Practice Areas

Real Estate Litigation

Real estate transactions, leases, contracts, and property rights are complicated, relying on specialized laws, myriad of details and documents, and the interaction of numerous parties. Real estate disputes can have serious consequences, highlighting the need for experienced real estate litigators who understand the complex relationships of the real estate world.

McLane Middleton’s Real Estate Litigation team represents developers, landowners, contractors, owners, commercial landlords, commercial tenants, real estate management companies, real estate brokers, and municipal authorities in a wide range of litigation matters, including:

  • Adverse possession and easements by prescription
  • Boundary line and right-of-way disputes and quiet title actions
  • Commercial lease disputes
  • Condominium association and co-operative corporation governance, election disputes, and partition actions
  • Easements
  • Eminent domain
  • Lease renewal issues
  • Non-payment matters
  • Purchase agreement disputes
  • Real estate partnership disputes
  • Restrictive covenants
  • Rights of first refusal
  • Roads and other access issues
  • Takings cases, inverse condemnation and eminent domain
  • Tax abatements
  • Trespass and nuisance

We represent clients in wide variety of forums, including state and federal courts, arbitration bodies, and administrative agencies. Our real estate litigators work collaboratively with our real estate group as well as environmental, employment, tax, corporate and litigation attorneys in the firm to provide comprehensive representation in this highly interdisciplinary area of law.

Representative Matters:

  • Represented the Town of Brookline, New Hampshire in defense of Fair Housing Act claims arising out of the impact of warrant articles on a developer’s proposed multi-family development.
  • Successfully represented Groton Wind, LLC, a wind-turbine company, in trial for breach of contract due to alleged placement of turbine on the wrong property.
  • Successfully obtained judgment for builder to mandate town’s upgrade to Class V Road and future maintenance of road at cost to town.
  • Successfully represented Getty Properties, Corp. in a dispute with a subtenant involving claims under New Hampshire’s Gasoline Franchise Act.  Secured the dismissal of a discovery action, obtained an eviction order for possession and the dismissal of appeal.
  • Successfully represented property owner at Board of Tax and Land Appeals in eminent domain case and, after two-day trial, obtained judgment for $2,400,000, plus costs – more than offered by the state.

Tower crane and building construction site silhouette at sunrise.Industrial background.

  • Successfully represented property owner at NH Board of Tax and Land Appeals in eminent domain proceeding and on appeal to Superior Court.  Obtained verdict after five-day jury trial in favor of landowner for $1,000,000+, plus costs, more than offered by the state.
  • Successfully represented national retail company in its capacity as tenant against its landlord’s attempts, as part of a shopping center redevelopment and sales transaction, to remove significant ingress and egress. Negotiated resolution pre-suit that maintained access to the store, thereby avoiding significant reduction of customer traffic and sales.
  • Successfully quieted title to certain real estate and obtained partition of inherited real estate in Preuninger v. Youschak.
  • Successfully quieted title to certain real estate and prevailed on overburdening of easement claim.
  • Successfully represented Big Lots, Inc. in litigation against its landlord in commercial lease dispute concerning unilateral attempt to relocate the loading dock, which would have necessitated a complete re-layout of the store and significant loss of floor space, and counterclaims for eviction.
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For additional information, contact Lexi Cote.

Contact Lexi
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For additional information, contact Steve Dutton.

Contact Steve