Real Estate Contract Disputes & Workouts — Arizona
Real estate contracts — purchase-and-sale agreements, option agreements, land contracts, leases, and construction contracts — are the foundation of every transaction. When those contracts are breached, ambiguous, or disputed, the financial consequences can be severe.
Patrick handles contract enforcement and defense for property owners, investors, businesses, and developers across Arizona. His background includes a six-figure jury verdict for breach of contract and bad faith, as well as contract disputes arising from commercial acquisitions and workout negotiations for deals that have gone sideways before reaching the courthouse.
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any future matter, but the experience matters: this work has been done before, against capable opposing counsel.
What we handle
Representative matters.
Breach of purchase-and-sale agreement claims
Option, earnest-money, and specific-performance disputes
Land contracts and seller-financing disputes
Commercial lease enforcement and defense
Construction contract claims and workouts
Pre-litigation negotiation and structured settlements
How we approach it
A disciplined, strategy-first method.
Read the contract before anything else
Most contract disputes are decided by the four corners of the document. Strategy starts with a careful reading of every relevant agreement.
Quantify the exposure
Damages models drive settlement. We build a defensible damages or savings analysis early — not the night before mediation.
Workout first, lawsuit if necessary
Many real estate contract disputes resolve through a structured workout. Litigation is the lever, not the default.
Frequently asked
Questions clients often ask.
- Can I force the other side to close?
- Sometimes — through a specific-performance claim, which is an equitable remedy uniquely suited to real estate. Whether it is available depends on the contract, the property, and timing.
- What is a 'workout' in a real estate dispute?
- A workout is a negotiated restructuring of a deal that has run into trouble — for example, a renegotiated closing date, a price adjustment, or a release tied to a payment schedule. Done well, it avoids litigation entirely.
- Will I recover my attorneys' fees if I win?
- Many real estate contracts include fee-shifting clauses, and A.R.S. § 12-341.01 also provides for fees in certain contract actions. Whether fees are awarded depends on the contract and the court.