Our real estate litigation team offers pre-litigation consulting advice as well as extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution forums and the courtroom.  Our goal is to prevent litigation, but we know that it is sometimes necessary. Our team offers pre-dispute advice involving crisis management arising out of real property-related events, analysis of liability and damages exposure, negotiations to avoid or minimize potential litigation, and practical considerations related to potential disputes to ensure rights are preserved.

If litigation ensues, we represent REITs, developers, investors, owners, landlords, tenants, contractors, design professionals, and large subcontractors in a wide variety of disputes including:

  • Partnership and joint venture disputes
  • Real property related contract disputes, including option contracts and purchase and sales agreements
  • Complex commercial landlord/tenant disputes, including lease defaults, recission, unlawful detainer / eviction actions, and holdover disputes
  • Real estate partition proceedings
  • Easement and boundary disputes, and quiet title actions
  • Compliance issues including ADA, environmental, and zoning

Maximizing the Value of Insurance

Let’s face it – risk is inherent in real estate development, management, acquisition, construction, and disposition. As one of the few firms with a policyholder-only practice, our insurance recovery attorneys represent clients in all aspects of insurance disputes to ensure they receive the benefit of the coverage purchased. We help our clients—owners, developers, public entities, design professionals, general contractors, and subcontractors—receive the maximum coverage available and litigate against insurance companies in disputes arising out of:

  • Builder’s risk and commercial property insurance
  • General liability, including OCIP and CCIP programs
  • Professional liability, including owner and contractor protective professional indemnity
  • Directors and officers/management liability
  • Pollution legal liability

Inherent Environmental Risks

Environmental risk is everywhere, and our experienced environmental lawyers have assisted clients with a range of issues. Whether representing current landowners, former landowners, or developers, we have created opportunities to redevelop significant brownfields (contaminated) project sites across California and elsewhere in the Western United States. We have prosecuted and defended potentially responsible parties regarding environmental clean-up costs, negotiated with USEPA and state regulatory agencies (DTSC and Regional Water Quality Control Boards) concerning cleanup requirements, and developed environmental mitigation measures and conditions of approval for project sites big and small.

Real estate development is inherently embedded with the potential for environmental litigation. From the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and state and local planning laws through federal and state regulations addressing groundwater, stormwater, air emissions, endangered species, “green” development, and wetlands, our environmental lawyers have experience with virtually every cause of action to delay or stop a development project, including:

  • Land use entitlement challenges
  • Contractual claims related to environmental indemnities and releases
  • Third-party personal injury and property damage claims
  • Governmental investigation and cleanup orders

Farella’s real estate litigation team brings depth, experience, and practical advice to any project. We are a key resource for our clients who are buying, selling, developing, redeveloping, or investing in real estate.

Firm Highlights

News

Proposal for Bar Exam Alternative Goes to California Supreme Court

Sarah Good, a member of the State Bar of California Board of Trustees, was quoted in The Recorder article, "Proposal for Bar Exam Alternative Goes to California Supreme Court." Read the article here (subscription...

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Publication

A Summary of New Laws Coming for California Employers in 2024

In 2023, California has adopted several new employment laws either introducing new employee protections or codifying existing practices into state law. With these changes, employers will need to examine and adjust some of their...

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Event

2024 Environmental & Energy, Mass Torts, and Products Liability Litigation Committees' Joint Regional CLE Program

Sarah Bell will moderate the panel "PFAS: Everything Everywhere All at Once"  at the American Bar Association's 2024 Environmental & Energy, Mass Torts, and Products Liability Litigation Committees' Joint Regional CLE Program. Session Overview: PFAS...

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Publication

New Proposed Regulations Defining Donor Advised Fund Terms

Welcome to EO Radio Show - Your Nonprofit Legal Resource . Episode 63 explores new proposed regulations important to the administration of Donor Advised Funds (DAFs). The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department...

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Publication

California Proposes New AI & Automated Decision-Making Technology Regulations

The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) released its draft  regulatory framework for automated decision-making technology (ADMT) on November 27. These regulations are a preview of what new requirements may look like for companies currently...

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News

Farella Braun + Martel Earns 2024 Best Law Firms® Rankings

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Publication

An Introduction to DAFs and Overview of the Newly Proposed DAF Regulations

Welcome to EO Radio Show - Your Nonprofit Legal Resource. I’m Cynthia Rowland, and episode 62 describes new proposed regulations important to the administration of donor advised funds. The Internal Revenue Service and the...

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News

State Bar of California Board of Trustees Approves Plan to Pilot Portfolio Bar Exam

Sarah Good, a member of the State Bar of California Board of Trustees, spoke to KQED Newscast about the Board of Trustees's proposal to pilot a Portfolio Bar Exam.

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Event

The New Frontier AI Legal Issues for In-House Counsel

Sushila Chanana is a panelist for the session, "The New Frontier AI Legal Issues for In-House Counsel,"   at the Bar Association of San Francisco's In-House Counsel Conference 2024. To register for the event, please click ...

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Event

19th Annual Renewable Energy Law Institute

Dirk Mueller is speaking at the University of Texas School of Law 19 th Annual Renewable Energy Law Institute on "Mineral Issues Impact on Real Estate Documents, Siting and Planning: Texas vs. California." Session Overview :   Understanding...

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