John has tried jury and non-jury cases, representing plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts in New York and other jurisdictions. He has appeared before various arbitral forums such as the AAA, JAMS, FINRA and CPR. John has argued many cases in state and federal appellate courts and has appeared regularly before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department. John has also argued before the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. He has experience in securities, antitrust, products liability, class actions, fraud and theft of corporate assets, misappropriation of trade secrets, bankruptcy and fraudulent conveyances, breach of fiduciary duty, professional liability and malpractice, insurance coverage, corporate/business transaction disputes, and employment and restrictive covenants. He regularly represents clients in a broad array of business and industry segments. For the past six years, John has regularly been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and New York Super Lawyers in the field of commercial litigation.
- Represented families/survivors of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks in challenging the Department of Justice regulations and procedures regarding calculations of compensation awards from the federally mandated September 11 Victims' Compensation Fund. The Courts did not invalidate the regulations, but the challenge and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision led to markedly improved compensation awards to certain survivors and their families. In compensation proceedings before Special Master Kenneth Feinberg, one of our clients received the single highest death compensation award (USDC, SDNY; Second Circuit Court of Appeals, 2002).
- Represented a syndicated lender in an action brought by a bankruptcy liquidation trustee seeking to hold syndicated lenders liable on a $200 million claim by bondholders alleging that the lenders had breached the indenture trust. After trial, the Court ruled that the liquidation trustee's claim was invalid and it was dismissed in all respects (USDC, D. Del., 2002-2003).
- Represented a publicly traded international consulting firm and a senior professional in an action brought by a competing firm relating to the hiring of a significant number of professionals in the United States and Europe. After extensive discovery, the plaintiff's claim was dismissed on summary judgment with the exception of a single contractual claim, which was thereafter settled on a favorable basis (Suffolk County (MA) Superior Court, 2004-2007).
- Represented a publicly traded defense contractor in litigation commenced by junior equity owners involving a disputed joint venture transaction in which the joint venture partners contended they were being illegally diluted. The plaintiff's application for an injunction pending arbitration was largely denied. As the arbitration proceeded, the plaintiffs acceded to the challenged transaction and the case was subsequently settled for a fraction of what the joint venture partners claimed their equity interest was worth (Delaware Court of Chancery; American Arbitration Association, 2005).
- Represented an international life insurance, broker/dealer and financial advisory firm in the defense of a class action relating to alleged deceptive trade practices under the state consumer protection statute. The case was dismissed at the federal trial level but reinstated by the Second Circuit and remanded to state court. Thereafter, following the successful defense of efforts by the plaintiff to obtain discovery to certify a nationwide class, the case was withdrawn (USDC, SDNY; Second Circuit Court of Appeals; New York Supreme Court, New York County, 2004-2010).
- Represented a publicly traded REIT in a suit challenging a merger transaction which eliminated the interests of limited partners in multimillion-dollar residential real estate. After an unsuccessful trial court level motion to dismiss, the appellate court agreed with our position and dismissed the action based on exclusive appraisal rights under the New York Limited Partnership Act. An appeal was accepted by the Court of Appeals, and our client's position on an issue of first impression under the statute was sustained (New York Supreme Court, New York County; Appellate Division, First Dept.; New York State Court of Appeals, 2006-2008).
- Represented and international investor and affiliated entities in wide-ranging litigations designed to recover assets stolen or diverted from a mortgage portfolio company, which had been defrauded by a group of insiders and minority owners who managed the business. After a series of restraining orders and injunctions, we succeeded in gaining control of the business and its premises for our clients, several evidentiary hearings resulted in contempt citations against various defendants. Our clients were awarded summary judgment against the principal defendants who thereafter filed for bankruptcy (New York Supreme Court, New York County; Appellate Division, First Dept.; USDC Bankruptcy Court, EDNY, 2007-2011).
- Represented a publicly traded asset management/investment advisory company in litigation filed against an international bank which had, together with certain disloyal senior executives, conspired to take over the client's institutional fixed income business. A temporary restraining order and two preliminary injunctions were obtained against various defendant groups, and subsequently, after a six-day trial, a sweeping preliminary injunction was granted requiring the defendants to decommission software tools and systems that had been developed based on our client's proprietary system (USDC, WDKy.; New York Supreme Court, New York County; Appellate Division, First Dept., 2007-2011).
- Represented a group of institutional lenders in an inter-creditor dispute against an agent bank and others involving claims that the defendants had improperly deprived our clients of their rightful pro-rata interests in collateral acquired from a bankrupt borrower. After the collateral was sold, we obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction insuring that the proceeds would be escrowed (New York Supreme Court, New York County, 2009-2011).
- Represented a privately owned Virginia technology company in litigation and arbitration initiated by an international pharmaceutical and medical diagnostics company involving a disputed claim of an exercise of a contractual right of first refusal provision. The adverse party attempted to enjoin the acquisition of our client by another company, but a two-day injunction trial resulted in our defeating that effort. Subsequently, emergency proceedings and an appeal occurred in the Seventh Circuit. Following a six-day arbitration trial in Indianapolis, the arbitrator issued a final award vindicating our client's position in all respects and permitting our client's acquisition by the other company to proceed (USDC, SDInd.; Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; CPR Arbitration, 2010-2011).
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September 12, 2011
In The Press
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August 30, 2010
In The Press
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January 21, 2009
In The Press
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23 September 2007
In The Press
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17 September 2007
In The Press
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19 July 2006
In The Press
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“Opposing Client’s Subsidiary: Is It a Conflict of Interest?” New York Law Journal, December 9, 2010.
December 9, 2010
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"'In Re Parmalat' Holdings: Global Exposure for Accounting Firms?" New York Law Journal, July 14, 2009.
July 14, 2009
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"Limited Partnership Mergers: Appraisal Rights Exclusivity," New York Law Journal, June 9, 2008.
June 9, 2008
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"Arbitration v. Litigation: Nonsignatories, Parallel Proceedings," New York Law Journal, April 24, 2006.
April 24, 2006
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Fall 2004