Category: News on the Homepage

On September 14, 2020,  HIA-LI Board Chairman Joe Campolo moderated a tradable sector panel of Long Island business leaders. Watch the replay to hear how tradable sectors provide a reliable and resilient path to long-term economic growth, bring new dollars into the region and help define Long Island’s competitive advantage.

“Ways to Boost Engagement for Businesses Transitioning to Virtual Events” by Jamie Herzlich, Newsday

Now that the pandemic has put live events and corporate gatherings on hold, businesses and local groups have transitioned to virtual presentations.

And that seems to be the norm that will continue for some time.

Even one of the region’s largest business events, the HIA-LI Annual Trade Show and Conference, for the first time will be held as a two-day virtual event Oct. 7 and 8.

The trade show pre-pandemic was normally held in May as a one-day event at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood and draws about 5,000 attendees and 375 exhibitors.

“We now have an opportunity to get people from all over the world,” says HIA-LI president and CEO Terri Alessi-Miceli. “We anticipate it being quite successful.”

With virtual events like these being the new norm, experts say it’s critical businesses and groups look for ways to boost engagement to make up for not being in-person.

If you have larger events, workshops or seminars, it pays to have a moderator to keep the event on course.

For Business Unusual, a weekly Zoom webinar hosted by Ronkonkoma-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP, there are two moderators, says managing partner Joe Campolo, who co-moderates with Melville-based financial adviser Peter Klein of Aline Wealth. They also have different speakers each week to discuss different aspects of navigating the pandemic, which helps with engagement.

“Each week builds upon the last,” says Campolo, noting the free webinars were started in May to fill a need for businesses coping with the pandemic.

He says virtual events will never replace the value and quality of live events (the firm had at least two live events monthly in its training room pre-pandemic), which makes presenters have to be “even more engaging and relevant.”

Read the full article on Newsday‘s website.

View all past “Business Unusual” episodes and sign up for upcoming webinars here.

By Nicholas Spangler, Newsday

Note: Over the past several years, CMM Managing Partner Joe Campolo has made the growth and rebranding of the former Hauppauge Industrial Park – now known as the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge – a priority, working with HIA-LI (as Board Chairman) and HIA-LI President & CEO Terri Alessi-Miceli on these efforts. This article in Newsday spotlights the zoning change that HIA-LI has long advocated.

Smithtown will permit apartments on some parcels in the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge in a zoning code change that will balloon the potential value of eligible properties, according to a memo by a town official.

The change, approved by a 5-0 town council vote on Aug. 11, permits developers to apply for a special exception for mixed-use buildings incorporating ground-floor retail or restaurants with apartments and offices above. Much of the park is now zoned for light industry. 

Only 13 parcels of seven acres or larger in certain parts of the Innovation Park, like the Motor Parkway corridor, are eligible for the special exception.

Some of the eligible parcels are owned by limited liability companies connected with developers including Tritec, Rechler Equity and others. At full build-out, the assessed value of those parcels could increase by as much as 40%, David Barnes, the town’s environmental protection director, wrote in an Aug. 6 memo to the council.

Town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said the town chose locations with existing buildings that are on major thoroughfares and distanced from single-family homes. Officials did not consider current ownership of the parcels, she said. 

Town Supervisor Edward Wehrheim has said the zoning code change will allow developers to build as many as 1,000 apartments in total, though Garguilo said the actual number is likely to be lower. Some parcels are occupied by tenants or are owner-occupied, and Garguilo said only one or two redevelopments are likely in the near-term. 

Apartments would “fill a void desperately needed in the community” for housing options beyond single-family homes, Garguilo said. About 89% of the town’s housing stock falls into that category, compared with 84% in Suffolk County overall, and many of the town’s existing apartments are scattered and attached to homes.

In a statement emailed by a representative, Terri Alessi-Miceli, president of HIA-LI, the association that represents businesses in the park, said the change will “boost Long Island’s long-term competitiveness by providing housing that helps the region attract and train young professionals.” Mixed-use zoning will lead to enhanced profitability for employers in the park now concerned about attracting skilled workers, she said. 

The zoning code change grew out of a 2019 effort by government and private industry to re-imagine the Innovation Park as a 21st-century regional economic hub. Some of the park’s original industrial occupants have left and some property owners have said it is growing harder to find tenants.

While the park produces $13 billion in goods and services annually, supporting 55,000 jobs, about 60 parcels are vacant and 314 are used for warehouses or storage.

Read the full article here.

CMM has built a reputation for not shying away from the complicated cases that give other attorneys pause. Our skill in navigating the knottiest of fact patterns was on full display in a recent decision dismissing a complex commercial case against our clients.

The plaintiff had acquired a vending route from our client, a vending company, and a year later filed suit alleging breach of contract, fraud, unfair competition, tortious interference, and other claims against the vending company and its owners. The complicated fact pattern involved multiple underlying agreements as well as subsequent agreements between our clients and other defendants. The plaintiff then moved for summary judgment on several of the claims (essentially, urging the court to find that there were no facts in dispute and to rule in plaintiff’s favor). CMM’s commercial litigation team, including Jeffrey Basso, Patrick McCormick, and Richard DeMaio, opposed the motion on behalf of our clients and moved to dismiss the case on behalf of the individual defendants. Our motion papers detailed each claim, the requirements to successfully allege each claim, and applied the thorny fact pattern to the law, demonstrating why the plaintiff’s motion should be denied and why the individual defendants should be let out of the case.

The Court’s lengthy decision, issued earlier this month, was a terrific win for our clients. The Court granted our motion to dismiss the case against the individual defendants and denied the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment. The decision leaves only a few claims remaining against our client, the corporate defendant, which we look forward to resolving favorably.

Learn more about our successful commercial litigation practice and contact us at (631) 738-9100 to discuss how we can help your business with any need.

Patience is a virtue when it comes to litigation, but some decisions are worth the wait!  CMM has successfully appealed the dismissal of numerous claims in a commercial case, paving the way for our client to pursue claims against a multinational competitor who interfered with his business.

CMM’s client is a technology and manufacturing company with operations in the United States and China. The client brought a lawsuit against a former employee and other related parties for breach of a noncompete agreement, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, and false advertising. The former employee moved for summary judgment (essentially asking the court to dismiss the case on the grounds that there were no facts in dispute), and in 2017, the trial court agreed, dismissing the claims.

CMM appealed the dismissal to the Appellate Division, Second Department. CMM’s Jeffrey Basso wrote the brief and argued the appeal in January 2020, analyzing the complex facts and law behind each claim to convince the Court that the claims should not have been dismissed.

In a decision issued in July 2020, the Appellate Court agreed with CMM’s arguments, reversing the trial Court’s decision and reinstating three of the four dismissed claims. This decision is a huge win for our client, allowing the company to continue to pursue claims against the former employee, who in the years since has become a major competitor.

Learn more about our successful commercial litigation and appellate practices and how we can help your business with any need.

Campolo, Middleton & McCormick’s M&A team has closed yet another deal during the pandemic. Vincent Costa headed the transaction team, representing the shareholder of a Suffolk County business that provides telecommunications products and services in New York City, Long Island, Westchester County, and surrounding areas. The deal involved the sale of all our client’s shares to a leading provider of computer network and telephone equipment, services, and software in New York, New Jersey, and New England. Despite the economic and logistical challenges of COVID-19, CMM helped push the deal across the finish line, working together with our client and the purchaser to find common ground and complete the transaction.

The deal demonstrates CMM’s ability to deliver enormous value and adapt during challenging circumstances. For guidance buying or selling a business or navigating your business challenges, contact us at (631) 738-9100.

Despite the economic havoc continuing to be felt across the country – or perhaps because of it – mergers and acquisitions on Long Island are red hot, as business owners and buyers alike seek out new opportunities. CMM recently helped one such business owner by successfully pushing a deal across the finish line, unhampered by these uncertain times.

Vincent Costa, with assistance from Corporate Paralegal Katharine Campolo, handled the asset sale on behalf of our client, a Suffolk County-based sheet metal fabricator that has produced customized parts for the aerospace, military, medical, and communication fields for nearly three decades. The buyer is also a local business, which means the deal not only helped our client start a new chapter; the deal will also help keep jobs and dollars on Long Island during this critical time.

Many business owners are turning these trying times into new opportunities by selling or restructuring their businesses. Contact us today for guidance.

First time’s the charm for CMM’s Richard DeMaio, who argued his first appeal in the Appellate Division, Second Department, and won! The Court’s decision is a spectacular outcome for our client, a Village on the East End, and demonstrates why municipalities turn to CMM for guidance with all aspects of their operations.

The appeal concerned the 2017 denial of a homeowner’s application for an area variance by the Village’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) with respect to lot size. The homeowner challenged the denial in Suffolk County Supreme Court via an Article 78 petition, but the Court denied the petition and dismissed the proceeding. Trying once more, the homeowner – seeking to subdivide the property into two lots – appealed that decision to the Appellate Division, Second Department, which sits in Brooklyn.

Under the guidance of CMM Senior Partner Scott Middleton, DeMaio drafted the appellate brief, outlining why the Supreme Court’s decision should be upheld on appeal. In his first oral argument before the Appellate Division, DeMaio argued that the Supreme Court properly found that Village’s denial of the variance application had a rational basis, because allowing a second lot on a property of less than the square footage set forth in the Village Code would cause an undesirable change in a neighborhood characterized by lots much larger than required by the Code. In its decision, the Appellate Division agreed, noting that the ZBA “engaged in the required balancing test and considered the relevant statutory factors.” Moreover, the Court noted that the homeowner was presumed to have known about the applicable zoning restrictions when he purchased the property, and therefore, any hardship was “self-created.”

This result is a major win for the Village, supporting its ability to make zoning decisions that preserve its character. Learn more about our Municipal and Appeals practices and call us at (631) 738-9100 for guidance.

The Guide Dog Foundation and its sister organization, America’s VetDogs, have announced the election of Joe Campolo to serve on the executive committee of the boards of directors. The executive committee oversees each board, providing counsel and oversight to advance the organizations’ missions to provide guide and service dogs and training – free of charge – to people who are blind or have low vision, and to those who have served our country honorably. Members of the boards of directors develop strategies and policies as well as ensuring proper resources are available to carry out its mission, monitor the finances of the organizations, its programs, and performance.

Joe Campolo is the managing partner of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP, recognized by Forbes as a Top Corporate Law Firm in America. He has spearheaded some of the most important initiatives in recent years to grow the regional economy and is the chairman of the HIA-LI board of directors. As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, he is passionate about veterans and veteran’s causes. 

“Joe has played an integral role on our board and I’m thrilled to have him join our executive committee,” said John Miller, president and CEO of the Guide Dog Foundation and America’s VetDogs. “He has brought a wealth of experience and expertise in his field to our organizations and has embraced our mission to assist individuals with disabilities. With his strong background in leadership, Joe will be an asset on our executive committee as we further our missions.”

The Guide Dog Foundation and America’s VetDogs boards of directors comprise volunteer leaders from the medical, business, academic, and military and veteran communities. Members of the boards of directors set strategic direction and policy, and help raise awareness of the organizations’ services.

View Campolo’s recent discussion with Miller on “Business Unusual,” Campolo’s weekly business recovery webinar, here.