Steven Stein

Gregg Martin, Steve Stein, and Andrew Lux successfully represented a well-known sports professional and his entity in a high-stakes residential dispute, securing litigation wins and a favorable settlement.

Our clients acquired a residence with publicly approved plans that reflected proposed renovations to the residence, including a security gate. A neighbor with an ingress/egress easement over our clients’ driveway tried to prevent our clients from developing the property in accordance with the plans by interfering with construction. The neighbor also filed a lawsuit that alleged a dozen different claims that included various easement claims (breach of an easement agreement, prescriptive easement, equitable easement), quiet title, trespass, negligence, and nuisance. In turn, our clients countersued for various violations, including breach of the written easement agreement, quiet title, nuisance, and trespass.

Our team obtained a number of favorable rulings during the course of the litigation that allowed our clients to finish the construction in accordance with the plans and negotiate a resolution from a position of strength. Such favorable rulings included:  

• Defeating the neighbor’s temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction seeking to stop aspects of the construction, including installation of the security gate.  
• Obtaining a preliminary injunction that stopped the neighbor from using our clients’ driveaway for any purpose other than to enter and exit the neighbor’s property.
• Establishing that the neighbor had engaged in spoliation of evidence that resulted in a rare court order requiring forensic imaging of the neighbor’s email accounts at the neighbor’s cost. 
• Filing an opposition to the neighbor’s motion for summary adjudication that caused the neighbor to withdraw the motion entirely.

Ultimately, the dispute was favorably settled so that our clients’ property rights were protected and the value of the residence preserved.