Real Estate and Construction Litigation

Reinhart’s Real Estate and Construction Litigation team brings a multioffice, multidisciplinary approach to handle litigation for a diverse range of real estate clients including owners, developers, construction contractors, subcontractors, architects, lenders, municipalities, property owners, investors, syndicators, redevelopment authorities, business improvement districts and title insurance companies.

Our team includes trial lawyers and real estate lawyers who combine their expertise to offer the real estate sector skillful, high-quality service in litigation matters. Reinhart real estate lawyers handle diverse and sophisticated real estate litigation brought in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Here are a few examples of our work:

• Our client was a minority member of a family partnership that held land worth several million dollars. When his sister withheld money from him and created other serious disputes, our team filed suit in Michigan, obtained the withheld money and negotiated the purchase of our client's interest for well above its fair market value.
  
• When our client was the victim of property flipping and a double sale of real estate, we successfully mediated the dispute, and our client was paid back all the money she had advanced.
  
• When lenders were concerned about hidden liens having priority over certain new loans, the Nevada Land Title Association retained us to file a brief with the Nevada Supreme Court. The court adopted our position in full. The decision has since been relied on by other state Supreme Courts throughout the country.
  
• Our client rented out luxury homes in northern Wisconsin on a weekly basis until the county zoning administrator cited him for violating the zoning ordinance. We appealed the zoning administrator's decision to the county board of adjustment and then to the circuit court, where the judge found that the zoning ordinance does not prohibit weekly rentals.
  
• When our client was sued for specific performance of an option she had signed to sell commercial real estate, we defended her by asserting the option was void for fraud in the inducement. After a trial, the fact finder agreed and found the option unenforceable.
• When our client, a builder, before our involvement, had lost an arbitration involving its construction dispute and was obligated to pay several hundred thousand dollars, we appealed the arbitration award asserting improprieties in the arbitration proceeding. The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed and set aside the award. Later, after another arbitration in which we represented the client, a favorable award of several hundred thousand dollars was made to our client.

Our team handles a wide range of boundary and easement disputes and is wise in the intricacies of the law concerning recordings, curing of title and adverse possession. Our team also represents title companies in sophisticated policy coverage issues, claims of escrow negligence and disputes concerning claimed Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) violations. Reinhart real estate lawyers are also conversant in all varieties of real property disputes, foreclosures of mortgages and land contracts, leasehold disputes and construction contract disputes. Our clients typically include municipalities, redevelopment authorities and government agencies. We assist condemnors and condemnees with the pursuit and defense of acquisitions pursuant to the constitutional exercise of eminent domain. In addition, we have assisted real estate developers and construction contractors to favorably resolve OSHA citations issued during the course of construction projects.  

The Real Estate and Construction Litigation team has experience in disputes involving the following practice areas:

• Boundary disputes
• Construction contracts
• Condemnation
• Construction disputes
• Contract breaches
• Damages
• Easements
• Eminent domain
• Environmental litigation
• Evictions
• Foreclosures
• Injunctions
• Land use
• Landlord-tenant
• Liens
• OSHA
• Real property
• RESPA
• Title insurance
• Water rights
• Zoning