Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Our litigation attorneys are seasoned trial lawyers. Our trial experience includes jury and jury-waived trials as well as administrative hearings and arbitration hearings. Because of our experience, we counsel our clients and discuss in advance the best strategies for avoiding costly litigation. We also provide clients with the information they need to make an informed cost-benefit analysis before pursuing litigation. We generally do not staff cases with layers of attorneys at various levels of experience. Instead most cases are handled by a single partner, or a partner and an associate, or just by an associate, depending on case size and difficulty. We manage cases efficiently and effectively, while maintaining an appropriately aggressive, proactive approach, which is often required to secure the best possible outcome in litigation.

Because of the time and expense associated with protracted litigation and trial, our attorneys often participate in alternative dispute resolution, including both mediation and arbitration. Even extremely complicated cases can be resolved on favorable terms, and we pride ourselves on our ability to obtain good results in ADR.

Throughout the life of a case, we communicate regularly with clients, so that they are fully up to speed and have a good understanding of where their case is going. We understand that there is nothing more frustrating for a client than to be kept in the dark about what is happening in their case, and we make every effort to remain fully engaged with our clients from the commencement of litigation through its final resolution.

The litigation attorneys at BHF represent clients, including lenders and other creditors, corporations, and individuals, in a wide variety of business and commercial litigation. Over many years, our attorneys have developed a particular expertise in the areas of lender liability defense, real estate and title insurance litigation, employment and labor cases, contract and insurance disputes, shareholder litigation, and other business torts.

Banking, Lending & Finance

In recent years, lenders have come under attack by disgruntled borrowers, and loan transactions have been subjected to critical scrutiny by judges. It is especially important for lenders to choose experienced counsel to handle complex and contentious workouts and recovery actions, as well as defending lender liability claims. The litigation attorneys at BHF have successfully handled numerous complex and politically sensitive cases for lender clients. In the area of lender liability in particular, our greatest strength is our experience, which allows us to help our clients anticipate and avoid trouble before it happens, in addition to resolving problems that have already surfaced.

Real Estate and Title Insurance Litigation

Much of the litigation we handle involves real estate. We are often retained by national title insurance companies to represent insured lenders or owners who have submitted claims under their title insurance policies. The issues in these cases are wide-ranging and include challenges to mortgages based upon fraud, forgery, mental incapacity, and other mortgage defects. Some cases involve borrowers’ challenges to mortgages and foreclosures based upon inadequate or incomplete assignment documents.

We also handle numerous cases involving title insurance coverage issues, and the interpretation and application of various provisions of the standard title insurance policies. Real estate litigation is a niche practice in which unique jurisdictional and procedural issues often arise. Most lawyers are unfamiliar and uncomfortable handling cases in the Land Court and Superior Court involving complex real estate issues. We have handled many cases in the trial and appellate courts with great success. We have also successfully settled, through mediation or negotiation, some extremely difficult cases. We pride ourselves on taking a practical approach in helping our clients solve their real estate problems in the most economical way possible.

Business Litigation

We have extensive experience in a wide variety of business disputes, including corporate freeze-outs and other shareholder or partnership disputes, violations of non-competition agreements, lawsuits arising out of the sale of businesses and other assets, claims of breach of fiduciary duty, violation of G.L. c.93A, and other business torts. We have handled numerous cases involving the Uniform Commercial Code, fraudulent transfers and other debtor-creditor matters.

Employment and Labor

We handle litigation in all areas of labor and employment law including non-competition and trade secrets, employment contracts, wrongful termination, wage and hour cases, and discrimination and harassment before state and federal courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).

We have successfully argued cases at all levels of the trial and appellate courts of the Commonwealth, as well as in the United States District Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Representative cases include:

Contact:

Please contact any of our litigation partners at (617) 422-0200:
Richard Gentilli (reg@bostonbusinesslaw.com)
Thomas Looney (tml@bostonbusinesslaw.com)
Howard Brown (hmb@bostonbusinesslaw.com)