Todd Lantz

Todd Lantz’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, including construction disputes (defective workmanship, defective design, delay, non-payment), business management disputes, business ownership disputes, real estate disputes, agricultural disputes, and employment disputes, to name a few. He has successfully argued motions and tried cases in state and federal court on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants.

Representative Experience

Todd has represented property owners, general contractors (residential and commercial), subcontractors, and design professionals in a wide variety of disputes arising from construction projects.

Todd has been on the winning side of two eight-figure jury verdicts arising from Iowa construction projects. The first arose from a 300-unit apartment complex that suffered from widespread construction defects and severe water intrusion problems. Todd first helped the owners fight a complicated lawsuit against the builder/developer and over a dozen subcontractors. After most of the parties settled, Todd pursued claims against a masonry subcontractor, obtaining a significant judgment following a bench trial, and then Todd served as lead trial counsel for the owner’s claim against the builder’s excess insurer. In 2014, after a three-week trial, a jury returned a verdict awarding over $12.4 million to Todd’s client. Todd then successfully defended the judgment in the Iowa Court of Appeals and the Iowa Supreme Court.

In 2018, Todd served as the second-chair on a trial team that obtained a $62.4 million jury verdict in favor of a Louisiana-based mechanical piping subcontractor against a large Egyptian contractor. The dispute occurred on a $3 billion fertilizer plant, which was the largest construction project in Iowa history. On only four months’ notice, Todd and other lawyers at The Weinhardt Law Firm were hired to try the case to an Iowa jury. After a three-week trial, the jury returned a verdict awarding the full amount that the Firm’s client was not paid plus additional damages for the value of stolen tools and loss in business value. The verdict was total vindication for the work performed by the Firm’s client on a very high-profile project.

From 2019 through 2023, Todd served as lead counsel for a group of investors and their LLC in a hotly contested dispute over the management of a real estate development project in a suburb of Des Moines. Todd defended his clients against contract and interference claims but also pursued counterclaims against the original manager and developer of the project. After a seven-day trial, a Polk County jury awarded every dollar of damages that Todd requested on the counterclaims for ongoing criminal conduct, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. The jury also found that Todd’s clients owed no liability on the original developer. The total judgment, including statutory treble damages, pre-judgment interest, and attorney fees, exceeded $800,000.