LexisNexis Practice Guide: Michigan Real Estate Litigation

Chapter 1: James R. Bruinsma a member of McShane & Bowie, P.L.C., Grand Rapids, practices in the areas of commercial and real estate-related litigation. Mr. Bruinsma is admitted to practice in Michigan and Illinois. He represents developers and other landowners in a wide range of contested matters, including litigation relating to zoning and regulatory controls on land use, environmental permitting and administrative review, and federal and state court proceedings adjudicating land use rights. From 1991-1993, Mr. Bruinsma served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert P. Griffin, Michigan Supreme Court. In 1991, Mr. Bruinsma received his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School and prior to that attended Middlebury College and received his A.B. degree with highest distinction from the University of Michigan in 1987.

Chapter 2: James Case is a member of Dykema Gossett, PLLC, with more than 30 years’ experience in construction and surety litigation. Jim represents design professionals, contractors, owners and sureties in a wide range of construction and surety related matters. He serves on the Commercial/Construction Arbitration Panel of the American Arbitration Association and also as an AAA mediator in construction disputes. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan; American Bar Association; Surety and Fidelity Claims Institute; National Bond Claims Association; International Association of Defense Counsel—Construction Law and Litigation Committee, and Fidelity and Surety Committee; and the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, Tort and Insurance Practice Section, and Fidelity and Surety Law Committee. He attended Colgate University and St. John’s University Law School.

Chapter 3: Original Author: Sara G. Lachman is a Member at Miller Johnson in Grand Rapids. She is an experienced civil litigator and has been practicing law since 2004. She is a problem solver with a strong record of success. Ms. Lachman leads disciplined teams known for thorough, imaginative and professional advocacy. Her client work has produced consistently successful results, with outright dismissals, favorable settlements, and wins at trial and on appeal. Her principal area of practice area is in real estate litigation with extensive experience in disputes involving quiet title, restrictive covenants, adverse possession, easement rights, partition actions, street vacations, nuisance and trespass, land contracts, construction claims, agricultural land, environmental contamination, family cottages and more. Ms. Lachman previously served on the State Bar of Michigan's Civil Procedure and Courts Committee and as Chair of the Grand Rapids Bar Association's Litigation Section. She received her law degree cum laude from the University of Michigan Law and received undergraduate degrees magna cum laude from Northern Arizona University and cum laude from Pacific University. Ms. Lachman was honored by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a 2014 "Women in the Law" and was named the 2015 Athena Young Professional.

Chapter 4: H. Adam Cohen is a founding shareholder of Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen, P.C. in Birmingham, Michigan, where he practices in the areas of eminent domain, condemnation, and property tax litigation. Mr. Cohen is the Chairman of the State Bar of Michigan's Eminent Domain Committee. He regularly represents owners of commercial, office, multi-family, research and development, industrial, agricultural, mobile home, and other properties in litigation throughout the State of Michigan. Mr. Cohen is a past Crain's Detroit Business "40 Under 40" honoree, a regular "Super Lawyers" selection in the field of condemnation, and a past honoree by Best Lawyers as the Detroit area's Eminent Domain & Condemnation Lawyer of the Year. Mr. Cohen graduated from Tulane University, cum laude, in 1989, and from the George Washington University Law School in 1992.

Chapter 4: Jason Long of Steinhardt Pesick & Cohen, P.C., Birmingham, practices in the areas of eminent domain, condemnation, property tax, and other real estate and appellate litigation. He received his B.A. in philosophy and political science with honors from Oakland University, where he received a full academic scholarship, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, and studied real estate development at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. After law school, Mr. Long served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Michael F. Cavanagh, Michigan Supreme Court. He has represented both governmental agencies and property owners in eminent domain and condemnation actions involving a wide range of property types, and has done so in trial courts throughout Michigan as well as Michigan's appellate courts.

Chapter 5: Scott R. Lesser is a principal at the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. Mr. Lesser works on behalf of financial institutions, special servicers, and private investors in commercial real estate workouts and foreclosures throughout the Upper Midwest. Mr. Lesser received his B.A. degree from Princeton University and his J.D. from University of Michigan Law School (cum laude). He is a Fellow in the American College of Mortgage Attorneys and in the American Bar Foundation, is consistently recognized in the Michigan Super Lawyers publication, and is listed among the Best Lawyers in America for Real Estate and Business Magazine’s Top Lawyers in the areas of Litigation—Banking and Finance, Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights Law. He is also the co-author of the Michigan chapter on Receiverships in Strategies For and Against Distressed Businesses and the Michigan chapter on foreclosures and receiverships in the Trigild Deskbook. Mr. Lesser is admitted to practice in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

Chapter 5: Michael E. Moore is a principal at the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. Mr. Moore received his B.S. degree from Michigan State University in 1990 and his J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law in 1994. For more than 20 years, he has represented national, regional, and local financial institutions in the full life cycle of commercial real estate and related loans. He has significant workout experience in commercial loan workouts and enforcement, loan restructuring, foreclosures, receiverships, small business administration loan collections, construction claims and other financial services-related litigation. His experience with troubled loans has deeply informed his involvement in commercial loan originations in connection with asset-based loans, commercial real estate loans, and construction loans for the national, regional, and local financial institutions he represents. Mr. Moore is admitted to practice in Colorado, Illinois, and Michigan.

Chapter 6: Andrew T. Blum of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLC, Grand Rapids, practices in the areas of commercial and real estate-related litigation. He is a Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. degree in both Government and English. Mr. Blum also received his law degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame. Mr. Blum represents parties in eminent domain and other real estate/mineral interest litigation as well as also specializes in commercial litigation involving the automotive sector and the Uniform Commercial Code. Mr. Blum is the author of Making Sense of the U.C.C. Statute of Frauds which was published by the Michigan State Bar Journal as part of its special 50th Anniversary edition honoring Michigan's adoption of the U.C.C.

Chapter 6: Stanley J. Stek of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLC, is a senior equity principal in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group of the Firm and is based in the Grand Rapids office of the Firm. He practices in the areas of general commercial litigation, real estate litigation and eminent domain, with a special experience in condemnation and land use litigation. He is a graduate of Calvin College with a B.A. degree in History and Political Science. Mr. Stek received his law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law where he also served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Valparaiso University Law Review. Mr. Stek represents parties in eminent domain and other real estate/mineral interest litigation as well as also specializes in commercial litigation involving the automotive sector and the Uniform Commercial Code. Mr. Stek has presented at various seminars and symposiums and has authored articles in professional publications including FTC Preservation of Consumer Claims and Defenses: Consumer Security or Consumer Fraud 11 Val. U. Law Rev. (1978).

Chapter 7: Lance Zoerhof of Warner, Norcross & Judd LLP's Grand Rapids office, practices in the areas of commercial and real property litigation. That includes disputes related to mining and oil and gas development, as well as litigation over zoning, easements, boundary lines, leases, restrictive covenants, riparian rights, and other state and federal proceedings deciding rights related to land. Mr. Zoerhof received his law degree from the University of Oregon in 2002.