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Title Insurer – Appellate
Victory in Coverage Dispute – 2021
Successful appeal of coverage
dispute before the New York Appellate Division, First Department. The
plaintiffs initiated an action against our client, a title insurance
underwriter, under a $30.9 million owner’s policy of title insurance by Summons
with Notice. The IAS Court denied the title insurer’s motion to dismiss based
on the plaintiffs’ failure to timely serve their Complaint, or to supply an
affidavit of merit. The First Department reversed the IAS Court’s ruling and
dismissed Plaintiff’s Complaint in its entirety due to its finding that the
Complaint had not been timely filed, and an affidavit of merit also had not
been filed, as required by the CPLR. The First Department declined to consider
the merits of Plaintiff’s claims that had been rendered moot.
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Title Insurer – Appellate Victory in “Rights in Possession” Exception Case – 2021
Obtained a notable victory for a title insurer in an appeal argued before the
New York Appellate Division, Second Department affirming
that a title insurer was not required
to defend or indemnify the plaintiff against a lawsuit for adverse
possession that fell within the title insurance policy’s “rights in possession” exception.
The plaintiff in the action alleged that the title insurer was obligated to
defend and indemnify the plaintiff against a lawsuit for adverse possession
brought by the plaintiff’s neighbor resulting from a fence that encroached
several feet onto the plaintiff’s property from the neighbor’s property. The
title insurer denied plaintiff’s claim based on an exception to coverage in the
policy for loss or damage arising from “rights of persons or tenants in
possession.” The trial court granted summary judgment to the title insurer and the plaintiff appealed. The Second Department affirmed the grant of summary
judgment. This new authority is a significant development in the title
insurance industry due to the limited authorities
construing this policy provision.
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Real Estate Buyers – Cyber Hacking Litigation –
2015
Won
dismissal of all claims against her clients, the purchasers of real estate, in
a transaction where the email account maintained by the seller’s counsel’s had
been hacked shortly before the closing of title in furtherance of a fraudulent
scheme.
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Owner of Large NJ Commercial Property – Easement
Dispute – 2015
Represented
the owner of two commercial parcels of property totaling approximately eleven
acres in a dispute involving the defendants’ efforts to obstruct and control
the plaintiff’s use of its right-of-way easement with two forty-foot gates.
Although the defendants conceded that the easement was valid to the extent that
it serviced a one-acre parcel that merged into the eleven acres that our client
owned, the defendants argued that they should be permitted to preserve the
gates nonetheless to prevent the plaintiff from using or accessing the easement
for the benefit of the remaining 10 acres. On cross-motions for summary
judgment, the trial court granted partial summary judgment in favor of our
client, the plaintiff, and denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment
in its entirety, concluding that the plaintiff has an absolute, unfettered
right to use the easement. The trial court reserved for trial its determination
of whether the defendants’ efforts to limit the plaintiff’s use of the easement
were reasonable. The parties successfully settled all remaining claims shortly
before trial.
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New Jersey Logistics Business – Appellate
Victory in Long-Running Business Divorce Dispute – 2014
Scored
a major victory on behalf of her client in an appeal argued before the Superior
Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.
The victory comes after a bitter seven year litigation arising out of
the parties’ complicated business and contractual relationships. At issue were claims made by our client’s
partner in a logistics business that an asset sale of warehousing, trucking and
certain related businesses, separately owned by our client and another party,
amounted to a breach of contract and a breach of an alleged joint venture
because it did not include the assets of the logistics business. After several years of contentious and
complex litigation, we succeeded in obtaining summary judgment dismissing all
claims against our client. The trial
court’s ruling was unanimously affirmed on appeal in June 2014, ending the
protracted battle.
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Title Insurance Underwriter and Agent – Summary
Judgment Dismissing All Claims – 2013
Obtained summary judgment
dismissing all claims against a title insurance underwriter and its agent
following a coverage dispute arising out of a tax sale certificate that was not
properly redeemed and discharged at the time of closing in accordance with the
statute that governs redemptions after tax foreclosure proceedings have been
commenced. The plaintiff in the action
alleged that the title insurance underwriter and agent failed to advise its
closing counsel how to comply with a statute designed to prevent “heir hunters”
from preying upon parties vulnerable to foreclosure in the tumultuous period
following the death of a predecessor owner, as occurred here.
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Stewart Title Guaranty Co. – New Jersey Supreme
Court Victory – 2010
Representation
of Stewart Title Guaranty Co. in its New Jersey Supreme Court victory limiting
the scope of a title insurance company's liability for attorney misconduct. The
homebuyers’ attorney stole their escrow funds in conjunction with a real estate
transaction. The New Jersey Lawyers Fund
For Client Protection paid the victims for the attorney’s theft, and then sued
Stewart Title for reimbursement, in keeping with NJLF’s long-held belief that a
title insurer's liability should blanket all aspects of the closing process.
The attorney here, however, had stolen the money before he contacted Stewart
Title's agent to request a title insurance commitment and policy on behalf of
the homebuyers. The trial court dismissed NJLF’s lawsuit, but the Appellate
Division reversed, ruling that in order for Stewart Title to avoid liability,
it would have had to provide the homebuyers with direct notice informing them that
their title insurance policy did not cover attorney theft. The Supreme Court unanimously reversed,
ruling that the lack of notice was irrelevant, since the attorney was not
acting as an agent of the title company at the time that he committed his crime.
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Title Insurance Agency – Frivolous Claim Defense
– 2010
Representation
of a title insurance agency in a suit brought by a property seller. We won
summary judgment and a dismissal of all claims. The court also ruled that the
plaintiff had committed fraud in connection with the transaction, and imposed
sanctions against him and his counsel, including attorney's fees, for frivolous
litigation.
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Appellate Victory for Special Servicer – 2009
Representation
of a special servicer in a suit against a borrower and three individual
guarantors after the borrower procured subordinate financing in violation of a
non-recourse carve-out provision. Our client was the special servicer for the
lender. In a case of first impression, the New Jersey Appellate Division enforced
the non-recourse carve-out provision and imputed personal liability to the
borrower and guarantors. It concluded that the disputed clause fixes liability
rather than damages and, therefore, does not constitute an unenforceable
penalty as the borrower had argued. The Appellate Division also held that the
borrower’s efforts to “cure” the triggering event did not vitiate personal
liability. As a result, the lender properly obtained a $5 million+ deficiency
judgment against the borrower and guarantors.
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Title Insurer – Victory in Litigation Against
the U.S. Government – 2008
Representation
of an insured real property owner in defending against a large and complicated
lawsuit by the U.S. Government over the purchase of a piece of real estate from
the government. The case dragged on for three years before the insurer brought
us in, and we won it on a motion for summary judgment.
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Title Insurer – Frivolous Claim Defense – 2007
Defended a title insurer in an action by a property owner
seeking title insurance coverage. The court found the owner's damages to be
attributable to its own actions, and impressed sanctions against the owner and
its counsel, which included attorneys’ fees, for prosecuting frivolous
litigation.
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Title Insurer – Mortgage Fraud Litigation – 2006
Representation
of an insured lender in litigating the validity and enforceability of a
multi-million dollar mortgage lien that was alleged to have been forged. Overcame
the fraud allegation and succeeded in enforcing the mortgage.
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Real Estate Developer – Bankruptcy Litigation –
2001
Representation
of a mortgagee in successfully litigating the enforceability of a mortgage lien
that transferred to the anticipated proceeds of a sale in a contested
bankruptcy in which the debtor sought to enforce a settlement purporting to
require a contrary outcome. (In re: Miano,
261 B.R. 391, 2001 Bankr. LEXIS 694 (Bankr. D.N.J. 2001).)
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Lender – Fraudulent Transfer Litigation – 2001
Representation
of a lender in successfully prosecuting a fraudulent transfer action in which
the debtor transferred and concealed assets in anticipation of the entry of a
judgment against him. The case was litigated before the New Jersey Supreme
Court, and is recognized to have established the legal standard to be applied
in construing the limitations period governing fraudulent transfer claims. SASCO 1997 NI, LLC v. Zudkewich, 166
N.J. 579 (2001).