Category: News on the Homepage

In an M&A deal that combined social impact investing, the heavily regulated healthcare industry, and the goal of expanding the reach of primary care physicians in underserved communities, Campolo, Middleton & McCormick represented the owners of an eight-office family medical practice in the sale of its wholly owned management company to Bridges Fund Management. Bridges U.S. Sustainable Growth Fund is the New York-based fund of a London headquartered private equity firm focused on social impact investing. The deal closed in July 2018.

Medwood Services provides administrative and management support services to New York Family Practice Physicians, which has locations in Brooklyn and Queens, and will continue to do so following the July close. The practice, headed by Dr. Glenn Muraca and Dr. Giovanni Marciano, plans to expand significantly throughout the New York metropolitan area and surrounding counties, helping to fill a gap in the healthcare system for primary care physicians who are able to efficiently and effectively manage the entire spectrum of healthcare-related services that families need, particularly in communities facing a shortage of primary care providers.

“Working with Christine [Malafi] and her team gave us total peace of mind. The entire process was well organized, and we were able to focus on our patients without being distracted by all the moving parts of the deal,” said Dr. Muraca. CMM’s Vincent Costa and Kyle Broderick assisted Malafi on the transaction. Learn more about our M&A and Healthcare practices.
Protegrity Advisors acted as the exclusive M&A advisor for Medwood Services and Drs. Maricano and Muraca.

Campolo, Middleton & McCormick has closed a fast-paced deal involving the sale of a third-generation family-owned music store in western Nassau County to a big box store, successfully negotiating a purchase price of nearly double the original offer.

The client retained CMM on a Monday and the transaction closed that Thursday. Donald Rassiger, with support from Kyle Broderick, drafted and negotiated the Asset Purchase Agreement and ancillary documents at breakneck speed. The pace of this transaction, coupled with the excellent result in the negotiation of the purchase price, demonstrates CMM’s ability to deliver enormous value to clients and how nimble CMM attorneys are when it comes to getting deals done.

Learn more about our Mergers & Acquisitions practice.

When a successful tire distribution company learned that one of its employees had been secretly operating a competing business for over four years while still working for the company and that key client files had gone missing and accounts stolen, they engaged Campolo, Middleton & McCormick to bring a lawsuit against the employee alleging misappropriation, unfair competition, and related claims. In response, the (now former) employee asserted numerous counterclaims against the tire company, including slander and defamation. Recognizing that the counterclaims were the employee’s attempt to distract the court from the damages  our client seeks in the lawsuit, CMM’s litigation team swiftly moved to dismiss the counterclaims, highlighting the former employee’s contradictory statements and failure to plead the “bare minimum” of facts necessary to maintain the counterclaims.

The Supreme Court – Suffolk County, Commercial Division (J. Emerson) agreed with CMM’s arguments and granted our motion to dismiss the counterclaims against our client in their entirety. CMM’s Jeff Basso noted, “This decision paves the way for our client to pursue the real issues in this case and start to recover from the tremendous harm this employee has done to their business.”

Learn more about our litigation practice.

CMM’s Litigation team successfully moved for dismissal of a lawsuit filed in Queens County against our client, a limousine company whose vehicle was involved in a motor vehicle accident with another driver. When that driver served our client with a personal injury lawsuit, CMM immediately moved to dismiss. At oral argument, CMM attorney Richard DeMaio persuasively argued that because the statute of limitations had expired and no exceptions applied, the lawsuit was time-barred. The Court agreed and dismissed the case. This result was a victory for the limousine company and its insurance carrier, both of whom will save significant time, court costs, and legal fees.

Under the leadership of partner Scott Middleton, CMM has successfully defended a variety of clients insured by numerous insurance companies across the country in virtually all areas of insurance coverage and defense. Learn more about our Liability Insurance & Insurance Coverage practice area here.

The Suffolk County Bar Association (SCBA), one of the largest voluntary bar associations in New York State, honored Campolo, Middleton & McCormick partner Patrick McCormick with a Directors’ Award at the 110^th Annual Installation Dinner on June 15, 2018 at the East Wind in Wading River. McCormick’s fellow honoree for the Directors’ Award was Hon. James Hudson, Acting Justice of the Supreme Court, Commercial Division. The awards recognize “conscientious and meritorious service to the Suffolk County Bar Association and the Suffolk Academy of Law” as well as “zeal and enthusiasm for all of the activities of the Association and the Academy.”

McCormick has served on the SCBA Board for several years and was sworn in earlier this month to continue his term as Dean of the Academy of Law, the SCBA’s educational arm. In this role, McCormick spearheads the continuing education of thousands of New York lawyers. During his tenure he has helped bring the Academy into the future by increasing the number of programs, utilizing new technology, and offering an unprecedented range of topics, scheduling, and formats. In addition to his role as Dean, McCormick has served the SCBA as Chair of the Appellate Practice Committee as well as on the Commercial Division, Landlord/Tenant, and Real Property Committees.

McCormick chairs the Appeals practice group at CMM, having built a reputation as a strategic and talented appellate attorney over nearly three decades in the field. Representing clients in civil and criminal matters in both federal and state court, McCormick has argued numerous appeals, including three arguments at the New York State Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. He is also a respected trial attorney, litigating all types of complex commercial and real estate matters, and also represents national commercial shopping centers, retailers, and publicly traded home builders in commercial and residential landlord-tenant matters.

Pictured above: Patrick McCormick, SCBA Past President Patricia Meisenheimer, and Hon. James Hudson.

In a well-publicized case and in a victory for the St. James Fire District, Campolo, Middleton & McCormick’s municipal litigation team saved the district significant funds by defeating a petition that sought to punish the district for allegedly not complying with a multitude of overlapping, conflicting F.O.I.L. requests.

Between December 2017 and January 2018, Petitioner, attorney Troy Rosasco, made a series of requests to the Fire District, its Board of Commissioners, and its Records Access Officer pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law (F.O.I.L.) for over 40 categories of records spanning years. According to Rosasco, the purpose of his requests was to provide the public with information concerning a proposal to sell the fire district’s 100-year-old firehouse on Route 25A to the St. James Fire Department. (The sale is the subject of a referendum on June 19, 2018.) In March, Rosasco commenced a special proceeding pursuant to Article 78 seeking to compel the Fire District to comply with the requests, as well as pay him costs and fees.

In lieu of answering the petition, CMM’s Patrick McCormick and Richard DeMaio served a motion to dismiss, contending that the petition was moot because the Fire District responded timely under F.O.I.L. to the voluminous requests – and that it did so notwithstanding that Rosasco had made multiple overlapping and duplicative requests with conflicting instructions and modifications. Upon review of CMM’s detailed motion papers, the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Berland, A.J.S.C.) found that the Fire District responded timely, “notwithstanding the confusion and inconsistencies of position engendered by [Rosasco] and his counsel.” On multiple occasions, the Fire District had produced hundreds of pages of documents responsive to Rosasco’s requests. The Court found that “the Fire District addressed [Rosasco’s] series of broad and complicated requests as soon as each was received and began working on its response to those requests… promptly and diligently.”

This latest victory demonstrates why so many Long Island municipalities turn to CMM for guidance and experienced counsel when facing their most critical disputes. Learn more about our municipal liability practice here and contact us at (631) 738-9100.

Campolo, Middleton & McCormick’s real estate team has successfully completed a refinance of a commercial building in the Hauppauge Industrial Park – the second largest industrial park in the nation after Silicon Valley.

Our client’s building is home to over a dozen commercial tenants in various industries from professional services to manufacturing. The CMM team negotiated with multiple brokers to find the best lender and terms for our client. Once the lender and terms of the deal were in place, CMM worked with the client to meet the lender’s requirements for the multimillion-dollar loan. CMM seamlessly worked with the client to amend its corporate documents as needed and bring the deal smoothly to closure.

Learn more about our real estate practice.

Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) has entered into an agreement with Weiss Instruments to directly serve customers of Emerson’s Dixell products. Joe Campolo and Vincent Costa of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP represented Weiss Instruments in the transaction, the terms of which have not been disclosed.

Since 1996, Weiss Instruments has been the exclusive authorized third-party distributor in the United States for Dixell controls, the leading microprocessor-based electronic regulation, temperature, pressure and humidity controls for commercial refrigeration and air conditioning. Emerson’s assimilation of the Dixell distribution business took effect in March.

Holtsville-based Weiss Instruments has manufactured thermometers and pressure gauges for over 100 years, and offers a complete line of products for the Bid & Spec, Wholesale Distribution, Refrigeration, and Food Service Industries. This core business was not included in the agreement and Weiss Instruments will continue as an independent company. Learn more at http://www.weissinstruments.com/.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Emerson Electric is a global technology and engineering company providing innovative solutions for customers in industrial, commercial, and residential markets. Learn more at Climate.Emerson.com.

For additional information on this transaction, please visit http://www.emerson.com/en-us/news/commercial-residential/emerson-finalizes-agreement-with-weiss-instruments.

Don Rassiger, Chair of CMM’s Construction practice group, recently settled a prevailing wage law violation between our client, a contractor, and the New York State Department of Labor. Our client faced financial penalties for allegedly underpaying wages, personal liability for purportedly signing fraudulent documents, and possible debarment from public works projects, which would have effectively shut down the client’s business. Don’s advocacy through a series of conferences and negotiations ultimately saved the client 20% on the fines and – most critically – avoided debarment, keeping the client’s doors open for business.

Our construction clients include owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, construction managers, and more, all of whom turn to us for guidance and representation on the critical issues impacting their business. Learn more about our work with the construction industry here and contact Don Rassiger at drassiger@cmmllp.com or (631) 738-9100.