3733 Park East Drive
Suite 200
Beachwood, Ohio 44122

"Ohio has always considered the right of property to be a fundamental right... There can be no doubt that the bundle of venerable rights associated with property is strongly protected in the Ohio Constitution and must be trod upon lightly, no matter how great the weight of other forces."

City of Norwood v. Horney (2006),
110 Ohio St.3d 353, 363
(Maureen O'Connor, J.)

Our Practice

Berns, Ockner & Greenberger, LLC represents and counsels clients in a wide array of business and real estate matters including transactions, administrative proceedings, and litigation in state and federal courts. The following are our primary areas of practice:

Zoning and Land Use

• Obtaining zoning, subdivision, site plan, planned unit development, conditional use permit and variance approvals
• Preparing, promoting and defending against zoning initiatives and referenda
• Zoning and regulatory challenges under the State and federal Constitutions including the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments
• First Amendment zoning and regulatory challenges, including religious exercise and RLUIPA claims, signs and billboards
• Challenges of historic landmark regulations
• Challenging excessive utility connection and other impact fees and exactions

Construction

• Construction contracts between owners and contractors, contractors and subcontractors, owners and construction managers and owners and architects
• Construction litigation, including construction defects, delay and compression claims
• Mechanic's liens

Eminent Domain

Defending eminent domain claims and prosecuting regulatory "takings" claims

Real Estate Transactions and Litigation

• Acquisition, sale and leasing of developed and undeveloped properties
• Mortgage financing for property acquisition, construction and long-term financing
• Easements and declarations of restrictions
• Landlord/tenant disputes, including evictions
• Marketable Title Act claims

Tax Valuation Challenges

Challenging excessive residential and commercial property taxes

Commercial Contract Disputes and Business Torts

• Trade secrets and unfair competition
• UCC sale of goods claims and perfection of personalty liens
• Banking and other secured party disputes
• Brokerage licensing and fee disputes
• Business and Professional Liability and Casualty Insurance coverage, including bad faith claims

Telecommunications

Tower and Facility siting and placement, leases, and related zoning and regulatory issues

[In addition to the foregoing, our members' legal experience broadly encompasses other areas of the law, including anti-trust, interstate transportation of goods, insurance bad faith, products liability, and securities litigation.]

Our Vision

Berns Ockner draws upon nearly 150 combined years of transactional, litigation, trial, and appellate experience to help clients frame and achieve their goals. Our attorneys' backgrounds include service in municipal law departments, as elected public officials, and in appointed municipal and federal offices and boards. We offer a thoroughly seasoned and pragmatic perspective on our clients' objectives, indentifying and weighing options, assessing relevant legal and political dynamics, and crafting success-driven strategies. Please see the Our Attorneys and the About Berns Ockner pages at this website to learn more about us.

Client Advocacy

Berns Ockner pursues expeditious, cost-effective, goal-oriented solutions. But, when our clients' goals cannot be achieved through legislative or administrative action or through negotiation, we are prepared to challenge over-regulation, intransigency, and every other abuse of power or infringement of our clients' rights through the courts, and we have had some notable success in doing so. Please see the About Berns Ockner page at this website for a list of those matters.

"Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race."

- William Howard Taft
Popular Government, 1913