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Real Estate Litigation

Berger Singerman's Dispute Resolution Team has experience resolving issues that arise in all phases of a real estate project's existence.  Our attorneys have extensive experience in litigating matters related to real estate development, finance and acquisition, including disputes involving developers, governmental agencies, contractors, buyers, sellers, brokers, title companies, lenders and creditors.  Berger Singerman's attorneys also have experience resolving disputes that arise out of the construction, management and leasing of real estate projects.  And they are experienced in resolving disputes that result from government decisions, including inverse condemnation proceedings, permit denials, and other development related directives.  And when necessary, our litigation attorneys are well equipped to handle litigation that arises from the restructuring or bankruptcy of distressed real estate projects.

Some of the specific legal issues we have addressed for our clients include claims related to the following:

  • Breach of Sales Agreements
  • Reformation
  • Rescission
  • Specific Performance
  • Construction Liens
  • Construction Defects
  • Building Code Violations
  • Complex Commercial Mortgage Foreclosures
  • Receiverships and Real Estate Restructuring
  • Lender Liability Claims
  • Intercreditor Disputes
  • Lien Priorities
  • Title Insurance Claims
  • Condominium and Homeowner Association Liens and Disputes
  • Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act Disputes
  • Boundary Disputes
  • Partition Actions
  • Quiet Title Actions
  • Land Use and Environmental Litigation
  • Zoning Issues
  • Permitting Issues
  • Landlord-Tenant Disputes
  • Commercial Evictions

Examples of our current representation in a variety of real estate litigation matters include the following:

Petroleum Realty I, LLC

Berger Singerman serves as counsel for Petroleum Realty I, LLC and affiliated companies in connection with a multi-jurisdiction matter involving the defense of claims for specific performance arising out of the lease of nearly 50 gasoline stations located in Florida and Georgia and the prosecution of claims for breach of leases, breach of guaranties, breach of a settlement agreement, commercial eviction, and environmental contamination.  We have secured a judgment in excess of $17 million on the claims for breach of leases and guaranties and are currently assisting in the prosecution of dispossessory actions in Georgia against unauthorized sub-tenants in possession of the properties as a result of the actions of the defendants.  We have successfully defended two interlocutory appeals to the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal, securing the affirmance of the trial court’s decisions interpreting the leases and settlement agreement and orders compelling compliance with the settlement agreement, and a third appeal from the final judgment is pending. 

HDGM Holdings, LLC v. Palm Crossings Development, LLC

Berger Singermn serves as counsel to several commercial real estate entities that own a 1.3 million square foot industrial and office portfolio valued over $150 million in South Florida in connection with litigation pending in the 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida.  The litigation arose from the termination of the deal by the buyer, HDGM Holdings, LLC (HDGM), on the eve of the closing.  Despite electing to terminate the $150 million purchase contract just days before the closing, HDGM seeks to retain almost $2 million in escrowed deposits and maintain a lis pendens over the property without claiming any legal or equitable ownership of the property.  We currently have pending a motion to dismiss all equitable claims relating to ownership of the property and a motion to discharge the lis pendens that is clouding title and affecting efforts to sell the $150 million property to other investors.  Barely a month into litigation, this case has been publicized in the press as our clients’ real estate portfolio is well-known and sizable to the South Florida community. 

McDaniel Family Entities

Berger Singerman and co-counsel were retained by the McDaniel Family Entities, the owners of several thousand acres in rural Henry County, Florida, to represent them in a breach of contract suit arising from the sale of approximately 12,000 acres of property valued approximately $90 million.  The purchaser, headed up by Edward S. Garcia, intended to develop the property into an upscale, equine-themed residential community, complete with amenities including an airstrip.  The purchaser completed a portion of the sale, which was set in stages, but then sued the McDaniel Family Entities seeking damages and specific performance for an alleged breach of the contract.  Initially, the purchaser filed suit in federal court but Berger Singerman, along with co-counsel, successfully achieved dismissal after exposing that the purchaser had improperly created a Delaware LLC and assigned the contract in an effort to invoke diversity jurisdiction.  The purchaser re-filed in state court where Berger Singerman and co-counsel have filed a counterclaim alleging breach of contract on purchaser's part and have successfully obtained dismissal of purchaser's claim for damages.

Palm Springs Mile Associates, Ltd. v. Mervyn’s LLC

Berger Singerman serves as counsel to Mervyn’s LLC (Mervyn’s), the lessee of a significantly valued leasehold interest of a commercial shopping center in South Florida.  Pending before the Complex Business Litigation Division of the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, the parties are seeking declarations as to their respective rights and obligations under various provisions of a multi-term Lease Agreement. This commercial dispute centers in large part on the physical damages to the leased premises caused by Hurricane Wilma in late October 2005, the efforts to seasonably repair the leased premises, and the resulting adverse effects on the leasehold rights and interests of Mervyn’s.  The damage to the premises is a stumbling block to Mervyn’s assignment of the Lease to another commercial retailer. 

AT&T (formerly BellSouth)

Berger Singerman, was retained to provide strategic and litigation advice concerning an ordinance that the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is considering for adoption.  The proposed ordinance limits the size of certain telecommunications equipment that can be deployed above ground in the City’s rights-of-way.  The Mayor and some City Commissioners sought to force the new telecommunications equipment placed underground.  The equipment is vital to AT&T’s continued expansion of its telephony, video, data, and internet service in the City.  If the ordinance were adopted, AT&T’s expansion plans within the City would have been severely hampered if not rendered impossible.   Berger Singerman was retained one week before the proposed ordinance was scheduled for first reading before the City Commission.  Berger Singerman assembled a multi-disciplinary team of lawyers to educate the City’s legal department about federal and state laws that limit the City’s right to adopt such an ordinance and to educate the City Commissioners about alternatives to the proposed ordinance.  At the same time, Berger Singerman was developing legal claims and strategies to enable it to move swiftly against the City if it adopted the ordinance.  As a result of its ability to develop workable strategies and persuasive legal theories, Berger Singerman’s efforts have dampened the City’s desire to move forward on the proposed ordinance.

Berger Singerman also currently represents or has represented senior lenders, mezzanine lenders and developers in a number of real estate restructuring matters that required litigation.  Several examples of that representation are listed below:

Levitt and Sons, LLC.

Berger Singerman represent Levitt and Sons and 37 of its subsidiaries in their Chapter 11 cases pending in the Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Florida.  At the time these cases were filed, Levitt and Sons was the largest home-builder bankruptcy case pending in the United States.  Total debt in the cases is approximately $500 million and there are over 23,000 creditors.  These cases involve cutting-edge bankruptcy issues involved in home-builder cases, including customer deposits (in this case exceeding $18 Million), mechanic’s lien issues and a host of legal issues involving the rights of home-owners’ associations. 

Washington Mutual

Representation of Washington Mutual, as successor to Home Savings of America, in a complex workout on a low-income housing tax –credit funded project that had significant cost overruns, delays, and other defalcation that could have jeopardized the tax credits.  Additionally, the parties of the borrower engaged in an action in federal court against the investor partners.  Despite this, the tax credits were fully preserved and the lender ultimately was paid in full. 

South Trust Bank

Berger Singerman was engaged by South Trust Bank (Birmingham AL) to foreclose a $13 million construction loan on an unfinished residential project in South Florida, and to defend the Bank against a multi-million dollar lender liability counterclaim brought by the then-current individual owner of the project, who had taken title through a section 1031 exchange.  The property had a long history of construction and development approval delays and obstacles, and the case was rife with allegations of misrepresentation or misuse of construction funds, and negligent supervision of the project by Bank-sponsored progress payment inspectors.  The owner was represented by a construction law boutique firm and was hotly litigated.  After a one and a half week jury trial, we prevailed.