Eastern Long Island, and the Hamptons in particular, boasts some of the most valuable residential real estate of any non-urban areas in the United States. The region’s rapid growth in property values has fueled an unusual concentration of contested real estate transactions, which in turn often lead to litigation over breached contracts.
EHADP has been at the center of many of these disputes, representing sellers and purchasers fighting over down payments, purchasers seeking “specific performance” of contracts that sellers do not wish to perform, sellers trying to terminate sales, and contests over the enforceability of option agreements and rights of first refusal. EHADP also represents landlords and tenants in lease disputes, lenders and borrowers in high-stakes foreclosure actions, and builders and owners in construction contract disputes.
Because of our experience litigating real estate contract disputes, we are also routinely consulted by parties and their transactional counsel when their contracts become contentious. The outcome of litigation over a real estate contract can often depend on the precise way in which the closing was handled. Did the non-breaching party properly set a time-of-essence closing? Was the purchaser or seller “ready, willing, and able” to perform? How did the seller handle claimed title defects prior to closing? These questions and more can become points of contention during the later lawsuits, so we often work with clients and their counsel before the closings, to help them avoid traps and to set up any potential litigation for a successful outcome.
Some examples of real estate litigation successfully handled by the firm include:
- An award of an $800,000 downpayment and attorneys fees to the purchaser of Sagaponack property;
- Specific performance granted to a purchaser of a Southold home;
- Liquidated damages of a $360,000 downpayment to a seller of a Greenport hotel and a $1,000,000 downpayment to a seller of Bridghampton property;
- Dismissal of a $22,000,000 specific performance action for seller of Suffolk County commercial land and a $26,000,000 specific performance action for seller of North Haven residential property;
- Dismissal of two “co-brokerage” commission claims brought against a buyer and seller; and
- Award of $600,000 and $480,000 installment payments as damages for breach of option agreement.