Douglas Segal
Partner
Office:
New YorkWith broad experience in both commercial real estate transactions and commercial litigation, Douglas is able to both advise his clients in consummating transactions and guide them through the adversarial process when disputes arise.
In the transactional context, he represents purchasers and sellers in connection with the acquisition and disposition of a wide array of commercial properties throughout the United States, represents the borrowers of mortgage and mezzanine loans (both the loans which finance such acquisitions and the refinancings of such loans), represents sponsors and investors in negotiating joint venture agreements and handles the related matters which often arise in real estate transactions. The transactions he has handled involved properties in a wide variety of asset classes, such as multi-family residential complexes (including properties subject to rent regulation and/or “Section 8” and other low-income governmental programs), retail, office and industrial properties.
In the litigation context, Douglas represents litigants in connection with a variety of commercial disputes, such as the prosecution/defense of foreclosures of mortgages secured by commercial properties, disputes concerning the validity of “UCC” foreclosure sales of limited liability company interests securing mezzanine loans, disputes concerning asserted defaults under contracts of sale and disputes between former business partners. In doing so, he works hand in hand with his clients in attempting to develop and implement a successful resolution of the underlying dispute, from evaluating the merits of the respective claims, crafting litigation strategy, drafting of pleadings, overseeing discovery, handling both motions and appeals at the trial and appellate levels and negotiating settlements.
Selected Experience:
- Represented the purchaser of a hotel for more than $200,000,000 from a foreclosing mortgage lender.
- Represented the seller of a development parcel in Manhattan for $50,000,000 which involved the transfer of development rights and the negotiation of a reciprocal-easement agreement.
- Represented the borrower in connection with a $70,000,000 mortgage loan secured by an apartment building governed by both “Section 8” and Article V of the New York Private Housing Financing Law.
- Represented the purchaser of an office building in downtown Detroit for $35,000,000.
- Represented the borrower of a $30,000,000 construction loan relating to the development of an 128-unit apartment building in northern New Jersey.
- Obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enjoining the “UCC” foreclosure sale of partnership interests in an owner of industrial property and thereafter obtained a court-order directing the mortgagee to deliver a satisfaction of mortgage upon the depositing in escrow of the disputed loan amount.
- Represented the borrower under a defaulted mortgage loan in extricating millions of dollars from an industrial complex which was subject to tens of millions of dollars of mortgage, real estate tax and judgment liens and environmental liabilities.
- Successfully defended in the United States Bankruptcy Court (in a case of first impression in the Second Circuit) against a claim that the service of a judgment-enforcement restraining notice upon a bankrupt entity violated the automatic stay of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
- Successfully challenged a foreclosing plaintiff’s computation of the yield maintenance premium owed on a $22,000,000 mortgage loan secured by multiple properties.
- Successfully challenged the standing of a trustee of a securitized loan to initiate a foreclosure action.
- Successfully defended a claim by a mortgage broker for a commission on an $806,000,000 mortgage loan.