Notable Accomplishments

Pariser Industries v. T & T Laundry Corp., Civil Court of the City of New York, Richmond County.

We represented a manufacturer of industrial chemicals in an action to recover for goods sold and delivered. We sued several corporations which had been formed to operate a commercial laundry business. We took this case to trial and won a judgment on a “piercing the corporate veil claim” against a new corporation that had assumed operation of the business. Our victory was reported in the New York Law Journal. We recovered the entire debt owed to our client, with interest. Read more about it ...

Rochdale Holding Corp. v. Neuendorf, Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.

This case involved collecting a large debt owed by a figure in the international art world. The defendant stopped paying rent on the town house in which he and his family lived and moved to Germany without satisfying a large money judgment entered against him. The defendant was the Chief Executive Officer of a public company which, through a New York subsidiary, owned a website considered to be an authoritative reference source on art sales. He continued to work for the company from Germany and aggressively defended all actions to enforce the judgment against him. We prevailed in this litigation, including an appeal, and ultimately obtained a full recovery for our client. An important decision we won concerning the scope of wage garnishment proceedings against non-residents of New York was the subject of a New York Law Journal article. Read more about it ...

Colgate v. Broadwall Management Corp., Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.

We helped a tenant who had won a rent overcharge order against her landlord in proceedings to enforce the judgment and defeated repeated attempts to vacate the judgment. The plaintiff filed a rent overcharge complaint in 1981, prevailed in administrative proceedings that culminated in a rent overcharge award in 1989, and entered a judgment on the award when the landlord refused to pay the award. The judgment languished for years before the plaintiff retained our firm. We staved off the landlord’s attempts to vacate the judgment, including prevailing on an appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, First Department. We then prevailed in proceedings to recover our attorneys’ fees and ultimately recovered the full amount of the judgment, plus nearly 18 years’ interest and all fees and costs incurred. Read more about it ...

American Banknote Corp. v. Daniele, Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.

In this case we defended an Argentine husband and wife in a New York case filed by the husband’s former employer. The plaintiffs obtained an ex parte attachment of the couple’s U.S. bank accounts at the start of the case. We contested jurisdiction and the attachment and, after extensive litigation, including an appeal, and a full trial on the jurisdictional issues, won a dismissal of the case. Read more about the decision after the trial ... or the Appellate Division decision ...

JDF Realty Corp. v. 300 West 11th Street LLC, Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.

We are representing a New York real estate brokerage firm in an action to recover a broker’s fee earned on a commercial lease for a new restaurant in Greenwich Village. We won summary judgment against the owner of the premises and are now preparing the case for a trial on the issue of damages to be awarded to our client. Read more about it ...

Reinli v. Davy, Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.

We are representing an Australian citizen in a New York action to recover monies owed under a “Deed of Agreement,” a type of formal contract under Australian law. We have won a summary judgment for our client and now are preparing the case for a trial on issue of her damages and the amount of attorneys’ fees which the defendant will be required to pay. Read more about it ...

Pointer (U.S.A.), Inc. v. H & D Food Corporation, United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

We defended a U.S. corporation and its owner in a federal court action filed by a large Chinese seafood exporter, a subsidiary of SinoChem, an industrial conglomerate owned by The People’s Republic of China. The plaintiff sought $2.8 million in damages and sought to hold the company’s owner liable on a “piercing the corporate veil” claim. After completing discovery, we sought and obtained a complete dismissal of all claims filed against the company’s owner on a motion for summary judgment. Read more about it ...

Loza v. F & D Garet Motors, Inc., Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Queens.

We represented a lender in an action filed by a customer who purchaser a used car with a “salvage” title. We substantially prevailed at the trial of this case, winning dismissal of all claims made under federal law (The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq.) and New York statutory law (Uniform Commercial Code, General Business Law § 349, and Vehicle & Traffic Law § 417). Read more about it ...

United States v. Nolasco, litigation in various courts in New York and New Jersey.

We are representing third parties who had millions of dollars seized from their bank accounts by the federal government in connection with an arrest of a corrupt bank official. We have represented our clients in complex litigation in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, courts of the State of New York (including an appeal which went to New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals), and on appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second and Third Circuits. Read more about ...

We have successfully represented our clients in these matters, prevailing in forfeiture proceedings filed by both the federal government and New York County District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s office.

Miller v. United Welfare Fund, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York.

We represented the family of an elderly woman who survived dramatic surgery and then required private duty nursing care around the clock. Her family paid for the nursing care and sought reimbursement. We contested the denial of the claim in litigation that wound its way from a New York State court to a trial in federal court, at which we prevailed, followed by an appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Second Circuit rendered a decision (75 F.3d 1066 (1995)), which is now a leading precedent in ERISA law. We ultimately obtained a full recovery for our client, including attorneys’ fees. Read more about it ...

Icon Equipment Distributors, Inc. v. Gordon Environ. & Mech. Corp., Supreme Court of the State of New York, Richmond County.

In this action to recover monies owed on a construction equipment rental, we prevailed at a traverse hearing and won a ruling upholding proper service of process on the defendant. The decision was affirmed on an appeal to the Appellate Division, Second Department. Read more about it ...

Hearst Magazines v. BCLD Media Group LLC, Supreme Court New York County and the United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.

We represented the publisher of Town & Country magazine in a case against an advertising agency to recover charges for publishing a special insert. We also sued the principal of the company on a “piercing the corporate veil” claim. This case went to trial, where we prevailed and won a judgment against the company’s former owner personally. When the debtor filed a petition in Bankruptcy Court, we contested the dischargeability of the debt owed to our client and finally obtained a favorable settlement. Read more about it ...

Hearst Magazines v. Glaze, Inc., Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.

We represented Good Housekeeping magazine in this heavily litigated breach of contract case against a company that was supposed to design a line of house cleaning products and accessories. After completion of discovery, we moved for and won a summary judgment for the full amount claimed and dismissal of defendant’s counterclaims. Read more about it ...

BPD Bank v. New York Central Mutual Insurance Company, Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County.

We represented a bank in an action against an insurance company that had issued a comprehensive casualty policy on a motorcycle on which the bank had a lien. When the motorcycle was stolen, the bank filed an insurance claim as loss payee to recover the value of its collateral. The insurance carrier denied the claim. The carrier claimed the policy was unenforceable because its named insured, the bank’s customer’s father, did not have an insurable interest in the motorcycle his son purchased. We obtained summary judgment for the bank and obtained a full recovery. Our papers in this case have been published in a leading form book published by Mathew Bender & Company. Read more about it ...

Harris v. Dependable Credit Corp., United States District Court, Eastern District of New York.

In this action we represented a sales finance company that was sued by the purchaser of a used automobile. The plaintiff alleged that the odometer on the vehicle had been rolled back and that as a result, the car had numerous mechanical problems and required extensive repairs. The plaintiff asserted a myriad of claims, including claims under the Federal Odometer Act, New York's odometer tampering statute, New York's Deceptive Acts and Practices statute, and under the common law. Although the used car dealer who sold plaintiff the car was no longer in business and thus did not defend the case, we successfully defended the case for the finance company. We won summary judgment dismissing all the statutory odometer claims and a jury verdict on all remaining claims.