Real Estate Litigation & Title Insurance Defense
Miles & Stockbridge maintains a highly regarded title insurance claims and defense practice, complemented by the firm’s active involvement in real estate transactional work, bankruptcy, land use and real estate litigation.
Our lawyers combine vigorous courtroom advocacy with focused knowledge of title policy language, insurer liability issues, real property law, foreclosure process, leasehold interests and bankruptcy law.
We are considered one of the premier title insurance claims and defense and real estate litigation practices in Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia.
Our lawyers defend title insurance companies, their agents and their insureds in trial and appellate courts around the country. We represent carriers in coverage claims, defend their insureds in title matters, take corrective action to clear title and protect the priority of secured interests. We are also called upon to initiate third-party claims to mitigate losses from claims paid. We handle agent fraud claims, and our successful efforts to recover funds for our insurer clients have involved us with numerous federal courts and agencies—as well as with the embassies, foreign ministries and high courts of other countries.
Our general real estate litigation practice involves representation of developers, engineering companies, contractors, property owners and lessees in controversies over title, tax assessments, easements and restrictions, land use, lease, zoning, and condemnation issues. We have helped developers overcome denials of administrative approvals for their projects and have appealed condemnation proceedings to secure significantly higher property valuation for our clients. In one case in which a county council denied our real estate developer client a growth allocation under Maryland’s critical area law, the Court of Appeals ruling in our favor has become the seminal Maryland decision establishing the standard of review for granting critical growth allocation in the state.
