Farella Braun + Martel Advises on Sale of 2,300-Acre Foote Ranch

Farella Braun + Martel represented a trust that owned 50% of the iconic 2,300-acre Foote Ranch in Sonoma, California in disputes with the ranch’s co-owners and in the subsequent $23.7 million sale of the ranch. The multi-disciplinary Farella real estate industry team brought expertise in a number of areas to handle the litigation and sale, and recovery of all of the attorneys’ fees and costs expended by the trust in pursuing the action.

The deal involved eight different owners, all of whom owned differing percentages of the 17 parcels that make up the ranch. Initially, after repeated negotiations failed with the ranch’s co-owners, we filed one of California’s largest Partition Actions on behalf of the trust to force the sale of the ranch. As the property was one of the original Spanish land grants, it was encumbered by numerous ancient recorded and unrecorded easements. There were questions of zoning, the Williamson Act, water rights to the two ponds on the property, leasehold interests, and a myriad of tax questions. 

The Farella team was led by Adam Dawson with Quinn Arntsen and Said Kordestani.