Lauren also defends majority business owners against hostile takeover attempts by minority members and pursues and defends corporate, statutory books and records demands and litigation centered on fraud, misrepresentation and other business tort allegations. Lauren represents clients in commercial real estate actions where she both pursues and defends contractual and tort claims on behalf of local and national real estate developers and other commercial entities. In addition to litigating complex real estate matters, she regularly counsels commercial and residential real estate developers on litigation avoidance and best practices to avoid litigation, including potential litigation for breaches/defaults of commercial lease agreements caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lauren’s litigation and trial experience includes the defense of national financial lending and servicing companies against a wide range of claims including lender liability, fraud, misrepresentation, truth in lending, breach of contract and other claims in state court, federal court and bankruptcy court. She also pursues claims on behalf of financial lending servicing companies involving confession of judgment actions, breach of guarantee agreements and breach of lending documents. Apart from litigation, she counsels lending and servicing institutions on litigation avoidance and alternative dispute methods.
Over the past two plus decades, Lauren has litigated cases across the country on behalf of individuals and corporate clients, including Fortune 500 companies. She is an aggressive advocate for her clients and has obtained numerous favorable and significant verdicts for her clients at trial and through arbitration. Knowing that the resolution of litigation before trial can also be in her clients’ best interests, Lauren has successfully and favorably guided clients through alternative dispute resolution processes to obtain their desired litigation resolution.
Representative Experience
- Represent national lender in actions against borrowers and guarantors on defaulted multi-million dollar loan agreements and lines of credit, including successfully defending against lender liability claims in state and federal bankruptcy court, successfully obtaining judgments against and pursuing guarantors in state court successfully obtaining a charging order over a guarantor’s interests in a limited liability company, and pursuing separate foreclosure actions against guarantors
- Act as outside general counsel to large residential development company on litigation and landlord/tenant matters
- Represent majority members against hostile takeover attempts by minority members
- Successfully represented clients in federal court action brought by offshore captive insurance company where claims involved alleged breach of loan guarantee agreements surrounding clients’ participation in alleged abusive and fraudulent offshore tax shelter scheme. Action settled favorably to clients while jury deliberating.
- Advisory Jury Trial, Western District of Pennsylvania (2013)
- Successfully represented international construction and engineering company in multi-million dollar contractual indemnity action, arising out of underlying lawsuits involving an oil refinery expansion project. Jury Trial, Corpus Christi, Texas
- Defended business director, officer and owners in federal and state court actions involving fraud, misrepresentation breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and negligence claims – including class action and derivative claims – related to a cellular telecommunication license and ownership/control of a limited liability company
- Represent national real estate company in various contract and business tort disputes, including not only litigation but advising on pre-litigation strategies and cost beneficial approaches
- Represent clients in various courts on corporate, statutory books and records requests both in terms of responding and requesting as a minority member
- Represent and defend substantial real estate developer and owner against large scale mechanic’s lien claims surrounding work and improvements performed by tenant
- Successfully represented mall developer in multi-million dollar contract and tort action against shopping center chain involving real estate disputes, lease disputes, intentional interference claims and related contract and tort claims. Jury Trial, Johnstown, Pennsylvania
- Represented national bank in large scale predatory lending investigation by State Attorney General Represent municipal authority in class actions involving alleged consumer protection violations, unfair trade practices and related claims
- Represented national bank in confession of judgment proceedings relating to commercial loan documents and guarantees and involving fraud and misrepresentation claims by borrowers
- Pursued claims on behalf of national bank relating to breaches of loan contracts
- Defended national bank against claims of negligence, defamation and alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in state court litigation by borrowers
- Defended financial lending and servicing company against detrimental reliance / promissory estoppel, breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, unfair claim settlement and bad faith claims in state court action by personal representative of borrower’s estate
- Defended corporate directors and officers in federal court litigation involving disputes over a corporate stock purchase agreement and merger agreement
- Successfully represented municipal authority against putative class action claims relating to billing procedures
- Defended coal mining company in state court litigation by land owners, involving breach of contract, fraud, and civil conspiracy claims, in connection with a coal lease and an oil and gas lease
- Defended financial lending and servicing company against breach of contract claims related to alleged entitlement to credit life insurance proceeds
- Represented national bank in litigation stemming from mortgage foreclosure/default proceedings involving, among other things, the application of the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act
- Represented financial lending and servicing company in action brought by consumers for alleged violations of consumer protection laws, secondary mortgage laws, truth in lending laws and involving alleged unfair trade practices claims
- Represented real estate developer in multi-million dollar breach of contract action against supermarket tenant Defended coal mining company against claims for violation of the Pennsylvania Bituminous Mine Subsidence Act, breach of implied contract / unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and trespass in property damage and subsidence actions by landowners
- Represent large national real estate company in various contract and business tort disputes
- Represent national title company in litigation matters involving alleged title defects, tort claims and contractual disputes
- Represented national bank against breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, unfair trade practices and other statutory violation claims (Real Estate Disclosure Act and Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law) relating to sales practices and sales documents
- Pursued and defended claims on behalf of trustee of coal company’s estate relating to coal supply agreement with large public utility
- Represented national bank against conversion, trespass and assumpsit claims relating to the administration of an estate account
