Litigation

One of the region’s largest, most experienced groups of commercial trial lawyers, our Litigation Department has achieved success in hundreds of trials in state and federal courts.  Throughout New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Texas and Florida we are recognized as a “bet the company” litigation team.  We frequently arbitrate and mediate as alternatives to litigation.  We also counsel our clients on how to avoid litigation.  First and foremost, our clients see us as problem solvers.

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• Successfully obtained a reversal in the Appellate Division and then decision from the New Jersey Supreme Court, in favor our client in an eminent domain matter where our clients’ property was taken from them, as the Court determined, without constitutional just compensation, based on the valuation date used by the trial court and advocated by the municipality taking the property.

• Recovered a substantial judgment on behalf of a surety client against the State of New Jersey after a 10-day bench trial and a 175-page written decision.  The Court found that the State had improperly terminated our client from the renovation of a state building after our client had funded substantial work, refusing to pay our client for such work, and rejecting the State’s counterclaims based on the work performed by the State’s substitute completion contractor.

• Represented a national retailer of fine jewelry, in a breach of contract action relating to the production of a line of jewelry allegedly licensed by a celebrity.  We defeated a motion by the manufacturer seeking to prevent our client from selling that jewelry, and the matter settled shortly thereafter favorably to our client.

• Obtained a judgment for a client declaring the non-infringement and invalidity of a real estate tax patent owned by another company, which determination we were able to successfully defend on appeal before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Represented a New Jersey state authority against a multi-million dollar claim that it had negligently failed to require that a payment bond be posted under the New Jersey Bond Act for a particular major development project.  We obtained dismissal of the claim by written decision based on numerous grounds, including a lack of jurisdiction by the trial court, the inapplicability of the Bond Act and immunity under the Tort Claims Act.

• On behalf of an employer client, we obtained a temporary restraining order preventing its former employee from (1) violating his non-compete agreement by working for one of the client’s competitors; (2) disclosing any of our client’s confidential and proprietary information to any other person or entity; (3) soliciting or communicating with any of our client’s competitor’s clients; and (4) ordering that the former employee immediately return all confidential and proprietary information to our client.  This decision led to the negotiation of a settlement on very favorable terms.

• Successfully represented an individual removed as a Director of a non-profit corporation for alleged misconduct.  Following an eight-day bench trial, our client prevailed and obtained all of the relief requested in the Complaint, which led to our client’s reinstatement as a member of the Board of Directors and as a Trustee, and the by-laws and member list advanced by our client were declared to govern.

• Concluding nine years of litigation, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the prior decisions we obtained in the Appellate Division, trial court and in arbitration in favor of our client, the majority owner of an automobile dealership chain, against the minority owner who was ousted.

• At trial, we succeeded in establishing equal ownership for our client in a group of large, closely held businesses and obtained a judgment directing the forced sale of the opposing shareholder's interests.  Then, on appeal, we obtained favorable valuation rulings, as the Appellate Division recognized a key man marketability discount in the first reported New Jersey case applying such a discount.

Cole Schotz represented The RJM Fund, as a principle interest holder, in connection with Morgan Properties’ portfolio acquisition of nearly 80 apartment communities encompassing approximately 15,000 units across eight states. This milestone transaction rose Morgan Properties into one of the top 5 owners of multifamily real estate in the nation. Our representation included advising our client on numerous legal issues involving corporate structure, tax, real estate and litigation. The deal team was led by members John S. Stewart and Joseph Barbiere and included member Alan Rubin and associate David B. Borsack.

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After nearly two years of litigation, and following several days of trial, Cole Schotz litigators Michael R. Yellin and Patricia C. Schiraldi secured the dismissal of all 12 counts asserted against USA Interiors LLC, a general contractor headquartered in Hackensack, New Jersey. The plaintiff, a former subcontractor, sued USA Interiors alleging, among other things, that the company violated billing agreements and otherwise engaged in fraudulent billing practices. The Court held that Cole Schotz established its client’s full compliance with the terms of the parties’ agreements and that the plaintiff was not entitled to any form of recovery—a complete victory.

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After over five years of hard-fought litigation and a twenty day arbitration evidentiary hearing, Cole Schotz obtained a $63 million arbitration award on behalf of its private investment fund client. Through the arbitration, our client sought enforcement of its security interests against a defaulted borrower, payment under an insurance policy designed to mitigate the loss resulting from such a default, as well as recoupment of its collateral misappropriated by the borrower’s attorneys.

By way of background, our investment fund client provided a $25 million loan to a borrower to support a patent infringement litigation program protected by comprehensive security interests in all of the borrower’s assets. An insurance policy covering the potential loss of the loan principal in the event the borrower defaulted further secured the loan. When the patent enforcement program failed to generate sufficient revenues to timely repay our client’s loan, the borrower defaulted. In addition, the law firm representing the borrower misappropriated the only recoveries obtained from the patent litigation program, paying those funds to itself for claimed outstanding legal fees, instead of surrendering those funds to our client pursuant to its security interests.

After three years of state court litigation in New York (Supreme and Appellate Division) followed by two additional years of arbitration proceedings, the Cole Schotz litigation team scored a sweeping victory on all of our client’s claims, securing an award for the full amount of the damages caused by the borrower, insurance company, and the law firm, totaling over $63 million. In addition, Cole Schotz further obtained reimbursement of our client’s arbitration expenses, as well as 65% of its attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in connection with the arbitration.

The team procuring the win for our client included Michael Sirota, Steven Klepper, Victoria Cioppettini, Lauren Manduke, Barry Schwartz, Neoma Ayala, Rachel Mongiello, and paralegals Kathleen Sermabekian and Karen Chiandusse. When the borrower filed for bankruptcy protection in Virginia in an attempt to evade the arbitration process, David Bass, G. David Dean, and paralegal Fran Pisano assisted the litigation team in procuring a full dismissal of that Chapter 11 proceeding.