A jury has awarded a local developer nearly $17 million for the delays on a project in Columbia, MD, caused by the unlawful interference by competitor The Howard Research and Development Corporation (HRD), a subsidiary of the Howard Hughes Corp.

The developer, IMH Columbia, LLC, was represented by Fox Rothschild, LLP partner Michael Eidel, as well as co-counsel Nicole Campbell of Huddles Jones Sorteberg & Campbell, P.C., and Jessica Haire of Thompson Hine. The trial focused on a six-acre lakefront site on Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia, a planned community, that IMH purchased with plans to renovate a hotel and develop an adjacent mixed-use residential and office project.

In his opening statement, Eidel told the jury that IMH's plans were thwarted for six years by Howard Research and Development Co. (HRD), which claimed it was empowered as the "community developer" of Columbia to make decisions about the project, and had inherited grantor rights under certain covenants from the original owner of the property in the early 1970s.

After IMH spent millions of dollars renovating the hotel, HRD waged a six-year campaign of interference to block development of the remainder of IMH's property. Meanwhile, HRD moved ahead with its own residential development on an adjacent parcel.

In its verdict, the jury answered a series of questions. It specifically found that certain restrictive covenants were “obsolete” and that HRD waived any right to consent to IMH’s on-site parking plans.

The six-member jury concluded that HRD breached its obligations under the covenants and that IMH had detrimentally relied on HRD’s prior consents to residential use and on-site parking on the project. The jury awarded IMH $16,995,678, the full amount it had sought in compensatory damages.

HRD was represented in the trial by four lawyers from the Cadwalader firm, led by Doug Gansler, the former Attorney General of Maryland.