Real Estate Litigation

Real Estate Litigation

There are a variety of claims which fall under the heading of real estate disputes.  Real estate claims are often subject to specialized legal treatment under statute and case law.  Reuben Raucher & Blum has experience with the full spectrum of real estate claims, including construction defects, construction cost overrun cases, professional negligence claims against design professionals, and environmental issues.

Many real estate related disputes also involve complicated partnership, financing and land use issues, leading to claims such as breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract and specific performance.  Finally, in the wake of the real estate bubble and resulting Great Recession, the firm has handled a number of cases against banks involving foreclosure, fraudulent conveyance and fraud claims.

Representative Results

• Defense judgment after bench trial in favor of a commercial property owner against handyman’s helper who was injured on the job.
• Obtained a $15.2 million judgment for a client, the owner of a low-income housing complex, following a settlement on the eve of trial against the architect, general contractor, and subcontractors whose faulty design and construction led to massive leaking problems in the housing complex.
• Secured a settlement totaling over $500,000 for a client, the owner of an assisted living facility, against an architect and engineer in a lawsuit for professional negligence based on design-related cost overruns.
• After a court trial, obtained a judgment worth over $500,000, including interest and attorney’s fees, for breach of fiduciary duty against a partner whose conduct had cause the partnership to lose property tax exemptions.
• Secured a $1.5 million settlement for a commercial land owner in a breach of lease dispute against a major grocery chain, where the grocer purported to terminate the lease due to an inability to obtain entitlements.