While 2023 was an unparalleled year of appellate victories, in 2024 The Ryan Firm earned countless victories at appellate courts, jury trials, court trials, in key pre-judgment motions, and in arbitration. Additionally, The Ryan Firm obtained swift settlement in dozens of cases – eliminating years of litigation. Each attorney at the firm played a key role in the overall success of the firm and The Ryan Firm admin team and support staff were stellar in keeping up with the flood of filings that deluged the office on a near-daily basis.
A very quick synopsis of 2024 at our firm:
· The Ryan Firm saved the summary nature of post-foreclosure evictions at the California Court of Appeal.
· The Ryan Firm recovered nearly $50,000,000 in real estate for its clients, prevailing in scores of hotly contested matters – with nearly all victories coming in pre-trial motion practice - ultimately saving our clients tens of thousands in trial costs, holding costs, and avoiding needless delays.
· The Ryan Firm, on behalf of its clients, aggressively policed rampant abuse of the 2023 amendments to the foreclosure statutes – helping its clients retain over $20,000,000 in properties fairly and legally purchased at non-judicial foreclosure sales.
· The Ryan Firm went undefeated in its jury trials – obtaining UNANIMOUS jury verdicts in each trial.
· The Ryan Firm helped dozens of its clients navigate the increasingly Byzantine and sometimes conflicting state, county, and city rent control statutes.
· The Ryan Firm forced early settlements in dozens of difficult cases through strategic thinking and thorough execution of calculated offensive strategies.
· And on a more personal note, The Ryan Firm grew to ten attorneys, with two of its attorneys (Andrew Mase and Rosty Gore) becoming shareholders.
Notable 2024 achievements:
Two jury trials yielded unanimous jury verdicts!
Mike Stoltzman was victorious by way of a unanimous jury verdict in the Eastern District of California in a case concerning fair debt collection practices and loan servicing issues. Andrew Mase, with an assist from Matt Aguirre, was victorious in a jury trial in San Diego Superior Court in a five-year long foreclosure challenge odyssey. (Mountjoy and Hannonen)
We reduced $100,000 of City of Los Angeles fines to -0- !
Our client was charged with $100,000 in fines by the City of Los Angeles for an alleged failure to follow the foreclosure registration requirements as set forth in the Los Angeles Municipal Code. We convinced the City of Los Angeles that our client did not violate the municipal code, and as a result, the city waived the fine. (Gleason Avenue) Credit to Attorney Paul Kurtzhall for fearlessly staring down the City of Los Angeles.
The Ryan Firm saves the summary nature of post-foreclosure evictions in California after persuading the Court of Appeal to reverse itself!
A former borrower appealed an eviction judgment arguing that when a foreclosed borrower initiates litigation and records a lis pendens against the foreclosed property, the former borrower cannot be evicted. The appellate court sided with the borrower – temporarily. Diligent post-appellate motion practice, and thorough briefing, convinced the appellate court to reverse course, affirm our client’s eviction judgment, and de-publish the opinion – saving the summary nature of post-foreclosure eviction in California! (Taptelis) Credit to attorneys Andrew Mase and Mike Stoltzman for saving the day for all lenders, investors, and servicers in California.
The Ryan Firm obtained a massive multi-million dollar pre-judgment writ in a faulty construction case.
The multi-million dollar renovation of our client’s Bel Air home was done very poorly. To preserve the builder’s assets pending trial, the court issued a writ of attachment to freeze the builder’s assets pending trial. (Smith) Credit to attorney Steven Rader for his stellar work.
The Ryan Firm obtained a significant arbitration award in another real estate purchase case!
A purchaser wrongfully cancelled its contract to buy our clients’ multi-million dollar property in Newport Coast, but would not release its agreed upon earnest money deposit to our clients. We obtained an award for both the amount of the deposit, the interest on the deposit, and the attorney’s fees expended in obtaining the award. The award was confirmed by the superior court. (NSI International) Credit to attorneys Steve Rader and Rosty Gore for this tremendous result.
The Ryan Firm achieves a string of key bankruptcy victories in both trial and appellate courts!
· The Ryan Firm piloted a secured creditor through a complex Chapter 7 entity bankruptcy involving two pieces of luxury real estate in Los Angeles worth approximately $9,000,000.00. The two properties cross-collateralized the secured creditor’s loan. Based on his arguments and strategy, and after facing extreme opposition from the debtor and Chapter 7 trustee, Mr. Mase obtained two separate orders granting relief from stay to foreclose on each parcel of cross-collateralized real property. Additionally, Mr. Mase defeated the Chapter 7 Trustee’s motion to sell one of the properties by arguing that insufficient evidence existed to justify the sale under 11 USC 363. To boot, Mr. Mase defeated three requests for temporary restraining orders to prevent foreclosure brought by parties affiliated by the Chapter 7 debtor in various courts, as well as a motion jointly brought by the debtor and Chapter 7 trustee to re-impose the automatic stay to prevent foreclosure.
· The Ryan Firm took over representation of a secured creditor in two bankruptcy cases concerning the same property and immediately obtained in rem relief from stay neutralizing both cases, yielding a full payoff to the client. (Urdiano) Credit to attorney Chris Kiernan for this fantastic result.
· The Ryan Firm took over representation of a secured creditor in a bankruptcy case wherein the judge determined that our client was likely in contempt of court, setting a hearing to sanction our client. Stellar briefing and argument convinced the court to reverse her decision, discharging any basis for a finding of contempt of court. (Villareal) Credit for this fantastic result goes to attorney Matt Aguirre.
We routinely settled cases to the benefit of our clients at the outset – saving time and fees and obtaining exceptional results early!
· After substituting into a collections action in place of a large national law firm to recover a substantial judgment, The Ryan Firm forced a near-immediate settlement. The Ryan Firm brought a motion for appointment of a receiver to take over management of the judgment debtor related entities that received fraudulent transfers of assets from the judgment debtor. Simply by filing that tactical motion, we were able to extract an immediate and significant settlement from these entities. (Eakin) Credit to Attorney Mike Stoltzman for leveraging his well-calculated motion for an immediate and excellent result.
· Within days of initiating a commercial unlawful detainer action, The Ryan Firm was able to obtain four years of back rent for its client. (Prescient Imaging) Credit to Attorney William Brockschmidt for this speedy victory.
· The Ryan Firm achieved settlement in a hybrid usury and wrongful foreclosure action immediately after defeating the former borrower’s restraining order application. The client obtained a settlement for full repayment of principal, allowed interest, and attorney’s fees. This was within weeks of our office being retained. (Rueb) Credit to attorney William Brockschmidt for this elegant resolution.
· Upon reviewing the client files in a credit reporting case, our firm was able to immediately settle the matter by merely removing negative credit reporting, thereby securing a favorable settlement for our nationwide mortgage servicing client. (Lazaro) Credit to attorney Paul Kurtzhall for identifying an immediate way to resolve the case.
· In a complex Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, The Ryan Firm was able to obtain payoff of the client’s loan and dismissal of the debtor’s adversary case. (Marouf) Credit to attorney Mike Stoltzman for this quick and solid result.
· The Ryan Firm was substituted into an arbitration in Connecticut the week before arbitration. We were able to obtain immediate settlement for the client, with the client paying nothing. (Hafey) Credit to attorney Mike Stoltzman for this outstanding performance.
· The Ryan Firm obtained immediate dismissal from a preference action filed against our client. (Dye) Credit to attorney Mike Stoltzman for this instantaneous victory.
· The Ryan Firm determined that the foreclosure trustee issued a foreclosure deed to a fraudulent bidder. The firm was able to negotiate a settlement providing for the client’s purchase of the $2,000,000 property with only minimal litigation costs incurred. (Leitham) Credit to attorney Katherine Meleski for getting immediate results.
· The Ryan Firm obtained sanctions against opposing counsel and the opposing party to achieve early settlement in a breach of real estate purchase contract case. (Drummond) Credit to attorney Bill Brockschmidt for his aggressive approach and near immediate resolution.
· The Ryan Firm repeatedly, and quickly, defeated endless manipulative delay tactics employed by unlawful detainer / eviction defendants who attempted to abuse every legal mechanism to prevent our clients from taking rightful possession of their properties – many of which were worth several millions. Time after time in 2024—almost on a weekly basis—our office deconstructed the chaos these holdover occupants caused, and convinced judges across California to side with our clients and adjudicate possession and damages awards in favor of our clients.
· The Ryan Firm aggressively sought to settle post-foreclosure eviction matters due to the delays faced by landlords due to the backlogged court system. These early settlements saved our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars in holding costs and attorney’s fees. Credit to ALL Ryan Firm attorneys for these great results.
We at The Ryan Firm are incredibly proud of the year that our firm put together, and are exceedingly happy that we were able to—once again—exceed expectations for our clients in terms of responsiveness and results! On to 2025!
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