Real Estate and Title Litigation

With experienced real estate attorneys across our footprint, Goldberg Segalla has significant experience advising and defending both owners and lenders under title and other insurance policies. Our attorneys routinely handle matters involving:

• Title and priority issue litigation concerning property line disputes, mechanic’s liens, easements, notices of pendency, and adverse possession claims
• Bona fide purchaser and encumbrancer status
• Mortgage fraud, fraudulent real estate conveyances, and forgeries
• Equity analysis surrounding mortgages, property liens, and subrogation
• Property conveyance negligence actions
• Incorrect, invalid, and unrecorded mortgages, home equity lines of credit, and deeds
• Diminution in value analysis
• Survey and property description errors
• Lender underwriting procedures and title agent’s due diligence
• Bankruptcy proceedings involving motions to lift stays and advisory proceedings
• Real estate transfers under the Religious Corporations Law, membership agreements, partnerships, and not-for-profit corporations
• In rem tax proceedings and foreclosure sales
• Lobbying efforts to resolve issues with prior governmental properties
• Coverage investigation, response, recoupment, and litigation
• Expert opinions in bad faith litigation

To advise clients on a wide range of property disputes, Goldberg Segalla’s real estate team relies on its intimate knowledge of title insurance claims, the intricacies of owners’ and lenders’ policies, and the real property laws.

Goldberg Segalla’s real estate team has handled many tax certiorari matters, achieving successful results for municipalities across multiple jurisdictions. We routinely oversee property tax certiorari matters for municipalities involving Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) Article 7 and Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR), and have appeared before the court in precedent-setting cases impacting BAR and SCAR proceedings, as well as often-cited matters on property assessments.

Our tax certiorari team’s experience includes:

• Defending challenges to assessments of commercial properties, including office buildings, strip malls, restaurants, major national retail stores and pharmacy chains, storage facilities, funeral homes, law offices, warehouses, auto dealerships, and glass repair and oil change shops
• Defending challenges to assessments of residential properties, including apartment complexes, condominiums, and homes
• Managing claims involving arbitrary, capricious, erroneous, and illegal actions that purportedly resulted in a selective re-assessment
• Disputes involving payment in lieu of taxes and assessments, secured tax liens in bankruptcy proceedings
• Working with municipality counsel to protect secured tax liens during debtor bankruptcy court proceedings
• Assisting municipality counsel with assessments on senior living and other residential facilities, including Civil Practice Law and Rules Article 78 proceedings in relation to selective re-assessment claims
• Advising municipalities on RPTL implications for property sales, BAR challenges, and more

Our team also has significant experience representing landlords and tenants in both commercial and residential eviction proceedings. We routinely handle lease disputes and help parties avoid related litigation, and we assist families, partnerships, and corporations with partitioning land during division-of-asset proceedings. In addition, our attorneys have significant experience representing condominium and homeowner’s associations in matters involving declarations and by-laws in the context of foreclosure and specific performance proceedings.