Arrowood LLP Defends Toll Bros. in Pending Lawsuit

04/06/2021

Arrowood LLP attorneys, Lisa G. Arrowood, Jed DeWick and Margaret Strauss are representing Toll Bros., Inc. in a $30 million lawsuit filed against the developers by Starr Capitol Partners, the former owners of The Bradford, a mixed use residential/retail property.

In 2016, Starr Capital Partners sold The Bradford to Toll Bros. who gave Starr the option to buy back the retail portion of the property at a price determined by the cost to Toll of building the unit, including costs of environmental remediation, plus a fee of 1.5%.

In 2018, Toll Bros. invoiced Starr for $2,211,016, representing environmental remediation costs incurred by Toll above a certain threshold established by the parties’ agreement. When Starr failed to pay the invoice, Toll Bros. notified them that their non-payment resulted in forfeiture of their purchase option.

Starr brought suit in Superior Court in Middlesex County alleging, among other things, that it had approval rights over remediation spending. Starr also sought an injunction to protect Starr from having to pay the invoice and prevent Toll from terminating the option to purchase. Starr’s request for relief from Toll’s invoice was denied by the Court.

In December 2020, Arrowood attorneys made a motion for summary judgement to dismiss Starr’s claims, arguing, among other things, that Starr does not have approval rights over increases in the environmental remediation costs under the terms of the parties’ written agreement, and that Starr’s option has been forfeited for failure to pay the invoice.

Mr. DeWick argued on behalf of Toll at a March 24, 2021 hearing on Toll’s motion for summary judgment. The motion has been taken under advisement by the Court.

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