Category: News on the Homepage

As any first-year law student knows, a court cannot hear a case if it lacks jurisdiction. CMM’s litigation team recently secured the dismissal of a lawsuit against our client, the Stony Brook Fire District, based on this simple yet critical lesson.

After a dispute stemming from unsatisfactory HVAC work performed by the plaintiff for the Fire District, the plaintiff commenced an action alleging breach of contract. Due to a misunderstanding regarding insurance coverage, the Fire District (represented at the time by a different firm) inadvertently did not respond in time, and the plaintiff successfully moved the court to enter a default judgment against the Fire District. (The Court also denied the Fire District’s motion for leave to serve a late Answer.) The Court subsequently denied the Fire District’s motion for leave to reargue, leaving the Fire District with a default judgment against it.

That’s when CMM came in, determined to turn the tables. After researching Town Law, Patrick McCormick and Richard DeMaio moved to vacate the prior order granting the default judgment on the grounds that the Court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. Specifically, the plaintiff’s failure to properly file a Notice of Claim with the Fire District deprived the Court of subject matter jurisdiction over the case. (Town Law Section 180 provides that no contract actions against a fire district may stand unless a written verified claim is filed with the Fire District secretary within six months after cause of action has accrued.)

The Court agreed, finding that CMM’s submissions established that the Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to have entered the prior order. As a result, CMM’s motion was granted and the case was dismissed.

Whether your case hinges on creative legal strategy or a deep understanding of the procedural rules governing litigation, CMM stands ready to help. Contact our Commercial Litigation or Municipal Litigation teams today at (631) 738-9100.

Joe Campolo, CMM Managing Partner and HIA-LI Board Chairman, put out a call to action to the Long Island business community, including HIA-LI members, to demand federal funding for New York State and local municipalities. These funds are critical to our region’s economic recovery. Read the message and take action below.

HIA-LI Demands Immediate Economic Relief for New York State and Municipalities

Patience is a virtue – and a luxury that Long Island can no longer afford.

Every minute that the Senate refuses to pass an economic relief bill, millions of dollars in losses continue to mount.

Many business sectors remain in freefall. Sales taxes are Suffolk County’s largest revenue source, funding nearly half of the $3.2 billion annual budget – but sales taxes impacted by the pandemic are not going to rebound quickly enough to sustain any type of economic recovery. The Suffolk County Budget Review Office estimates that Suffolk County will lose close to $150 million in revenue from a variety of sources.

Infrastructure spending is the only solution that will drive sustained recovery. But municipalities have put millions of dollars in infrastructure spending on hold due to lack of funds. In addition to New York State and its counties requiring additional federal funding, Towns and Villages throughout Suffolk County need additional federal assistance to fund critical infrastructure projects, as well as fund essential services and increased costs in the face of unprecedented lost revenue.

As Long Island’s strongest business advocate and steward of the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge – the second largest industrial park in the nation behind only Silicon Valley – HIA-LI and its members must demand action from the U.S. Senate. Our economic recovery depends on it.

Hats off to our local elected officials at all levels of government, who understand the urgency and have been working on bipartisan solutions to provide direct support to state and local governments. (Learn more about their calls for direct coronavirus funding to state and local governments here.) But the Senate has continued to delay.

We ask you to reach out to the dignitaries listed below and let them know how critical this funding is to our region’s economic recovery.

We simply do not have any more time to wait. The time to act is now.

Joe Campolo

Board Chairman, HIA-LI

Managing Partner, Campolo, Middleton & McCormick

Terri Alessi-Miceli

President & CEO, HIA-LI

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Representative Lee Zeldin – Conor Carney: Conor.Carney@mail.house.gov

Representative Thomas Suozzi – Conor Walsh: Conor.Walsh@mail.house.gov

Representative Peter King – Kevin Fogarty: Kevin.Fogarty@mail.house.gov

Representative Kathleen Rice – Michel Viterise: michele.viterise@mail.house.gov

Senator Charles Schumer – Garrett Armwood: Garrett_Armwood@schumer.senate.gov

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand – Magdalonie Campbell: Magdalonie_Campbell@gillibrand.senate.gov

On September 22, 2020, HIA-LI Board Chairman Joe Campolo moderated a panel of elected officials and business leaders about the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge, the anchor of the region’s economy. Check out the video replay for the latest updates about zoning changes, post-COVID economic issues, and more.

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.