Tomas Ortiz focuses on real estate transactions and disputes, as well as bankruptcy and restructuring matters. He also taps his broad experience set and good managerial judgment to serve as effective outside general counsel for many of his clients. He often works in highly regulated industries, including energy, foods, cannabis, hemp, and psychedelics.

Mr. Ortiz’s transactional and outside general counsel experience includes real estate acquisitions and loans; distribution agreements; licensing agreements; and corporate structuring, often in heavily regulated industries.

Mr. Ortiz dispute experience includes real estate and title disputes, quiet title disputes, adverse possession, boundary and easement disputes, trespass, entitlement disputes, escrow disputes, and eminent domain actions. He also has experience with bankruptcy litigation, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, bankruptcy asset sales, domestic and international restructuring, and insolvency.  Mr. Ortiz is a seasoned trial lawyer with 20 years of litigation experience, taking disputes from demand to trial and through appeal.

He has worked with banks and non-institutional lenders, cultivators, manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, commercial and residential real estate investors, commercial landlords and tenants, SPEs, nonprofits, attorneys, and accountants. In the bankruptcy and restructuring context, he has represented a wide range of stakeholders, including creditors, debtors, trustees, creditors’ committees, franchisors, real estate enterprises, and corporate/institutional interests.

Mr. Ortiz writes and lectures on cannabis, real estate, bankruptcy, and insolvency.

Notable Representations

• Represented a real estate investment group in a successful defense of challenges to title and interests held by the group in a multi-million dollar property by a Chapter 7 Trustee in adversary proceedings.
• Represented a large Latino food manufacturer and distributor in pre-bankruptcy negotiations and workout, allowing it to continue operating, pay its liabilities and restructure itself outside of bankruptcy.
• Represented institutional lender in defense of adversary proceeding for wrongful foreclosure on a large commercial property filed by Chapter 11 debtor-in-possession.
• Represented a real estate investor in bankruptcy litigation to establish and successfully defend its multi-million dollar investment in a real estate development in Southern California.
• Represented a foreign manufacturer with significant holdings and liabilities in the United States in a Chapter 15 proceeding.
• Represented a group of suppliers in bankruptcy proceedings filed by food manufacturer and successfully recovered assets and minimized losses by pursuing those assets by way of adversary proceeding.
• Represented a group of non-institutional lenders in successfully securing and collecting against property held by a bankruptcy estate on a multi-million dollar claim in Chapter 11 proceedings.
• Represented real estate investor in establishing and defending its ownership interest in a property purchased pre-petition against competing claims by Chapter 11 trustee and lien holders.
• Represented an accountant in successful defense of an adversary proceeding filed by a Chapter 11 debtor-in-possession seeking damages against the accountant for misrepresentations made by the debtor’s management to lenders and shareholders. The matter was decided in client’s favor on summary judgment.
• Represented a real estate broker in defense of an adversary proceeding filed by a Chapter 11 debtor arising from the purchase of a multi-million dollar commercial property.