Commercial

The Firm has significant experience and expertise representing business entities across a wide range of industries, particularly financial services, banking, and insurance, in complex business disputes. Our lawyers have represented clients in commercial litigations brought in state and federal courts, before arbitration panels (including before FINRA, JAMS, AAA, ICDR and ICC), and at mediation, involving a wide-range of contract, warranty, business tort, banking, and securities fraud claims and issues. While our clients’ commercial litigation matters have most often arisen from disputes with “related” entities, including partners and other parties with which they are in privity, and their competitors, the Firm also has substantial experience and expertise defending clients against large groups of plaintiffs and purported classes advancing consumer claims, including claims alleging unfair and deceptive trade practices. Consistent with our focus on risk management, our lawyers also regularly counsel clients on the avoidance of claims before they mature and with respect to the resolution of mature claims that have not yet been made the subject of an action.

Recent Successes

Representation of a national life insurance company in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in a putative nationwide class action brought on behalf of universal life policyholders who allege that they received inaccurate illustrations and annual reports that caused their policies to run afoul of premium limitations set forth in the Internal Revenue Code;
Representation of a global money transfer provider in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in a putative nationwide class action brought against it and several other defendants, including the Government of Haiti, Haiti’s president, and two of Haiti’s former presidents, where plaintiffs allege they and the putative class paid certain fees on money transfers into Haiti allegedly based on false representations that the fees would fund free education in Haiti;
Successfully prosecuting claims in favor of the Firm’s client, an international broker of military equipment, for commissions owed over the sale of $75M of sonar and radar equipment to the Brazilian government;
Obtaining a directed verdict in a bench trial in Superior Court of New Jersey (Hudson County) in favor of the Firm’s client, an international chemical distributor, in a dispute concerning the shipment and storage of chemical products;

Defeating a temporary restraining order that had been entered ex parte by the Superior Court of New Jersey (Passaic County) against the Firm’s client, a manufacturer of specialty building coatings, and in favor of its former distributor, concerning the client’s establishment of alternate channels of distribution for its products;
Defeating a temporary restraining order that had been entered ex parte by the Supreme Court of New York (New York County, Comm. Div.) against the Firm’s client, a real estate developer, and in favor of its co-managing member of the parties’ limited liability company, in a matter involving claims of corporate waste, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty;
Prevailing in the Supreme Court of New York (New York County) on a motion to dismiss claims brought against the Firm’s client, a national life insurance company, involving the alleged improper termination of a life insurance policy;
Obtaining a directed verdict at trial in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in favor of the Firm’s client, a direct marketer of insurance products, against claims that the client violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA);
Prevailing in the Supreme Court of New York (New York County, Comm. Div.) on a motion to dismiss a derivative action and multiple individual claims asserted against the Firm’s clients, an international telecommunications company and its members, brought by one of the company’s former members;
Prevailing before The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, which entered a Final Award in the principal sum of $6.5M plus more than $350k in costs in favor of the Firm’s client, an international money transfer service provider, against its former money transfer agent in Pakistan;
Defeating a motion to refer to the bankruptcy court an action brought against one of the Firm’s banking clients in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and convincing the Eastern District to abstain and remand the action to the Supreme Court of the State of New York (Kings County, Comm. Div.), where the Firm immediately prevailed on a motion for summary judgment;
Prevailing in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on a motion to dismiss an action brought against the Firm’s client, an international money transfer business and two of its former employees, pursuant to the doctrine of forum non conveniens;
Securing a $2.4M judgment in favor of the Firm’s client, the largest owner and operator of wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure in the world, in a breach of contract action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Eastern Division;
Prevailing in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Monmouth County) on a motion to dismiss filed on behalf of pro bono clients The American Legion, The American Legion Department of New Jersey, and The American Legion Matawan Post 176, dismissing a lawsuit brought by the American Humanist Association challenging the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance under the equal protection clause of the New Jersey Constitution;
Obtaining a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in the Supreme Court of New York (New York County, Comm. Div.), on behalf of the Firm’s client, an international manufacturer of industrial machinery, prohibiting the client’s former Chief Operating Officer from, among other things, transferring a luxury New York City condominium purchased with funds embezzled from the client;
Recovering damages in a breach of contract action in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on behalf of the Firm’s client, a Canadian sealant manufacturer, against a supplier of defective manufacturing equipment;
Successfully resolving breach of contract and securities fraud claims brought against our client, a financial services company, in the Supreme Court of New York (Rensselaer County);
Recovering damages on behalf of the Firm’s broker-dealer client in an action brought in the Supreme Court of New York (New York County) in connection with a failed joint venture;
Prevailing on a motion in the Supreme Court of New York (Bronx County), dismissing plaintiff’s complaint alleging that the Firm’s client, an international banking institution, was negligent and breached various provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code;
Prevailing in the Supreme Court of New York (Kings County) on a motion to dismiss claims alleging that the Firm’s banking client engaged in a racketeering conspiracy in connection with its financing of a failed $20M real estate project in Brooklyn, New York;
Prevailing on an order to show cause in the Supreme Court of New York (Rockland County), seeking, among other things, the appointment of a temporary receiver, an order of attachment, and sanctions, arising from the break-up of a global e-commerce business, leading to a favorable resolution of the matter on behalf of the Firm’s client;
Prevailing before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on a motion to dismiss claims alleging that the Firm’s clients, an international financier and its principal, had engaged in fraud and civil conspiracy, and breached fiduciary duties, in connection with a series of loan transactions they entered into with a publicly traded oilfield service operator, where more than $25M in damages were claimed;
Prevailing before the Supreme Court of New York (Rockland County) on a motion to dismiss fraudulent inducement claims brought against the Firm’s client, arising from a buy-out agreement entered in connection with a partnership dissolution;
Prevailing before FINRA on numerous securities and employment claims against broker/dealer clients;
Prevailing before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on a motion to dismiss a Trust’s action against the Firm’s insurer client seeking judgment declaring its rights under a certain stranger owned life insurance (STOLI) policy;
Prevailing in the Supreme Court of New York (New York County) on a motion to dismiss claims alleging wrongful termination of the Firm’s client’s agency contract with its former servicing agent in Latin America;
Successfully resolving breach of contract claims brought against the Firm’s client, a specialized commercial finance company, in the District Court of Collin County (Texas), by a national chain of rent-to-own stores;
Successfully resolving, pre-suit, claims for damages sustained by our client, a publicly traded global supplier of specialty chemicals and performance enhancing products, against one of its German suppliers, arising from an explosion of a container of drums of calcium carbide in transit in Kent, Texas;
Prevailing in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on a motion to dismiss a $20M patent infringement action against our client, an international online gaming company;
Successfully defending directors and officers of a public company in securities fraud derivative actions in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and the Delaware Chancery Court;
Successfully defending a publicly traded global money transfer provider against claims brought before the ICDR by one of its foreign agents relating to exclusivity provisions in an international money transfer agreement;
Successfully resolving claims brought before the AAA by a major international financial institution against the Firm’s investment banking client arising from the parties’ participation in an LLP;
Favorably resolving claims brought in the Superior Court of Massachusetts (Worcester County) alleging that the Firm’s client breached an exclusive distributorship agreement;
Favorably resolving at mediation our client’s claims that its supplier breached an agreement to supply water treatment polymers;
Counseling clients on litigation risks presented under business formation documents;
Favorably resolving RICO and unfair trade practices claims brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by more than 200 plaintiffs relating to their alleged lease of e-commerce services and products; and
Counseling client on the successful resolution of claims arising from an adversary party’s breach of licensing agreements.