Ronald Z. Ahrens, Counsel with the Firm’s Commercial Litigation Group, protects his clients’ interests and furthers their business objectives in a wide variety of complex litigation matters, with a particular emphasis on real estate, construction, title insurance, lending and other contract disputes.
Ron has a proven track record for clients ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to closely-held businesses in state and federal trial and appellate courts, as well as in various arbitration forums. His vigorous advocacy, pragmatic approach, attention to detail and focus on his clients’ needs often lead to early, cost-effective dispute resolution. As a fully-engaged partner in addressing his clients’ business goals, he also regularly advises clients outside the litigation context on contract, regulatory, compliance and other issues.
Ron has extensive experience representing both private and public owners and contractors in all different types of complicated construction-related disputes. He regularly prosecutes and defends against construction defect and design defect claims on behalf of owners and contractors. He also frequently litigates construction delay claims in connection with large public and commercial projects. In addition, he assists clients in favorably resolving complicated lien claim matters and contentious public bidding disputes.
Ron also regularly represents clients in real estate litigation matters. Among other things, he has achieved favorable results in disputes involving real estate contracts, deeds, easements, boundary line disputes, quiet title and ejection claims, negligent appraisals, real estate fraud and land use. He frequently represents banks in a variety of lending disputes, including those involving mortgage fraud and mortgage priority. In addition, Ron represents commercial landlords in tenant disputes and eviction matters.
Ron’s deep expertise in title insurance matters has led to his representation of most of the major title insurance companies, particularly in defense against complex coverage and bad faith claims. To this end, he regularly litigates matters involving the standard title policy exclusions, including the insured’s knowledge of and/or creation of defects, and the lack of loss under the policy, and recission. He has successfully prosecuted recoupment actions against title agents, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, appraisers and others. He also regularly conducts comprehensive coverage investigations and analyses on behalf of title insurers.
Ron’s appellate work has led to several notable decisions, including in:
- The Bank of New York Mellon v. Marianne Corradetti, 245 J. 136 (2021), where the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division’s affirmance of the trial court’s factual findings and ordered a new trial, something that the Court has rarely done over the last 60 years due to the extreme deference given to a trial court’s factual finding;
- Lehman v. Ellis, 978 A.2d 281, in which the N.J. Appellate Division held for the first time that defendants who received money obtained as part of a fraudulent loan scheme had to repay the title insurer even though they had no knowledge of the fraud;
- French v. Hernandez, 875 A.2d 943, in which the N.J. Supreme Court reversed the lower courts; and
- Banco Popular v. Gandhi, 876 A.2d 253, in which the N.J. Supreme Court reversed the lower courts.
In addition to his legal practice, Ron is active within Riker Danzig, serving on the Firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and is also active within the community. Ron is a board member and the chair elect of the local chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, and serves on its international religious freedom committee. Additionally, Ron serves on the board of the New York Latter-day Saints Professional Association (affiliated with the Marriott Management Society), in which capacity he has for many years spearheaded its annual banquet to raise funds for needs-based college scholarships for youth throughout the region.
For many years, Ron has served as a lay leader in his church congregation. He has supported local youth athletic programs by coaching recreational soccer. In one recent charitable initiative, Ron led a team during the 2024 holiday season to coordinate and provide funding to a coalition of over 60 non-profit organizations in the New York / New Jersey metro area so that they could provide holiday meals, toys, clothing and other services to over 55,000 children. Previously, Ron led an initiative to provide truckloads of food to over 200 food pantries in the region during the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Ron has drawn on his legal experience to author several articles and give presentations on numerous topics related to his practice
Prior to joining the firm, Ron served as a Law Clerk to Chief Justice Richard C. Howe of the Utah Supreme Court. While pursuing his law degree, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the BYU Education and Law Journal, and was the recipient of the BYU Faculty of Law Award for Meritorious Achievements and Distinguished Service and the BYU Law School Scholarly Writing Award.
