Firm obtains Land Court decision after trial quieting client’s title and reforming deeds and mortgages
A Massachusetts Land Court judge ruled in favor of the firm’s developer client with a decision reforming deeds and mortgages for two Fall River projects and quieting the developer’s title to the disputed portions.
Matt Furman, a partner at the firm, represented the developer at the two-day bench trial.
The client several years ago purchased at a city auction a former school property and subsequently redeveloped it into a subdivision.
Because his consultants failed to record in the Registry of Deeds a revised ANR (approval not required) subdivision plan for the redevelopment, multiple buyers received deeds for larger lots than what the firm’s client intended to convey and thereby impacted the plans for the remainder of the subdivision.
When the client brought this error to the buyers’ attention, they at first seemed willing to cooperate but then eventually threatened the client with legal action, leading the client to proactively file an action in the Land Court to reform the deeds and mortgages and quiet its title to the disputed portions.
At trial, the buyers admitted on the witness stand that they each believed they were only acquiring exactly what the client intended to convey, substantiated by property fencing and other physical characteristics within the subdivision.
Facing a clear and convincing burden of proof, Mr. Furman persuaded Judge Lauren E. Reznick that the mutual mistake regarding lot size justified reforming the property descriptions in the deeds and corresponding mortgages as well as quieting the client’s title to the disputed portions of the properties conveyed in the flawed deeds.
Tyler Chapman, a partner at the firm, also worked on the case.