Real Estate Litigation

Experience

• Represented international shopping center owner in litigation in which a tenant asserted 24 counts against the owner, including seeking a declaratory judgment that the owner was in breach of the tenant’s lease for allowing other tenants to use their premises in alleged violation of the lease’s use restrictions as well as seeking a declaration that the tenant was entitled to withhold rent for as long as the breach continued, which totaled more than $40 million. Initially obtained dismissal of six counts and then was awarded summary judgment on all remaining counts except five, the damages for which were reduced to the nominal amount of $5, permitting the owner to obtain a favorable settlement.
• Represented large real estate developer that owned landmark property in downtown Washington, DC in land use dispute with competing real estate developer owning adjacent property, obtaining a favorable court decision after a several-day trial, which led to a successful settlement of the litigation, avoiding a lengthy appeal.
• Represented a hospital in a $25 million litigation in federal court against a large general contractor relating to the redevelopment of property into a research and innovation campus.
• Represented individual in several intra-family disputes involving real estate and trust and estate litigations over a $50 million estate.
• Represented homeowners association of a luxury DC condominium building in a construction defect case against the general contractor, which resulted in a favorable settlement for the association.
• Represented major downtown Washington, DC building owner committed to modernizing and redeveloping its building in litigation against several tenants determined to halt the redevelopment efforts. Advised other DC building owners facing similar tenant challenges prior to litigation being filed.
• Represented waterfront landowners in years-long land use and environmental dispute involving the Critical Area regulations in the Chesapeake Bay region. Obtained successful result from the Maryland Court of Appeals.
• Represented national real estate developer in construction arbitration in North Carolina against its general contractor over defective construction of its headquarters buildings. Obtained $14 million judgment.
• Represented national real estate developer in construction litigation with state agency over the redevelopment of several state buildings. Successfully defended client in more than $11 million in claims and obtained discovery sanctions award of $90,000 against the state.
• Represented numerous commercial landlords in high-dollar leasing disputes and other complex landlord-tenant cases.
• Represented numerous real estate partnership in corporate disputes involving entity control and management.