Burnside Property & Project Claims

Contingency counsel for major real estate insurance, construction, and project-loss disputes.

For developers, property owners, fiduciaries, and referral partners dealing with casualty loss, underpaid insurance claims, construction defects, project delay, repair-cost disputes, and loss-of-rents exposure. These matters usually turn on insurance framing, construction facts, timing, and property economics at the same time. For qualifying serious matters, contingency-based representation may be available.

Discuss a Matter Refer a Matter

Best First Step

Start with a short, non-confidential summary. If the matter appears large enough to justify focused counsel, you will get a direct initial read and a clear next step.

Best First Step

Start with a short, non-confidential summary. If the matter appears large enough to justify focused counsel, you will get a direct initial read and a clear next step.

Short Summary

Send a short summary

A concise, non-confidential description is usually enough to begin.

Call Directly

Call (503) 208-4356

Useful when timing pressure, deadlines, or claim drift already matter.

Architectural facade with scope notes and restoration timeline overlays

Focused owner-side counsel when insurance, repair scope, and property economics all need to move together.

Millions recovered

Kelly McCann has recovered millions of dollars for property owners.

Through trial, arbitration, and settlement.

Construction + insurance focus

Construction and insurance disputes stay at the center of the work.

Owner-side matters for property owners.

Real-estate-trained

M.S. in Real Estate from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Ranked first in class.

Contingency-fee representation

We work on a contingency-fee basis rather than billing by the hour.

Clients do not pay unless the matter succeeds.

Choose Your Path

Which path fits your situation?

Choose the path that fits your situation: a live owner-side dispute that needs focused counsel now, or a referral that needs a narrow, commercially coherent handoff.

Live Matter

Discuss a serious property or project dispute.

For owners, developers, and fiduciaries dealing with casualty loss, repair-cost pressure, delay, underpayment, or rent-loss exposure.

For qualifying serious matters, contingency-based representation may be available where the claim and economics support it.

Discuss a Matter Call (503) 208-4356

Referral Path

Make a narrow, referral-safe handoff.

For lawyers, consultants, fiduciary counsel, and other advisers who want focused special counsel in a narrow role that fits cleanly alongside the existing team.

The role is designed to stay narrow, commercially coherent, and easy to explain to the client.

Refer a Matter Discuss the Situation

When To Call

Is this the situation?

Owners, fiduciaries, and referral partners usually call when the dispute is already affecting repair scope, claim framing, timing, or the economics of the asset.

Major casualty loss is disrupting operations or rent

The property problem and the revenue problem are moving together, and delay is starting to change claim value.

Underpayment, delay, or coverage pressure is affecting repair decisions

The dispute is no longer just about policy wording. It is changing the funding and restoration path for the asset.

Construction, repair, and claim issues are becoming entangled

Contractors, consultants, carriers, and project decisions are all shaping the same owner-side problem.

A fiduciary or constrained owner needs a fast initial read

The structure controls a real asset problem, but nobody wants open-ended hourly burn before the claim is screened.

Why This Role Is Different

Why bring in focused special counsel instead of broader counsel?

Some matters need focused claim strategy, not broader general representation. Owners usually bring Burnside in when the dispute is large enough to affect the asset and the claim cannot be handled as a routine legal file.

Focused special counsel

Focused special counsel helps define the claim, preserve value, and keep the dispute commercially coherent.

Broader counsel

Broader counsel can continue handling the larger transaction, restructuring, litigation, or ownership picture.

The role is narrow and defined

The work centers on the dispute itself: insurance framing, construction facts, delay, repair cost, revenue loss, and the next commercial step.

Built for mixed insurance and project problems

These matters often turn on construction cost, coverage position, timing pressure, and property economics at the same time.

Works alongside broader counsel and advisors

Owners, fiduciaries, and referral partners often keep broader litigation, transaction, restructuring, or local-counsel roles where they already sit.

Contingency-fee alignment matters here

Serious disputes can be pursued without making hourly cost the next pressure point on the asset.

Why Aligned Economics Matters

Contingency can matter in serious property disputes.

For the right serious matters, fee structure is part of the strategic fit. Contingency can materially reduce friction when owners, fiduciaries, and other claimholders need specialist help without a large hourly-burn commitment.

Burnside Law Firm works on a contingency-fee basis. The immediate question is whether the matter is serious enough and economically coherent enough to support that structure.

Lower upfront friction

Serious matters can be evaluated and pursued without immediately turning fee burn into the next business problem.

Aligned economics for the right matters

The first question is whether the claim is serious enough, recoverable enough, and early enough to justify focused counsel.

Useful for sophisticated but budget-sensitive claimholders

This can matter for subinstitutional owners, fiduciaries, and others who need specialist help without broad, diffuse staffing.

Not every matter fits

The seriousness of the dispute and the underlying economics have to support the structure.

Why Owners Hire Kelly McCann

Why owners and developers hire Kelly McCann.

Kelly McCann combines finance training, construction cost-estimating work, legal training, and graduate real-estate study. He has recovered millions of dollars for property owners through trial, arbitration, and settlement.

Owners and developers usually call when insurance strategy, repair cost, delay, rent loss, and asset economics all need to be handled as one dispute.

Recovered millions for property owners.

Through trial, arbitration, and settlement.

Finance and construction pricing background

Finance degree plus construction cost-estimating work before law practice.

J.D. with CALI Award

University of Montana School of Law.

Real-estate training

M.S. in Real Estate from Colorado Boulder, ranked first in class.

Quoted In

Quoted in publications covering construction, insurance, housing, and real-estate issues.

MoneyGeek

Avoiding Legal Pitfalls

The Mortgage Reports

Construction Dive

Matters Burnside Handles

Matters Burnside handles

Burnside is usually called when repair cost, underpayment, delay, or rent loss is large enough to materially affect the asset or project.

Major property insurance disputes

Underpaid, delayed, or denied property claims where repair scope, coverage position, and funding pressure materially affect the asset.

Explore

Construction defect and remediation disputes

Water intrusion, envelope failure, nonconforming work, and repair disputes that drive cost-to-repair exposure.

Explore

Construction payment and delay disputes

Change-order, delay, payment, sequencing, and responsibility disputes when the owner is carrying the project economics.

Explore

Loss of rents and project economic loss

Revenue loss and project-loss disputes where timing, stabilization, and operations materially affect the claim.

Explore

Representative Matters

Representative matters

Representative matters are shown in summary form. Past results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Representative Matter

Unapproved change orders, defective work, and delay on a Washington County apartment project

Washington County multifamily development | approximately $7M at issue

What happened

A newly constructed apartment project went off track late in construction. Extra work was performed without approved change orders, defects emerged, the schedule slipped, and rent-producing units were delayed.

What counsel did

Established that the extra work was not payable without written approval.
Built the defect case around nonconforming work and cost to repair.
Tied project mismanagement to delay and lost rental income.
Positioned the developer to offset contract-balance claims against multi-million-dollar damages.

Why owner-side counsel mattered

Owner-side representation mattered because the dispute was about control of the project and its economics, not just a contractor invoice.

Representative Matter

Limited-scope work that triggered structural failure at a Lane County apartment building

Lane County apartment building | approximately $6M loss

What happened

Limited contractor work on a roughly 90-year-old apartment building triggered building-wide instability. The structure had to be stabilized, lifted, and reconstructed at the foundation while rental operations were disrupted.

What counsel did

Framed the case around the contractor's failure to account for the building's structural realities.
Tied the instability directly to the work performed.
Quantified stabilization, building lift, foundation reconstruction, and collateral repairs.
Included loss of rental income in the total capital loss.

Why owner-side counsel mattered

For the owner, the case was about recovering the capital required to restore a compromised asset.

Discuss A Matter

If the dispute is large enough to affect the asset, start with a concise summary.

Send a short summary of the property, the dispute, what is at stake, and any immediate timing pressure. Owners, developers, fiduciaries, and referral partners can reach out directly.

Send a short summary Call (503) 208-4356

Discuss a Matter Refer a Matter