Real Estate Litigation

Overview

OUR Practice
In this high-stakes arena, real estate developers and owners rely upon our experienced team of real estate litigation attorneys when disputes arise that threaten business interests and objectives. With our strategic approach and business acumen, we resolve disputes for our clients as early and efficiently as possible to avoid the expense, disruption and uncertainty of trial.

Our reputation as passionate trial advocates and our willingness to try a case to a verdict – and beyond – create incentives for favorable settlements. However, when a case does proceed to trial, our clients can rest assured our attorneys will bring the same levels of commitment and skill that has twice earned us The Legal Intelligencer’s “Litigation Department of the Year” award for midsize firms in Pennsylvania.

Our real estate litigation team works collaboratively with clients to help them evaluate their options, manage costs, and develop and execute a clearly articulated action plan that effectively achieves their goals. We work seamlessly across our practice groups and leverage our legal assets to provide the resources required for each engagement.

OUR Services
We measure our success the same way our clients measure it – by our results. Our attorneys have built an impressive track record representing owners, developers, landlords, tenants and governmental entities in a wide array of disputes, including:

  • purchase and sales contracts
  • landlord/tenant disputes
  • land use issues, including zoning and air rights
  • eminent domain
  • tax appeals
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Representative Matters

OUR Experience

We represent clients in virtually all forums, including state and federal courts, arbitrations and other alternative dispute resolution tribunals, and federal and state agencies. Our experience includes having:

  • Defending a commercial developer against a $26 million claim in connection with the termination of purchase and option agreements for commercial real estate, winning a compulsory nonsuit following the completion of plaintiff’s case
  • Prevailing against claims brought by adjoining property owners seeking to enjoin the construction activity of our client, the developer of a $360 million mixed-use hotel project in Center City, Philadelphia
  • Representing a parochial institution in obtaining public funding and zoning variances to convert a building into senior apartments; however, after the variances were reversed by the Commonwealth Court, our attorneys won a reversal on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, allowing the project to proceed
  • Securing dismissal with prejudice – that was affirmed on appeal – for the developer of a Center City, Philadelphia, condominium project in a lawsuit brought by 63 unit owners alleging fraudulent sales practices
  • Obtaining a unanimous award in favor of a marine terminal operator in an $80 million lease dispute with its public port authority landlord before a panel of three arbitrators
  • Representing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of General Services in three cases arising out of the condemnation of three multimillion-dollar commercial properties in connection with the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia
  • Securing an order from the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on behalf of aggrieved local taxpayers requiring the county to conduct a reassessment of all 202,000 residential and commercial properties in the county due to pervasive inequities in property tax assessments in violation of the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution
  • Obtaining an order from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas quashing tax appeals filed by the School District of Philadelphia challenging the assessments of high-value commercial properties in Center City, Pennsylvania. The order ruled that appeals singling out commercial properties while ignoring under-assessed residential properties violated the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution
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