now,” Jackson, said in an interview. HUD is largely limited to negotiating voluntary settlements when it finds that kickbacks and improper referral fees were paid among real estate agents, lenders, title insurers and appraisers. The agency’s enforcement authority has little deterrent effect, and settlements often are viewed as “a cost of doing business,” Jackson said.

Ohio sues over alleged inflated appraisals: Ohio, the state with the third highest number of foreclosures, sued 10 real estate companies for improperly pressuring appraisers to inflate home values. The companies, based in Ohio, California, Arizona and New York, are accused of setting specific estimated values on properties and communicating a desired price to appraisers, according to the lawsuits filed by Attorney General Marc Dann today. In Ohio, it’s illegal to influence an appraiser. Those sued include seven mortgage brokers two lenders and an appraiser.

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