Mark E. Merlanti
email: mmerlanti@fwf-law.com
Mark Merlanti is an attorney with over 30 years of experience. Mark concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate transactions.
These areas include drafting/reviewing purchase agreements, land contracts, title reports, addendums and closing documents, real estate disputes (including matters involving disputed boundaries, easements, title issues, water access and docking rights, mortgage foreclosures and land contract forfeitures), business transactions (including drafting/reviewing vendor contracts and employment agreements), business disputes (including breach of contract, shareholder disputes and accounts receivable management/collection), construction law, landlord-tenant matters (including drafting leases, security deposit compliance/enforcement, preparing eviction notices, filing eviction suits and post-occupancy suits for monetary damages) and employee restrictive covenant matters.
Mark has conducted many trials, arbitrations and mediations. He has also drafted appeal briefs and argued before the Court of Appeals (in matters where he was not trial counsel). Mark has also been selected to serve as a Mediator in Circuit Court matters.
Mark is a member of the Construction Lien Committee of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of Michigan and is a regular speaker at the Construction Association of Michigan. He authored Stokes v Millen Roofing Co.: The Michigan Supreme Court Puts Teeth Back Into The Residential Builders Act’s Prohibition Against Suits for Compensation by Unlicensed Residential Contractors, Michigan Real Property Review, Spring, 2003. He has been admitted to practice before the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan as well as all State Courts in Michigan.
Mark received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, with honors, from Michigan State University, and his Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University.
Mark is active in community organizations and has served on the Boards of Festival of Trees, a 501(c)(3) charity that benefits Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Pathway Family Center, a 501(c)(3) charity that assists youth with substance abuse and behavioral issues, and the Novi Parks Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that provides financial support for the programs of Novi’s Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department.