Practice Areas & Industries: Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP

Lawyers in our real estate litigation practice have extensive trial experience before federal and state courts, arbitration panels and administrative agency tribunals, including the California Coastal Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission and the California Department of Real Estate.

Our clients include developers, builders, investors, commercial landlords and tenants, financial institutions, residential and commercial brokers, contractors and Fortune 500 and multinational corporations. Our practice includes disputes involving:

• purchase and sale contracts
• California Environmental Quality Act
• secured transactions
• condemnation
• commercial leases
• construction contracts
• land development
• construction defects
• real estate investment partnerships
• title insurance
• brokerage representations

Represented Matters

Euclid Shopping Center v. Albertson's: We represented a shopping center owner, Euclid, whose anchor tenant, Albertson's, vacated the center for a new, larger supermarket less than one-half mile away. Albertson's contended it was entitled to pay the minimum rent and keep the former supermarket space unoccupied to prevent competition. We convinced the federal court in Los Angeles that an implied covenant of continuous operation allowed Euclid to retake possession and lease to a new tenant. The court awarded Euclid damages and legal fees.
 
Redevelopment Agency of City of San Diego vs. Factory 2-U Stores, Inc.: We represented a tenant retailer which had 5 years left on its lease term in a building that was being condemned. We obtained a payment to our client of $1.3 million for lost goodwill value in the store. In doing so, we successfully convinced the agency that our client, which had over 200 other store locations, could not relocate into the market area the store served.
 
California Traditions, Inc. v. 707 LLC: We obtained a specific performance judgment in favor of the buyer of an office tower in downtown San Diego after the seller refused to perform.
 
Golf Holdings, Inc. v. Nitto Kogyo Ltd, et al.: We successfully defended the owner of the world famous Turnberry Golf course in Ayleshire, Scotland against a complaint to enforce an alleged purchase contract.
Misawa Homes of America v. Sky Valley Limited Partnership: In a superior court in the San Francisco Bay area, we defended the seller of a golf course and 600 residential and commercial lots against a complaint for rescission of an $80 million purchase-and-sale transaction based on a technical application of the contractor's license law. We defeated the rescission claim based on the license law and compelled the plaintiff to submit its case to binding arbitration. We then negotiated a successful settlement for our client that retained the benefits of the transaction.
 
San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board v. Chevron Land & Development Co., et al.: We represented the landowners in several condemnation actions filed concurrently by the transit development board and the City of San Diego for acquisition of a trolley right-of-way and a sewer easement through a golf course. The project eliminated several holes of the golf course, requiring the course to be reconfigured. We obtained a cash settlement of approximately $11 million and a long-term lease of additional property rent-free to rebuild the golf course. We also obtained further agreements from the condemning agencies to assist in long-term plans for developing the property.