RMO Case Spotlight
Complete Defense Victory in High-Stakes Family Partnership Arbitration

Background

A family dispute over ownership interests in a closely held real estate partnership—which was itself just one facet of a sprawling family dispute—escalated into a high-stakes arbitration involving allegations of conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and claims seeking to unwind transactions that had occurred years earlier. The claimant sought substantial monetary damages, enhanced statutory remedies, equitable relief, dissolution of the partnership, appointment of a receiver, inspection rights, an accounting, and a declaration restoring a claimed ownership interest in the partnership.

The claims sought substantial monetary and equitable relief and challenged ownership interests in family-held partnership assets. Beyond damages, the claimant sought dissolution, a receiver, accounting relief, inspection rights, and changes to partnership ownership interests.

After years of family conflict, the dispute ultimately turned on whether the claimant could revive claims arising from events that allegedly occurred nearly a decade before the arbitration was commenced.

Solution

RMO focused on the dispositive legal and factual issues rather than allowing the proceeding to become consumed by decades of family grievances and competing narratives.

Our team conducted extensive discovery, prepared witnesses, developed the documentary evidence, and presented a comprehensive defense during the arbitration hearing and post-hearing briefing process. We demonstrated that the claimant had long possessed sufficient information to investigate the alleged wrongdoing and that the applicable statutes of limitation had expired years before the claims were asserted.

RMO also successfully challenged the claimant’s standing to pursue derivative and equitable claims, including requests for an accounting, inspection of records, dissolution, and receiver relief. By keeping the panel of arbitrators focused on the governing law and evidentiary record, we positioned our clients for a complete defense victory.

Results

Following a multi-day arbitration hearing and extensive post-hearing proceedings, the panel of arbitrators denied every claim asserted against our clients. The panel concluded that the claimant’s causes of action were barred by the applicable statutes of limitation and the doctrine of laches and rejected all requested damages and equitable remedies.

The panel further denied the claimant’s requests for declaratory relief, dissolution of the partnership, appointment of a receiver, accounting, inspection rights, derivative recovery, and statutory damages.

Most significantly, the panel determined that our clients were the prevailing parties and awarded them substantial attorney’s fees.

What began as an effort to obtain significant damages, ownership-related relief, and dissolution remedies ended with a complete defense victory.