The former Gamma Phi Beta headquarters at 12737 E. Euclid Drive in Centennial. (Facebook)
It was Dec. 21, 2022, and Todd Burnham was worried he was stuck with a $2 million property.
“Katy’s call,” he texted a fellow attorney, deferring the next move to his wife. “I’m just pissed.”
Months before, Burnham had gone in search of fresh office space for his Boulder-based litigation firm, which has 30 lawyers and a half-dozen locations. One promising possibility was in Centennial, at 12737 E. Euclid Drive., and the Gamma Phi Beta sorority owned it.
“The total square footage is 14,050,” Megan Smiley Wick, the sorority’s executive director, wrote in an email forwarded to Burnham in August 2022 and acquired by BusinessDen in a records request. “10,830 square ft. on the main floor and 3,220 square ft. in the basement.”
Satisfied with that square footage, Todd and Katy Burnham agreed to pay $1.95 million for the building, first in a letter of intent and then in a purchase agreement. Copies of those documents show that neither one lists the square footage of the building at 12737 E. Euclid Drive.
As required by the purchase agreement, Gamma Phi Beta turned over a box of due diligence documents to the Burnhams’ lawyer, Tara Rismani at the Contiguglia Law Firm in Denver, in October 2022, months before the sale was to close, according to the Burnhams.
In December, after a due diligence period ended, a consultant for the Burnhams emailed to say that he had checked Arapahoe County’s website and noticed something unusual.
“The main floor (square footage) is 8,031 and the basement SF is 3,331,” he emailed them.
“This is a problem if that doesn’t actually total 14k SF,” Todd Burnham emailed back Dec. 8.
The next day, an assessment of the property determined it is 11,356 square feet. That is when the Burnhams began texting with Rismani, their attorney, to learn what had happened.
Rismani wrote that she had spoken with the sorority’s real estate broker, who was declining to lower the sale price and who reminded her “that a box of documents was provided.” Rismani told her clients that she and the Contiguglia Law Firm would search those documents.
“What is the box of documents and why is it relevant?” Katy Burnham texted back, according to a copy of their exchange. She later asked, “Has the box just been sitting there?”
After offers and counteroffers, the sorority dropped the price by just $10,000. The sale closed in January 2023, as required by contract. The Burnhams were stuck with the building.
So, on Oct. 8, the couple sued Rismani, the Contiguglia Law Firm, and its owner Andrew Contiguglia for malpractice and breach of contract. They say that Rismani’s texts about the box prove that she and her firm failed to perform even basic due diligence on the property.
“Plaintiffs have not been able to lease a portion of this property to tenants as they originally planned due to the smaller-than-expected square footage,” their lawsuit states.
Through its attorney, John Palmeri, the Contiguglia Law Firm denies doing anything wrong.
“The law firm and its attorneys strongly deny the allegations against them,” it said in a statement. “The matter involved a transaction with multiple parties. The law firm and its attorneys stand by the professionalism and care with which they handled their role.
“The matter is now in the legal system and they will address it through the proper legal channels. They remain confident the facts and the law support their position. Their focus continues to be on providing the highest level of service to their clients, as they always have.”
The Burnhams are represented by the attorneys Nick de Castro and Brian Bagley with the Bagley Law Firm in Lakewood, who declined to comment on the Burnham case.
The former Gamma Phi Beta headquarters at 12737 E. Euclid Drive in Centennial. (Facebook)
It was Dec. 21, 2022, and Todd Burnham was worried he was stuck with a $2 million property.
“Katy’s call,” he texted a fellow attorney, deferring the next move to his wife. “I’m just pissed.”
Months before, Burnham had gone in search of fresh office space for his Boulder-based litigation firm, which has 30 lawyers and a half-dozen locations. One promising possibility was in Centennial, at 12737 E. Euclid Drive., and the Gamma Phi Beta sorority owned it.
“The total square footage is 14,050,” Megan Smiley Wick, the sorority’s executive director, wrote in an email forwarded to Burnham in August 2022 and acquired by BusinessDen in a records request. “10,830 square ft. on the main floor and 3,220 square ft. in the basement.”
Satisfied with that square footage, Todd and Katy Burnham agreed to pay $1.95 million for the building, first in a letter of intent and then in a purchase agreement. Copies of those documents show that neither one lists the square footage of the building at 12737 E. Euclid Drive.
As required by the purchase agreement, Gamma Phi Beta turned over a box of due diligence documents to the Burnhams’ lawyer, Tara Rismani at the Contiguglia Law Firm in Denver, in October 2022, months before the sale was to close, according to the Burnhams.
In December, after a due diligence period ended, a consultant for the Burnhams emailed to say that he had checked Arapahoe County’s website and noticed something unusual.
“The main floor (square footage) is 8,031 and the basement SF is 3,331,” he emailed them.
“This is a problem if that doesn’t actually total 14k SF,” Todd Burnham emailed back Dec. 8.
The next day, an assessment of the property determined it is 11,356 square feet. That is when the Burnhams began texting with Rismani, their attorney, to learn what had happened.
Rismani wrote that she had spoken with the sorority’s real estate broker, who was declining to lower the sale price and who reminded her “that a box of documents was provided.” Rismani told her clients that she and the Contiguglia Law Firm would search those documents.
“What is the box of documents and why is it relevant?” Katy Burnham texted back, according to a copy of their exchange. She later asked, “Has the box just been sitting there?”
After offers and counteroffers, the sorority dropped the price by just $10,000. The sale closed in January 2023, as required by contract. The Burnhams were stuck with the building.
So, on Oct. 8, the couple sued Rismani, the Contiguglia Law Firm, and its owner Andrew Contiguglia for malpractice and breach of contract. They say that Rismani’s texts about the box prove that she and her firm failed to perform even basic due diligence on the property.
“Plaintiffs have not been able to lease a portion of this property to tenants as they originally planned due to the smaller-than-expected square footage,” their lawsuit states.
Through its attorney, John Palmeri, the Contiguglia Law Firm denies doing anything wrong.
“The law firm and its attorneys strongly deny the allegations against them,” it said in a statement. “The matter involved a transaction with multiple parties. The law firm and its attorneys stand by the professionalism and care with which they handled their role.
“The matter is now in the legal system and they will address it through the proper legal channels. They remain confident the facts and the law support their position. Their focus continues to be on providing the highest level of service to their clients, as they always have.”
The Burnhams are represented by the attorneys Nick de Castro and Brian Bagley with the Bagley Law Firm in Lakewood, who declined to comment on the Burnham case.
