They settled because they were going to lose, so why keep paying expensive legal fees?

Do not rely on it for legal advice.

More specifically, how many years of tax returns is needed to be shown to qualify for a cash-put refinance?

Legally you can't ask for proof of certification - When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed.

@Martin Bys pretty basic goals, you'll need more specifics to achieve them!

Attending local real estate meetups can be a great place to find other investors as well and get more market specific advice!

The only benefit in this instance, as an investment partner in a JV, or member in a multi-member LLC, is it's an act of "good faith" on my part in the agreement, being extremely transparent about the project's costs for the construction company, and the specific amount the partner/member invoices as profit or salary attributed to construction services on the specific project (I differentiate profit from salary, as it depends on the size of your construction company, a smaller company the profit may be the salary etc). 

Any property operating under current laws would be allowed to continue as a legal non-conforming use as long as owners continued to renew their license.

I have done things with attorneys, CPAs, stock brokers, insurance brokers and others successful in business.General business knowledge, understanding of financing requirements, knowing property valuations, maturity in personal financial matters to give general advice, understanding of the foreclosure process, legal aspects as to liability in leading someone into financial matters, fully understanding fraud issues and the differences in a general matter where fraud might be applied as generally thought of and what may constitute bank fraud causing or even attempting to cause a loss to an insured bank having different standards.

They can help guide you in specific local markets.