Douglas G. Zimmerman

Practice Areas

• Arbitration/Mediation
• Civil Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Condemnation/Eminent Domain/Real Property Valuation

Education

• University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson, AZ (J.D., 1967)
• Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (B.S., Business Management, with Distinction, 1964)

Court Admissions

• State of Arizona
• State of Hawaii
• U.S. District Court, District of Arizona
• U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit

Professional Memberships & Activities
Arizona State University

• Member, President’s Emeritus Counsel (present)
• President, Veterans’ Alumni Chapter (June 2011-June 2012)
• Past President, Alumni Association (1986-1987)

State Bar of Arizona

• Member, Real Estate Section
• Member, Animal Law Section

Institute for Conflict Management and Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative
on Mediation

• International Right of Way Association Member

Military Service

• Captain, U.S. Army, Armor
• Vietnam Service – three Bronze Stars, Purple Heart, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (with Silver Star)

Professional Experience
Mr. Zimmerman is a litigator and transactional attorney whose practice focuses in the areas of eminent domain, real estate, commercial litigation and general business matters. He is a certified mediator by The Institute for Conflict Management, LLC and completed the Advanced Negotiation Skills Program at the Harvard Law School Negotiation Insight Initiative.

Mr. Zimmerman has extensive trial experience in representing property owners and condemning agencies in direct and inverse condemnation litigation involving acquisitions of property for major governmental facilities, rights-of-way and urban redevelopment projects. His real estate practice focuses on complex real estate sales, dispositions and financing transactions, as well as litigation relating to those transactions.

Publications & Presentations

• Quoted in County Judge Reverses Tempe Condemnation, Arizona Republic September 14, 2005
• Eminent Domain: Pro/Con, Arizona Attorney Magazine, November 2006
• Proposition 207 What Are Its Ramifications? CLE International, Denver, CO
• De Facto Takings in Urban Renewal Projects CLE International, Denver, CO
• Proposition 207 Where Do We Go From Here? Kachina Chapter, Intl. Right of Way Association

Honors & Awards

• Institute for Conflict Management, LLC Mediation Certification Course (2007)
• Advanced Negotiation Skills Program (2007)
• Listed, The Best Lawyers in America® (2008-2012)
• Top Lawyers in Arizona, Arizona Business Magazine (2010)

Trials & Representations

• Represented over 5000 Arizona veterans in class action suit seeking to restrain the Department of Veterans Affairs from collecting deficiencies arising from foreclosure of VA guaranteed loans contrary to the protection provided home purchasers by Arizona law
• Represented client in action to rescind purchase of $2.85 million of municipal bonds when loss occurred as a result of misrepresentation and failure to disclose material facts
• Represented clients in rescission of real estate purchase contracts for homes with structural failures due to inadequate engineering to compensate for expansive or collapsible soils
• Represented borrower in securing $10 million acquisition and development loan for construction of hotel reservation center
• Represented borrower in $25 million refinancing of 440-unit apartment complex
• Represented parties to complex commercial purchase and sale transactions involving a broad range of property types and uses
• Represented school districts in acquisitions of school property by the Arizona Department of Transportation
• Formerly represented major international organization of hotels as outside general counsel
• Represented numerous property owners in condemnation actions by local, state and federal entities
• Represented a major municipality as Special Assistant City Attorney in the acquisition of eight parcels for the Gateway Square Project at Central and McDowell in Phoenix. These actions involved numerous defendants with varying ownership, leasehold and other interests
• Represented a large school district in the acquisition of a parcel of land within a plotted subdivision from a major homebuilder, and of a potential site owned by the State of Arizona needed for an elementary school
• Represented a local city in the acquisition of parcels required for five separate improvement districts. This matter required handling 240 condemnation files involving several hundred separate defendants
• Represented an Arizona city in acquisition of approximately 19 properties from 16 landowners within a four-block area necessary for the construction of their municipal facilities complex
• Is currently representing a major utility in the acquisition of property for substation sites and transmission line rights-of-way