Ravi D. SahaeSenior Trial Counsel
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Ravi David Sahae, Senior Trial Counsel, specializes in business, real estate, and construction disputes. Although Ravi (pronounced like “Chevy”) has consistent success at all stages of litigation through trial, appeal, and enforcing the judgment, his #1 goal is to resolve disputes efficiently and find cost-effective solutions to his clients’ problems. He strongly believes in the value of negotiating amicable settlements, following the words of Abraham Lincoln: “Discourage litigation. . . . There will still be business enough.” But when negotiation isn’t an option, he tactically deploys all tools of litigation, discovery and motion practice, to win cases without trial. And when trial is necessary, that’s when Ravi is truly in his element.
Ravi’s clients include commercial landlords and tenants, property owners and managers, developers, contractors and subcontractors, brokers, homeowners, lenders and borrowers. Ravi also represents businesses, investors, and professionals in a wide range of fields, including the food service, tech, finance, cannabis, health, and retail industries. And Ravi routinely handles litigation matters for other departments of the firm, including lawsuits involving wills, trusts, and family disputes. Recently, Ravi was appointed as a State Bar Fee Arbitrator by the State Bar of California; he also frequently volunteers as judge for local mock trial and moot court competitions at the collegiate and law school levels.
Ravi earned his J.D. from UC Hastings (now UC College of the Law SF), where he graduated in the top 4% of the class, was an editor for the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal (now the UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice), and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Ravi was a music major at UCLA, where he studied trombone and marched in the UCLA Marching Band. Outside of work, he plays as the principal trombone in the Symphony Parnassus (aka the “Doctor’s Orchestra,” a San Francisco institution), and in the Tribal Blues and Funk Band (a ten-piece power funk band a la Tower of Power). He is also part-time conductor for the Daly City All-Stars Band, a concert band located in Daly City’s Westlake neighborhood, which has played continuously since 1910. When he’s not making waves (legal or sound), Ravi enjoys playing video games with his wife, roughhousing with their two sons, and dutifully backscratching their very round, well-fed cat.
Notable Results:
- Successfully defended lender at trial on $5 million+ claims for wrongful foreclosure; Obtained order deeming borrower plaintiff a vexatious litigant and successfully defended order on appeal.
- Obtained summary adjudication as plaintiff on $200,000+ construction dispute.
- Obtained summary adjudication as plaintiff on $250,000+ broker commission dispute. Successfully defended judgment on appeal.
- Obtained summary judgment as defendant on $4 million+ fraudulent transfer, economic interference, and RICO claims.
- Obtained injunction after trial to remove tree on neighbor’s property.
- Obtained specific performance after trial for purchase of $17 million apartment building.
- Obtained $600,000+ damages after trial for fraud in sale of apartment building.
- Obtained $500,000+ damages in arbitration on loan to cannabis investment fund.
- Obtained declaratory relief, injunction after trial to establish easement and enjoin interference.
- Successfully defended lender at trial in action for fraud and to cancel $600,000+ deed of trust. Successfully defended judgment on appeal.
- Successfully defended business owners at trial for $1 million+ breach of fiduciary duty claims in ownership dispute, prevailed on cross-complaint to dissociate adverse owner.
Practice Areas
Bar Admissions
California, 2011
Admitted to Practice in the United States District Court, Northern District of California.
Admitted to Practice in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California.
Education
J.D. University of California, Hastings College of the Law, 2010, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
B.A., University of California, Los Angeles, 2007