Casden Wins Suit Brought by Former Partner

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Prominent developer Alan Casden has won a court ruling against a former partner seeking to recoup losses from a real estate venture gone south.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled June 20 that the Los Angeles developer did not owe $12 million to Madeleine LLC, a subsidiary of New York private equity firm Cerberus Partners LP, for an allegedly defaulted loan.

Madeleine provided a $25 million loan in 2002 as part of a joint venture between Madeleine, Casden and Denver’s Apartment Investment and Management Co. Inc. Casden agreed to give up proceeds from half of his 20 percent stake in the joint venture in exchange for the loan.

“Madeleine’s claims were meritless, and Mr. Casden is happy to put this matter to rest,” Casden’s attorney, Robert H. Platt of West L.A.’s Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP, said in a statement.

Casden Properties LLC, the joint venture formed by the three companies, planned developments in Los Angeles and Ventura counties but struggled during the real estate crunch. After a bitter breakup in 2011, Cerberus wrested control of the undeveloped properties, which Casden had hoped to keep, and sold them. Among the holdings were the mixed-use Movietown project in West Hollywood and the site of a Ross Dress for Less near the Grove.

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