Danielle Andrews Long

Counsel

  • Overview

    Biography

    Danielle Andrews Long handles litigation involving commercial, real estate, banking, and land use disputes. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Real Estate and Title Insurance and Appellate Practice Teams.

    Commercial and Real Estate Litigation

    Danielle represents landowners and lenders in real estate title issues. She also represents title insurance companies and their insureds on policy claims related to property ownership. She routinely litigates complex title issues involving quiet title claims, missing heirs, adverse possession, mortgage equitable subrogation, easement rights, and forged deeds. Danielle successfully defended a developer against a challenge to the title of a 20 acre parcel in Massachusetts, and her efforts ultimately preserved a $12 million subdivision project.

    Danielle also has extensive experience handling general business litigation matters, such as matters involving contracts and construction disputes. She also has extensive experience handling property insurance coverage litigation.

    Banking Litigation

    Danielle represents banks, lenders, and others in banking-related litigation, including disputes involving fraudulent check claims, check scams, foreclosure challenges, indemnification claims, defalcations, and lending practices. She successfully represented a law firm in a class action regarding the firm’s handling of over 9,000 foreclosures, in a case which potentially involved tens of millions of dollars of exposure. Danielle secured a denial of the class certification in U.S. District Court.

    Land Use Litigation

    Danielle assists developers, landowners, wireless communications providers, and utility companies with appeals if their projects have been denied by municipal land use boards or state environmental agencies or challenged by abutters. If a client’s zoning approval is the subject of an appeal, she works to uphold the approval in court. She also pursues appeals on behalf of her clients if the zoning relief they seek has been denied. Ms. Long has assisted numerous clients with zoning appeals in state and federal courts so they can achieve their land use objectives. She has successfully represented national telecommunications companies in prosecuting and defending appeals, allowing for the installation of numerous wireless telecommunications towers.

    Litigation Experience

    Danielle has significant trial experience in the Massachusetts Superior and Land Courts, and she has argued appeals before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court. She frequently practices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire Federal Courts as well. She also has experience practicing in front of Massachusetts regulatory agencies.

    Pro Bono

    Danielle frequently does pro bono work, including assisting individuals through MassLegalServices’ Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR). She provides free legal assistance to individuals seeking asylum and immigrants who have been unjustly detained in Massachusetts.

    Danielle was selected as a Rising Star to the Massachusetts Super Lawyers list from 2005 to 2012. She was selected for the Top Women Attorneys in Massachusetts list featured in the April 2013 issue of Boston Magazine. Danielle is a member of The Abstract Club, an invitation-only organization limited to one hundred of the most prominent real estate attorneys in Massachusetts. She writes regularly for the firm’s Massachusetts Appellate Blog

  • Experience
    • Experience

      Experience

      • Represented lenders in the litigation, resolution, and recoupment of mortgage frauds, overfinancing scams, defalcations, and forgeries.

      • Represented a developer of a multimillion-dollar condominium project with respect to contract and construction disputes.
      • Successfully defended printing press remanufacturer in a multimillion-dollar products liability case tried in Suffolk Superior Court.
      • Defended owners, lenders, and title insurers against claims of forged deeds, mortgages, missing interests, and discharges of liens.
      • Obtained expedited and complete dismissal of claims against a developer for easements over commercial property in Boston’s Seaport District, which enabled the development and sale of a hotel on the site.

      • Defended lenders against claims of predatory lending and violations of affordable housing covenants.
      • Marshalling over 100 years of complex title records and boundary evidence and testimony of surveying and title experts, obtained judgment for a developer following trial, affirming title to and boundaries of a 120-acre subdivision.

      • Representation of a major international insurer in a Massachusetts statutory bad faith action in which the injured plaintiffs sought more than $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages against our client (primary insurer on business auto policy) for its alleged failure to promptly settle a catastrophic personal injury claim. Following two years of contentious litigation and a six-week trial, the court found that our client's effort to settle the underlying tort case was both prompt and reasonable, and entered judgment in its favor. In 2011, the judgment was affirmed on appeal by Massachusetts's highest court; however, the co-defendant excess insurer (which had a $50 million policy) was ordered to pay a record $22 million in punitive damages and attorneys' fees for its violation of the Consumer Protection Act, in addition to the $9 million it paid to satisfy the underlying tort judgment.
      • Representation of a law firm in a class action regarding the firm's handling of a large share of foreclosures in Massachusetts. The plaintiffs sued three major mortgage lenders and their law firms for allegedly wrongful foreclosure practices arising out of assignments of mortgages. The potential class would have involved over 9,000 foreclosures from 2004 to 2008 and tens of millions of dollars in exposure. The US District Court of Massachusetts denied class certification by applying the United States Supreme Court decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes and by ruling that there was no commonality because each individual foreclosure transaction would have to be examined in detail to determine whether there was liability. The court also found a lack of typicality, predominance, and superiority and specifically ruled that the law firms did not owe a legal duty to the mortgagors and were not engaged in the conduct of trade or commerce required for unfair business claims.
      • Represented homeowners in quiet title and adverse possession actions.
      • Obtained judgments for title insurers in jury and bench trials on coverage, bad faith, and recoupment claims.
      • Represented title insurers in bad faith litigation brought by insureds and third parties.
      • Litigated numerous zoning appeals in state and federal courts, including representation of leading telecommunication companies in prosecuting and defending zoning appeals in federal and state courts.

      • Represented national public utility company in defense of environmental claims based on historic property usage.

         

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    • Professional Associations

      Professional Associations

      American Bar Association
      Real Estate Litigation Committee, Chair of Young Lawyers Subcommittee (2000 - 2013)
      Real Estate Litigation Committee, Co-Vice Chair of Membership (2013 - present) (2000 - present)

      Massachusetts Bar Association (2000 - present)

      Women's Bar Association (2000 - present)

      Massachusetts Real Estate Bar Association (2005 - present)

      New England Land Title Association (2008 - present)

      The Abstract Club
    • Honors + Awards

      Honors + Awards

      Selected as a Rising Star to the Massachusetts Super Lawyers list from 2005 to 2012.

  • NEWS + PRESS
    • Publications

      Publications

      ""Real Estate," published in MCLE's Superior Court Civil Practice Jury Instructions Book, ch. 17, 3rd. ed., 2nd Supplement 2018.," (no)

      "Massachusetts Appeals Court Limits Application of Equitable Subrogation," published in REBA News, co-authored with Lawrence P. Heffernan (February 7, 2018)

      "SJC Reinforces the Value of Attorneys' Affidavits in Curing Defective Acknowledgements," published in REBA News, co-authored with Lawrence P. Heffernan (September 2016)

      "Time When Statutes Take Effect," published in the MCLE book Crocker's Notes on Common Forms, ch. 24, 11th ed., 2016

      "Land Use Litigation," published in MCLE Litigating Residential Real Estate Disputes in Massachusetts, ch. 11, 2nd ed. (7/28/2014)

      "Time When Statutes Take Effect," published in the MCLE book Crocker's Notes on Common Forms, ch. 24, 10th ed., 2013

      "Massachusetts High Court Considers Modernizing State Lease Law," co-authored with Lawrence P. Heffernan, John T. Ronayne and Kendra L. Berardi, published in the ABA's Real Estate Litigation newsletter (5/20/2013)

      "Class Certification Denied in Massachusetts Foreclosures Action," published on the American Bar Association's Real Estate Litigation website (5/15/2012)

      "Massachusetts Court Ruling Calls into Question the Validity of Many Foreclosures," published on the American Bar Associations's Real Estate Litigation website (1/2011)

      "Non-Muslim Mothers v. Egyptian Muslim Fathers," published in Suffolk Transnational Law Review at (6/2000)
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    • Presentations

      Presentations

      "Massachusetts Trends Within the Solar Industry," hosted by The Land Use & Zoning and Environmental Law Sections of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts (12/6/2021)

      "The Future of Remote Proceedings: Perspectives from the Bar," co-presented with Kendra L. Berardi and Amanda R. Phillips, a CLE program hosted by the Massachusetts Bar Association Complex Commercial Litigation Section Council (11/16/2021)
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      "Conveyancing Law Update: The Latest Cases That Every Conveyancer Should Know About.," (yes)
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      "Notarial Acts Done Right (and Wrong)," panelist for the Real Estate Bar Association's (REBA) 2018 Annual Meeting & Conference in Norwood, Massachusetts (11/5/2018)
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      "Litigating Real Estate Disputes," (yes)
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      "Professionalism and Civility: How to Deal with the More Awkward Parts of Being a New Lawyer," panelist, REBA Open Luncheon Meeting of the New Lawyers Section (11/16/2016)

      "Notary Nightmares: It's Not Just Filling in the Blanks!," panelist, 2016 REBA Spring Conference (5/2/2016)

      "Resolving Title Issues," Keynote Speaker at the Merrimack Valley Conveyancers Association Annual Meeting," (3/26/2015)

      "Real Estate Litigation: Real Estate & Environmental Professional Development Plan Unit 13," presented at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education program, panel chair and presenter (2/25/2015)

      "Resolving Common and Complex Title Issues," presented at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education program (4/3/2014)

      "Litigating Residential & Commercial Real Estate Disputes," at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education program, panel chair and presenter on "Where Are We Now Three Years after Ibanez" (2/13/2014)

      "Litigating Real Estate Disputes," at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education program, panel chair and presenter on "Litigating Post-Ibanez, Bevilacqua, and Eaton Matters" (2/5/2013)

      "Litigating Real Estate Disputes," at Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, chair and presenter on topic of Defective Title Documents (2/9/2012)

      "Recent Case Law Developments under Chapter 40B," at Boston Bar Association (9/15/2008)

    • News

      R+C in the News

      • February 25, 2022

        Amanda Phillips Authors Article on Future of Remote Proceedings in Massachusetts Bar Association's "Section Review"

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      • November 16, 2018

        Danielle Long Presents Program on Notarial Acts During REBA Annual Meeting & Conference

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      • December 22, 2015

        Danielle Long Elected to Membership in the Abstract Club

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      • August 15, 2014

        Boston Lawyers Present at MCLE Real Estate Disputes Program

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      • October 9, 2013

        Boston Lawyers Appointed to ABA Leadership Positions

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      • June 7, 2013

        Boston Lawyers Author Article for ABA Newsletter

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      • March 18, 2013

        Boston Lawyers Participate in MCLE Panel on Real Estate Disputes

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      • May 30, 2012

        Real Estate and Title Litigation Attorneys Prevent Class Action Against Client

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      • August 2, 2011

        Robinson & Cole Attorneys Win Against Challenge to Subdivision Approval

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      • January 31, 2011

        Danielle Long Examines Massachusetts’ Ruling on Validity of Many Foreclosures

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      • December 19, 2007

        Robinson & Cole Attorney Receives Jury Verdict on Gross Negligence

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      R+C News Releases

      • March 21, 2013

        Robinson & Cole Attorneys Selected for Top Women Attorneys in Massachusetts

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      • October 22, 2012

        Super Lawyers® Names 49 Robinson & Cole Attorneys to 2012 List and Recognizes 26 as Rising Stars

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      • January 26, 2010

        Robinson & Cole Announces New Counsel

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