In a complex real estate development dispute involving over $20 million in lakefront assets, we achieved a highly structured and beneficial settlement for our client.
Our client first became involved in the development at issue by offering a $10 million loan to the distressed project, which was in foreclosure. In exchange for rescuing the project from the bank, our client argued that the opposing party (the developer) had granted our client a one-half equity interest in the project, through a complex trust and joint venture structure. But when the relationship deteriorated, the developer denied that our client had obtained any equity in the project at all. Rather, the developer argued that our client was, and always remained, merely a lender to the project.
As is usual at Rush, we approached this dispute with a confident strategy: we prepared thoroughly to win the case at trial, and we used our firm’s reputation and high level of preparedness as leverage to achieve a beneficial settlement before the trial began. The settlement we achieved involved a complex winding-down of the joint venture and corporate structures at issue, including the dissolution of trusts, exchanges of title to various parcels of land, the granting of mortgages, and the granting of security in the form of letters of credit. We diligently pursued all post-closing obligations which the opposing parties owed to our clients. Ultimately, we achieved a highly favourable settlement for our client and preserved millions of dollars in value.